Best pros of breeding ball pythons and just basically have a large collection!

I need to convince my mom to let me have more snakes so i can start breeding and my dad is in, but my mom sees no pros! Help!:snake::taz:

I would first ask what you think the pros are? Why do you want to breed? Everyone has different reasons.

If you still live with your parents I do not see any pros either, what will you do when the time comes and you move to college? A large collection collection is a lot of work so imagine your life between college + work + large collection to maintain.

It will also be very hard to find a place to rent of campus that will allow snakes.

There are many things to consider a large collection cost money, food, vet bills when necessary, breeding cost money too don't even think about breaking even in the first 1 or 2 unless you have a SOLID business plan and a serious investment.

With a large collection and the start of a breding venture, you will have to consider breeding your own food, it will save money and allow you not to depends on others but it also mean more time and work.

What if in 5 years from now you decide to travel the world?

The important here is that this is a big commitment and responsability and if you are passionate now you still will be when you will have settle down in life.

Total honesty? There aren't as many pros as you would think. Possible cons are that you may end up keeping a lot of what you produce, which can add up in price pretty quick. Pros are basically the educational experience and joy that go along with hatching out your own babies (if you think profit is going to be a pro, you are going to be very disappointed). I'm not sure about your life situation either, but odds are if you are living with your parents right now you may soon be coming up on a time when you'll be moving out? Are you going to be able to take all your snakes and equipment with you when you move out, or will your parents have to take care of them for you? I could be totally wrong there, but I would say it's not even worth considering unless you have your own living space, and even then people tend to take the breeding decisions way too lightly.

I bought/adopted 12 snakes within the space of a year, hatched out 6 babies, and have been panicking for the last few months because major life events are forcing me to find homes for nearly all of them. It isn't a fun situation to be in, and it's surprisingly difficult to sell snakes (particularly when your limited to local sales). Just because you think you're in a stable position doesn't mean things can't change suddenly, and I won't even say how much money I'm out on the entire venture.

Of course, people will do what they will, and if you end up convincing your parents and they're okay with it, then maybe it'll work out better for you than it did for me. Just be aware that there are plenty of cons and not nearly as many pros as one would think from looking at professional (read: career) breeders.

i am probably going to stay with my parents during college due a major college being very close

The only pro of breeding imo is the joy and experience of hatching Ball Pythons. You don't need a large collection to breed. Why not just get one male and 2-3 females?

there's a lot of good feedback and advice in this thread. please read and take them to heart.

i'm glad that you are all excited but you seem so young, take your time to figure it all out. could you financially and responsibly care for a larger collection all by yourself without dad or mom's help? i'm sure that might be one reason she is against it; that she might have to foot the bill for everything.

but if u can manage and pay for everything yourself and she still won't let u, u can always move out and grow your collection under your own roof when your old enough. :gj:

There aren't really any "pros" other than the joy of breeding. Everything put together, you won't earn money out of it.

If you really want to breed: You can start with one female first, breed once, and see how you like the process. That includes the whole selling/advertising potentially without sales, and if you are prepared to keep and feed many hatchlings as they grow older. :P