clueless about breeding

i have a 3 yr old male ball python. he's had tons of perfects sheds in a row and is completely healthy. where do i even start for breeding???

Start... well to start you need a female to breed him to. Of course this female has to be of proper size and health to breed. Then you need to control your temps to get them in the mood. Then probably buy or build an incubator. Try to introduce them to each other. See if they tango. Wait for some eggs. Incubate said eggs.

This is just your basic rundown but your best bet is to browse the breeding forum and check out old threads on this same topic.

Well, I think the first thing is to get a female ;)

THEN, after quarantine, you may want to look into breeding.

But first, get the hard part over with. :D

Before you start there are many things you want to considers.

You want to research first and foremost and see if this is really what you want to do.

Ask yourself if you can afford the cost of breeding, will you buy or build an incubator, buy or build an hatchling rack, will you start your own feeder colony to get your hatchlings started, what will you do with the hatchling if they do not sell, can you afford keeping them all, etc…………….breeding is more than put 2 snakes together so take your time and make sure you are ready for this.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Ask yourself if you can afford the cost of breeding

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IMO most important. I have bargained and freecycled my way into this hobby but its still cost me quite a bit. If you dont have the bargaining skills and building skills to do it yourself I would start very small. Two snakes... maybe three at the most. Find out what you are actually getting yourself into.

Looking back now at what I have experienced I would tell you to get a younger female. Work on raising her up for another year or two and get to really know your animals. Over that period you can slowly build up all the supplies you will need to finally successfully breed.

It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get breeder colonies and racks and incubators etc etc etc. I have been busting my ass this year just to take care of my snakes. Thankfully the cost has finally leveled off as all my infrastructure is built. I only spend money monthly now on rodent food and bedding.

All and all... like said above. Its not just putting two snakes together. There is a LOT of work involved with breeding and a LOT of expenses to get everything prepared for a full breeding year. This is my first year myself and with almost 20 snakes to take care of i've for sure learned about the hard work and dedication it takes. Feel free to throw as many questions you have at the people here. Everyone will be more than happy to help you out if you are serious about your hobby. Goodluck.

sounds like im going to wait. too busy with school to put in hours at work. thanks tho!

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Originally Posted by bc30629

IMO most important. I have bargained and freecycled my way into this hobby but its still cost me quite a bit. If you dont have the bargaining skills and building skills to do it yourself I would start very small. Two snakes... maybe three at the most. Find out what you are actually getting yourself into.

Looking back now at what I have experienced I would tell you to get a younger female. Work on raising her up for another year or two and get to really know your animals. Over that period you can slowly build up all the supplies you will need to finally successfully breed.

It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get breeder colonies and racks and incubators etc etc etc. I have been busting my ass this year just to take care of my snakes. Thankfully the cost has finally leveled off as all my infrastructure is built. I only spend money monthly now on rodent food and bedding.

All and all... like said above. Its not just putting two snakes together. There is a LOT of work involved with breeding and a LOT of expenses to get everything prepared for a full breeding year. This is my first year myself and with almost 20 snakes to take care of i've for sure learned about the hard work and dedication it takes. Feel free to throw as many questions you have at the people here. Everyone will be more than happy to help you out if you are serious about your hobby. Goodluck.

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great answer its even harder when you have:
a few hundred rats to care for
over 50 snakes
work 50-60 hours a week sometimes more
real life!
a few duplexes to upkeep
100 acre farm
a cottage to upkeep
its a good thing i dont sleep much!

I thought I would put my .02 in. First thing is decide where you want to go with breeding. You have a male (I am assuming he is a normal). So do you want to get into the morphs? You have 4 choices for females. 1. get a normal female adult (about $200) then you can start breeding right away. 2. Get a low cost morph baby (ie pastel, about $250 or a spider female $400) and raise them up to breeding size. 3. get a het female (this is the LOOONNNNGG way into breeding morphs) or 4. get a normal baby female (ABOUT $80).

If you want to go with the first option you will have normal babies and will have to sell off the unwanted babies (and after a few clutches, if you are lucky, you will be able to afford a morph). Now babies will only sell for 25-60 m/f if you are lucky. So it will take you time but you will get experence with the entire breeding process, hatcing and ups and downs of breeding.

If you got with any of the other 3 options you will invest your time raising up the baby, you will spend time and money raising this baby and you won't have eggs for 2-3 years (or more).

No matter what you decide you will have to be honest with yourself and decide how much time and money you want to invest. There was one option I didn't include was buying a sub adult/adult normal/morph. This will take you less time to raise up but cost you more money. Now all the prices I have quoted are HIGHLY subject to change.

WHY do you want to breed? What is your ultimate goal? That is the first thing you need to ask yourself. Breeding is fun. Breeding is stressful, Breeding is not as easy as it might seem at first. It is NOT just throwing 2 animals to geather. After they lock THEN comes the hard part......THE DREADED WAITING. Wait for the eggs to be laid. Wait for the eggs to hatch.... Wait for the first shead....pray everyone will eat..

lol If you want some fun reading go search out some of the treads about the dreaded waiting. You will see how people pull their hair out, worry, wonder, and are generally under a ton of stress waiting. So many factors can go wrong. Things can go perfect as well.

Sorry for such a long post, but since no one posted this I thought I would. There are other options, but I would never have finnished if I went through them all :D. Good luck