Getting Started

I did want to defend Brian here. I asked him not what to breed to my normal, but what he would have started with if he was young and starting as a breeder today. Banana's do always sell, either as building blocks or just because they are beautiful snakes. That was where he was coming from. The love of the animal. That's why Brian is so great. No matter what his passion for the animals sticks with him.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Man, it wasn't that long ago when Banana BPs were going for tens of thousands of dollars.

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And now you can find them at Petco for $300.

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Originally Posted by JoshSloane

Man, it wasn't that long ago when Banana BPs were going for tens of thousands of dollars.

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It's been less than 10 years ago that Lessers were being sold for $25,000.00. Most morphs when they first came out had ridiculously high price tags and made a few people a LOT of money. Average hobbyists couldn't even touch ANY morph for less then several thousand dollars.

My first clutches were normal x normal and the thrill of hatching your own babies wasn't any less then than it is now.

I got into ball pythons about 5 years ago and started with several single gene females and a year and a half later bought a 2 gene male. It is a very good way to learn and begin breeding as others are mentioned. That said there are a lot people looking to cut down their collection or people wanting to get out altogether. It is now possible to buy adult, ready to breed females for basically the cost of a hatchling or yearling if you keep your eyes open. In the last 3 months I added a 1600g fire, 1800g bumblebee, 650g bumblebee each for $100. This week I picked up a 1400g proven pied for $500. All were from the internet or the local reptile show. I'm not advocating someone who is unfamiliar with snakes do this but you already have several so I will assume some level of knowledge and say if you keep your eyes open you could speed up the process that way. Whatever you decide, good luck!!

i m not saying brian doesn t love snakes. No one will say that , he is a loving person , i would say even more than most of the big breeders. But he is still a business man. And if you have asking the same question to all the little experimentited breeder on this forum i guess none will tell you to start wih a banana girl. this is a beginner mistake. And brian knows it.

As Jcash said you can get ready to breed female for less... i m not advising you to start with adult females. it s always better to pick up top quality hatchlings than to pick up adult that might have health, feeding or breeding issue. On this forum, might have a nice little breeder with healthy hatchlings ready to go near by you. I won t name them the modo might blame me but i can tell, someone as cool enchi stuff girls another OD combos, another wicked calico combos. Just look aroud and contact people in PM. Big breeders are mostly business man, small breeders are bad in business and will give you true insight ( both sides have exceptions of course)