Building a ball Python collection

Thank you for all of the advice and input. I like pastels ok, and super pastels a lot... i think the main reason Im attracted to the albinos is that they are so majorly different looking from a normal, and that I think they would be exciting when breeding hets to see that completely different looking snake pop his head out of the shell :)



I checked on classified fauna but i couldnt figure out how to search for feedback. Currently Im trying to find feedback from a seller Top Shelf Exotic.

First you have to sign up for a Fauna account...it's free...just to create a username and password. You can then search the Fauna BOI using a standard search engine for Top Shelf Exotics. You will get any threads about Top Shelf plus any threads with posts by Top Shelf (Chris is pretty active over at the BOI). If you wish to post on the BOI I believe it's a $10.00 yearly membership fee but to simply search it's free after you do the username/password deal.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to buy from Chris at TSE. He's a very nice guy and the first person online to help me along when we got into snakes.

BOI link:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...play.php?&f=13

~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

First you have to sign up for a Fauna account...it's free...just to create a username and password. You can then search the Fauna BOI using a standard search engine for Top Shelf Exotics. You will get any threads about Top Shelf plus any threads with posts by Top Shelf (Chris is pretty active over at the BOI). If you wish to post on the BOI I believe it's a $10.00 yearly membership fee but to simply search it's free after you do the username/password deal.

I personally wouldn't hesitate to buy from Chris at TSE. He's a very nice guy and the first person online to help me along when we got into snakes.

BOI link:

http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...play.php?&f=13

~~Jo~~

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Thank you for the recommendation. I did some searching and he seems like a great guy. Several posts about delays/normal stuff like that, but those are just minor inconveniences.

I've sent Chris a few emails so hopefully we can work out something.

Now it might take a little while for him to respond back to you.This is the breeding season.I have only heard good things about top shelf exotics also.

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Have you yet looked into dominant or co-dominant traits that you like? Whats cool about co-doms is that you sort of get "instant gratification", producing visibile morphs your first time around even when one of the parents is completely normal. Male pastels are very affordable nowadays, and if you were to produce a few pastels, you could easily trade for a homozygous albino or hypo.

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I wonder if a good way to get started would be to buy a homo pastel or spider or dom/co-dom and then 10 normal females and raise them up/breed them/sell them and go from there. Im not against selling to be able to afford other morphs, I just dont want it to be the entire purpose of the collection.

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

I wonder if a good way to get started would be to buy a homo pastel or spider or dom/co-dom and then 10 normal females and raise them up/breed them/sell them and go from there.

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A homo pastel is a Super Pastel... A Pastel is.... a Pastel. :)

Yes, that's a FAST way to see results... you can get 10 lots of CH girls for around +/- $400, and in the first year and a half while you're raising them, you can be looking for your screamin deal on your Spider or Pastel... Your 10 CH babies will be ready to breed by the 2008 or 2009 season... so with the prices of Co-Doms and Doms coming down quite a bit, get all the females you need NOW, and then get the males later....

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by ddbjdealer

A homo pastel is a Super Pastel... A Pastel is.... a Pastel. :)

Yes, that's a FAST way to see results... you can get 10 lots of CH girls for around +/- $400, and in the first year and a half while you're raising them, you can be looking for your screamin deal on your Spider or Pastel... Your 10 CH babies will be ready to breed by the 2008 or 2009 season... so with the prices of Co-Doms and Doms coming down quite a bit, get all the females you need NOW, and then get the males later....

Good luck!

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That's what I decided to do about a month ago, got myself a 10 lot of mid 05 females to raise up. Hopefully at the rate their going on rats they should be more than ready by the end of 07. If things go well, I can start picking up some nice Pastels, Albinos and maybe even a Spider around August/September.

best of luck steph!

I hope my hypo boa breeds well so i can afford a pair of pastels, a mojave and a visual ghost and a few hets!

plus a few boa morphs!!!



Peter

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Originally Posted by joepythons

Now it might take a little while for him to respond back to you.This is the breeding season.

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LOL ... breeding season is like a vacation compared to the summer!! ... Pair snakes up and leave them alone ... they are on auto pilot.

Late spring, summer, fall ... 100's and 100's of babies to clean, feed, and sell ... not to mention getting ready for the "shows" ... no time for sleep ... it's crazyness for the big breeders.

I LOVE this time of year ... get lots of stuff done and have some time to relax before the madness starts again. ;)

-adam

I couldn't agree more, breeding season is really a quiet time. Less feedings, less poop, lees clean ups, a bit more free time to chat more, think about other projects, etc.

I'm only dealing with 6 gravid female boas this year, but around mid April I'm expecting anywhere between 80-120 babies to be added to the 36 adult & sub adult boas + 10 Ball Pythons we have. That's about 150 cages, tubs and water bowls to be cleaned and 150 mouths to feed and care for. Then classifieds, emails, phone calls, ship, follow up sales and plan for it all over again! With that said, I LOVE every minute of it!!

I can only imagine these guys that have 1,000-5,000-10,000 animals to deal with...WOW!