Maybe someday .. "Breeder Cuda"?

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Originally Posted by cuda

1. Do you like doing it?

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Yep, I love it, my whole family loves it (I'm in my 40's and the mother of 4). I'm very blessed that my husband and all our kids are just as snake crazy as I am. :)

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2. Has it been more frustration or joy?

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In the balance it's more about joy and passion for the snakes (heck let's just be honest...obession lol) but it would be unfair to you to say there's never any frustration. When you have a snake you've put years into not produce a clutch or a snake that's a good feeder suddenly go off feed for no apparent reason - you get frustrated. When you have a breeding dream and it takes years longer than you hoped it would - you get frustrated. When a pairing doesn't produce the hoped for results - you get frustrated.

What you do with that frustration, how you come back from it - that marks what you are as a breeder.

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Have you had success selling the results?

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We've been very blessed this year to have more people asking for our hatchlings then we have hatchlings to sell. However we are holding back quite a few this year for our own future breeding plans.

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4. Is the time and effort worth the payoff?

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Depends on what you personally consider the payoff. If it's just to make a fast buck, then nope it's not. If you figure in the sheer hours cleaning up poop, sheds, feeding the snakes, feeding the feeder rodents, cleaning up those too, the money you put into racks, t-stats, snake purchases, etc. you aren't going to get rich fast on snake breeding.

When you find yourself in the snake room, cleaning up snake poop at midnight because that's the only time you had that day and you're about ready to fall over from sheer exhaustion, but you are still so happy to be doing it - then you know this is about more than making some cash - it's about just really loving the experience of snakekeeping.

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5. Any other advice?

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Love the snakes, be fascinated by them, observe them and learn from them. Do the same with the experienced snake breeders you'll come to know (and if you're really lucky, get to call your friend). Take the time now to get to know other people at about the same level of snakekeeping that you are. They will likely be the ones you do a lot of trading with down the road. Be a sponge and absorb everything you can learn. Be a proactive keeper - never feel you know enough or depend on someone else to always have the answers for you. Take every experience, good or bad, as a learning experience because it is.

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I just want to make sure that any eventual expansion into the world or breeding won't imapct the fun I am having right now. Its like the girls that think raising kids is all giggles and gumdrops until they have their own and learn otherwise ... catch my drift?

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I have 4 kids, I know about that LOL. I think you have the right frame of mind and will do fine if you don't get caught up in any rush to achieve anything. Go at your own pace and keep enjoying the snakes. :)

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

People that love the animals are willing to get bit, peed on, pooped on, hissed at, struck at, shunned by family, pick on by friends, and called the "Snake guy" at work And all they can think when they go to bed is wow I really got to do that again tomorrow how lucky am I.

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Ain't that the truth!

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Originally Posted by cuda

Thank you so much for that. The money is not why I would want to get into it, I just love keeping them and watching them grow and learning about them. I think it is awesome to see that even snakes, which are usually thought of as cold, evil and heartless, each have their own personalities .. likes and dislikes. I want to experience more, and I want to dig deeper into this.

I am already shunned by friends and family and I am known as "the snake guy" at work. Your post meant a lot to me .. and made a lot of sense. Thank you!

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Just remember Cuda those folks are just in need of a bit of education really. They fear what they don't know. Just smile and be happy you know better (and it never hurts to educate a few folks along the way). :)

Every time I get out a snake, even when I'm busy and just on poop pick up duty, there's a small part of me in there going "holy WOW I'm holding a snake - how FREAKIN cool is that!". I hope I never grow out of that feeling.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

People that love the animals are willing to get bit, peed on, pooped on, hissed at, struck at, shunned by family, pick on by friends, and called the "Snake guy" at work And all they can think when they go to bed is wow I really got to do that again tomorrow how lucky am I.

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Well said!

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

Yep, I love it, my whole family loves it (I'm in my 40's and the mother of 4). I'm very blessed that my husband and all our kids are just as snake crazy as I am. :)



In the balance it's more about joy and passion for the snakes (heck let's just be honest...obession lol) but it would be unfair to you to say there's never any frustration. When you have a snake you've put years into not produce a clutch or a snake that's a good feeder suddenly go off feed for no apparent reason - you get frustrated. When you have a breeding dream and it takes years longer than you hoped it would - you get frustrated. When a pairing doesn't produce the hoped for results - you get frustrated.

What you do with that frustration, how you come back from it - that marks what you are as a breeder.



We've been very blessed this year to have more people asking for our hatchlings then we have hatchlings to sell. However we are holding back quite a few this year for our own future breeding plans.



Depends on what you personally consider the payoff. If it's just to make a fast buck, then nope it's not. If you figure in the sheer hours cleaning up poop, sheds, feeding the snakes, feeding the feeder rodents, cleaning up those too, the money you put into racks, t-stats, snake purchases, etc. you aren't going to get rich fast on snake breeding.

When you find yourself in the snake room, cleaning up snake poop at midnight because that's the only time you had that day and you're about ready to fall over from sheer exhaustion, but you are still so happy to be doing it - then you know this is about more than making some cash - it's about just really loving the experience of snakekeeping.



Love the snakes, be fascinated by them, observe them and learn from them. Do the same with the experienced snake breeders you'll come to know (and if you're really lucky, get to call your friend). Take the time now to get to know other people at about the same level of snakekeeping that you are. They will likely be the ones you do a lot of trading with down the road. Be a sponge and absorb everything you can learn. Be a proactive keeper - never feel you know enough or depend on someone else to always have the answers for you. Take every experience, good or bad, as a learning experience because it is.



I have 4 kids, I know about that LOL. I think you have the right frame of mind and will do fine if you don't get caught up in any rush to achieve anything. Go at your own pace and keep enjoying the snakes. :)



Ain't that the truth!



Just remember Cuda those folks are just in need of a bit of education really. They fear what they don't know. Just smile and be happy you know better (and it never hurts to educate a few folks along the way). :)

Every time I get out a snake, even when I'm busy and just on poop pick up duty, there's a small part of me in there going "holy WOW I'm holding a snake - how FREAKIN cool is that!". I hope I never grow out of that feeling.

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Thank you so much for the advice and insight. I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer question for a noob like me.

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Originally Posted by cuda

Thank you so much for the advice and insight. I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer question for a noob like me.

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There are no noobs here, Only people who wish to expand there knowledge of the critters we all love.

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Originally Posted by cuda

Thank you so much for the advice and insight. I appreciate you guys taking the time to answer question for a noob like me.

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We're all still "noobs" in most ways, Cuda. While I might feel pretty confident in how to care for a ball python, I was a nervous wreck this year cutting our first BP eggs. Had to talk to a couple of experienced breeders, had to stop in the middle because my hands were shaking....heck Cuda....I made a list of exactly what to do and how to do it LOL.

The day you stop learning and figure you know it all, the snakes will school you that you don't. :)

Besides, which it's right on your front page here at BPNet that one of main aims here, one of the biggest joys of this site is helping the new keeper to become confident, knowledgeable and to help that keeper provide the best care possible for their snake. We're happy to help you so never feel bad about asking something. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask because of your ego and the snake suffers for it.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

We're all still "noobs" in most ways, Cuda. While I might feel pretty confident in how to care for a ball python, I was a nervous wreck this year cutting our first BP eggs. Had to talk to a couple of experienced breeders, had to stop in the middle because my hands were shaking....heck Cuda....I made a list of exactly what to do and how to do it LOL.

The day you stop learning and figure you know it all, the snakes will school you that you don't. :)

Besides, which it's right on your front page here at BPNet that one of main aims here, one of the biggest joys of this site is helping the new keeper to become confident, knowledgeable and to help that keeper provide the best care possible for their snake. We're happy to help you so never feel bad about asking something. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask because of your ego and the snake suffers for it.

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fo shizzle.

I have been learning a lot. I did a lot of research before getting Tenac, and I have been fairly prepared for everything so far ... and then the mites showed up. that was a whole new area that I had to learn to fix ASAP to make him feel better. Keeping snakes is a journey, and one I am enjoying a lot.

Thanks for being awesome!

1. Do you like doing it?

If I didn't, I certainly wouldn't have a case of "I want" when I see some other people's snake collections!

2. Has it been more frustration or joy?
It's been a bit of both. I think I'm 0 for 2 on getting snake eggs again. Last year I was almost overwhelmed with leopard gecko eggs though. Unfortunately I had a bad hatching year, but it was fun anyway.

3. Have you had success selling the results?
I've sold some of my leo babies, but I haven't really tried to sell them online. I had some real life issues get in the way. The other problem with trying to sell my three adult virgin female leos was that they are Bell hybinos...not everybody wants a really expensive leo when they can get a normal or a simpler morph for cheaper. I had several breeders who really wanted them, but didn't have the cash at the time. I had a couple people that would have bought them immediately if they had been male. At the time it wasn't really worth it for me to only take three animals to the show, along with supplies. If I get more babies later on this year, I will be going back to the local show.

I got into breeding this year with thoughts of making some extra cash. Probably the worst reason but I do love the snakes and enjoy caring for them so it's not entirely selfish. I more or less just want to make up the money I have invested.

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1. Do you like doing it?

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Without a doubt. I enjoy passing the time taking care of the snakes/rats.

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2. Has it been more frustration or joy?

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All the frustration is nothing compared to finding your fist eggs. Sometimes breeding doesn't go your way and you won't get any results for a year or more on some females. Just remember its much easier having low expectations than a huge disappointment. I have 7 females 2 already laid eggs and 2 look like they will too. I was only expecting 3 clutches this year so I am really happy.

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3. Have you had success selling the results?

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I have not had any eggs hatch but I don't see a problem selling them.

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4. Is the time and effort worth the payoff?

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I have not hit a payoff yet but I still think even without any payoff the effort is more than worth it.

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5. Any other advice?

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If you can get your hands on a proven breeder male it will make things easier. If your depending on breeding one male to 5-10 females and he doesn't produce then you just lost a year of babies from all those females.

Be prepared. Do you have space for the hatchlings? Do you have an incubator and all the necessary food?