Breeding as a hobby - which direction to take?

Racks in themselves are the more preferred option for housing large quantities of BP's in small spaces. though they can be pricey if pre-manufactured. and a royal PIA if home made. if a 10 or 12 slot rack is to much up front, you can get them in smaller slot choices, 3-4-5-6-Etc. although in the end you will pay more going with 2 or 3 smaller racks than the one large one upfront. we had this choice available to us this year when deciding on a hatchling rack, and we chose to purchase it pre-made from animal plastics and went with the IRIS330(15) 15 SHELVES HIGH, 45 TUBS TOTAL . they are lighter, easier to move around when needed, easy to disassemble for moving, plus the racks pre-made you will have tubs available to you if any of yours break, nothing worse then trying to find a tub that has been discontinued or redesigned and wont fit in your home made rack.

as far as the gene idea's i agree with Deb, ditch the poss hets and get something you want to work with, it is a hobby, get what you enjoy, then work from there. i personally do not plan on ever purchasing a Het for anything, unless it is just something in there on the visual base. IE: Clown Poss het O.G.. although eventually i may try to prove it out, my main focus would be the visual Clown breeding's.

Good Luck either way you go.

My 2 possible het boys are pets. The first one was purchased from a local breeder when I lived in TN and I didn't care that he was het for anything. The 2nd one I got was a prize from a photo contest. He's actually 66% het for axanthic, also. But, like I said, I don't really want to breed for albino or axanthic so if I do choose to breed those animals it won't be for that.

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Originally Posted by Punkymom

My 2 possible het boys are pets. The first one was purchased from a local breeder when I lived in TN and I didn't care that he was het for anything. The 2nd one I got was a prize from a photo contest. He's actually 66% het for axanthic, also. But, like I said, I don't really want to breed for albino or axanthic so if I do choose to breed those animals it won't be for that.

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nothing wrong with that!.

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Originally Posted by JennM

Ditto! You can go to HomeDepot or Lowes. Get the coated melamine sheets. Ask them to cut it for you as well. You can make a 5 tub rack for really cheap. Here's a link to give you an idea. The biggest expense is the t-stat and heat tape.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEyNBUUf-SA

You can look through here as well:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/forum...y-and-Supplies

Good luck!

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Considering that you can get a 5 tub rack of the ecomomy plastics line from Animal plastics for $235.00 with heat, I would buy rather than build. I've built plenty of racks myself in the past and frankly when you consider the time involved of building your own and the much lighter weight/easier to clean product you get from one of the cage manufacturers, I personally would not build my own again.

The reason I said 10-12 slot rack is because if you're really serious about breeding, you'll fill it up in no time. You don't HAVE to use every slot but it's always a good idea to have spare space available. You could always go with one of the 5-6 slot racks that are stackable so that it's easier to add on.

It'll take me a long time to fill a 10-12 slot rack with snakes. Single mom of 3, remember? I make minimum wage. How do the economy racks retain heat? I have one of the racks from Reptile Basics and it's great. We keep our house cold in the winter and before I got the rack I had the hardest time keeping their cages warm. They were in tanks and then they were in tubs but not in a rack. Until I got the rack I was struggling to keep their temps up.

Okay so after doing a quick search on here I'm not going to go with the economy rack. We keep our house too cold for that.

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Originally Posted by Punkymom

It'll take me a long time to fill a 10-12 slot rack with snakes. Single mom of 3, remember? I make minimum wage. How do the economy racks retain heat? I have one of the racks from Reptile Basics and it's great. We keep our house cold in the winter and before I got the rack I had the hardest time keeping their cages warm. They were in tanks and then they were in tubs but not in a rack. Until I got the rack I was struggling to keep their temps up.

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Why not get another RBI rack if you have one already and like it? They are stackable so you can order more as you need them.

Yep! That's what I'm going to do. It might end up being more expensive in the long run, but I love the RBI racks!