Zebra Bee

I would start with either a pastel het axanthic or a spider het axanthic female, and the shop for the other gene in a male a year or two later.

If you start with a bumblebee and an axanthic, you'll have to breed them together to get the spider and the pastel het axanthic... and you'll have to hope you produce them in a opposite gendered siblings, so you can breed them together a few years.

Of course, if you start out with a bumblebee and an axnathic you DO have some neat morphs show people, right out the door. And then maybe you'll get very lucky and hit the bumble het axanthic in your first pairing (which you can then breed to a plain old het axanthic. Or even to another pastel het axanthic, which would let you try for the super zebra.)

I do see the appeal either way, if you're starting your first big project.

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Originally Posted by Vasiliki

Talk to our local breeders, hun! Just because they don't post doesn't mean they're not working on projects. There may be some breeders locally that are playing with Axanthic lines. I know a few that are working with Bee projects (Killer) but they are keeping it to themselves for the most part.

The first person I would hit up would be Tracey. Her parents just left town, so she's back to answering e-mails. Check and see what her project plans are for the next little while. She usually has an idea of what the other projects are being worked on around you as well. She'll be hitting up the meeting in August, so you could even chat with her a bit there. Another person to get in touch with would be BrettKeith on ERAS. Not sure if he has a website, but I know he was working with Bee lines as well. Steve Mallet was doing some stuff, but I think they're focusing on corns right now.

Long story short, yep, it might be cheaper to try to breed your own, but the other thing to consider is the fact that you'll be breeding. And as mentioned above, it could take years to get what you're looking for.

Don't get stuck on one morph is the first thing I'd suggest! Especially since you're new to BPs. My tastes have changed over the course of the year, and now I have a pretty solid idea of what I really like. Getting myself a Pied, and then eventually I want either a Lesser Bee or a Killer Bee. Or an Enchi Lesser. But when I first started, I was all over the place with morphs that I thought looked cool.

Definitely chat it up. You might be surprised, for sure.

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Thanks for the advice Danielle, I didn't even think of asking Tracey about it to be honest, lol. Probably should have thought of that sooner. :P I've always loved Spider based Morphs and when I saw the Zebra Bee I just fell in love. Even if I didn't end up producing a Zebra Bee after a few years all of the different morph combinations that can be made with a Spider het Axanthic and a Pastel het Anxanthic are pretty awsome! I would mostly be breeding for myself too so even if I couldn't sell babies right away I wouldn't be very sad about having to keep them, hahaha.
Like I said though, it'll be a couple of years before I'd consider starting to breed because I want to do a TON of research first. I saw what happened to I think it was Sheeva on ERAS with her egg binding and that would be terrifying. :(

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Originally Posted by loonunit

I would start with either a pastel het axanthic or a spider het axanthic female, and the shop for the other gene in a male a year or two later.

If you start with a bumblebee and an axanthic, you'll have to breed them together to get the spider and the pastel het axanthic... and you'll have to hope you produce them in a opposite gendered siblings, so you can breed them together a few years.

Of course, if you start out with a bumblebee and an axnathic you DO have some neat morphs show people, right out the door. And then maybe you'll get very lucky and hit the bumble het axanthic in your first pairing (which you can then breed to a plain old het axanthic. Or even to another pastel het axanthic, which would let you try for the super zebra.)

I do see the appeal either way, if you're starting your first big project.

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Thanks very much for the advice! That's what I was thinking is that even if I didn't hit the Zebra Bee after a while of trying all of the morphs that would come out of that pairing would be awsome anyways, lol. At least in my opinion. It'd be a pretty sweet project I think. :)

I would personally get a super pastel anxanthic visual male and a bumble bee 100% het anxanthic female.
It's gonna be more money but you won't through any normals and you can maybe even get killer bee anxanthic. I'm pretty sure.

T.A.W Snakes & Reptiles

My recommendation: Breed a bumblebee to a female Axanthic, and hold back a male bumblebee (provided you get one).

Breed the male bumblebee het Axanthic to the female Axanthic, and voila--sooner or later. :)

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Originally Posted by B-Dan888

I would personally get a super pastel anxanthic visual male and a bumble bee 100% het anxanthic female.
It's gonna be more money but you won't through any normals and you can maybe even get killer bee anxanthic. I'm pretty sure.

T.A.W Snakes & Reptiles

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The only problem with that is finding a Super Pastel Anxanthic, lol.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

My recommendation: Breed a bumblebee to a female Axanthic, and hold back a male bumblebee (provided you get one).

Breed the male bumblebee het Axanthic to the female Axanthic, and voila--sooner or later. :)

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That sounds like it might be a good plan.

I'll have to look at lot more into this to see what would be the preferable method for me!

You could buy and an axanthic female today for around $400. Raise her up for a couple of years and then buy a bumblebee het axanthic male (making sure same line) when your girl is getting ready to breed. This is the most economic IMO in the sense that you won't be dealing with 66% het offspring so your ability to sell your offspring much easier.