Are your Balls for breeding?

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Originally Posted by fishmommy

you'd be surprised!
Many people can afford that kind of purchase without the experience to back it up. I almost spent that kind of money on my first snake, and I am strictly a pet keeper not a breeder.

As for fish, I sold quite a few that were hundreds of dollars each! What I found was that the people who wanted the expensive ones were often the ones with the least good intentions! Those guys would ususally be seeing dollar signs and the chance to make a quick buck. I found that the mid range tended to bring in the serious hobbyists who wanted something to love and care for - those were the best customers in my mind :)

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i have bred cichlids and sold them. i always took the time to educate my buyers... assisting them to get the right set ups, to do their water changes etc. you can't control what other people do with their pets... but you can control how you sell them ;)

i plan to breed. that's why we've set about purchasing some morphs to get things started in a few years. my hubby is ready to retire... again... and it'll be a good hobby for him to pursue. fortunately for us, because we keep so many different types of pets we know a lot of 'pet' people as well as the local breeders around here. at this time, there isn't anyone producing morphs of balls... so we hope to fill that need.

as for whether or not an animal should be bred just simply for the 'experience'. IF there are quality homes available for the babies, i'm all for it... if however, there isn't... i'm completely against it. adding to the overwhelmed rescue centres is not something i wish to do. :cool:

No, I don't plan to ever breed Dax. We only have 2 snakes in total, Dax the BP and Toby our little cornsnake. Toby has a deformed spine, so, of course I wouldn't breed him. Dax is perfect in every way, but he is a normal, and split to nothing (or at the least, nothing we could prove)

If someone that I trusted and knew very well came to me begging to breed my baby to their female, I might. But as far as planning it or making it happen on my own, no.

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

. I just like to ask...If you have a pair of reptiles, what reason is there not to breed??

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I can think of many reasons why not to breed. Culling an animal or animals with birth some major birth defect from the breeding stock is one reason.

If you owned one of the larger species of pythons or boas, those capable of clutch sizes of 60+ offspring, I think there's a good argument to be made that maybe you shouldnt breed them.

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Of course breeding should be done by responsible keepers...I was considering my audience to be responsible since I think that the majority of people here are great a keeping their animals...in fact I can't think of one offhand that is not ;)

What I was saying that if the demand for offspring is there...why not breed?

The issue with iguanas and burms is not that they are being produced.....it is that the producers have NO REGARD in terms of who they sell to. Again, a responsible keeper knows when they should and shouldn't breed, etc..... ;)

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I question how easy it is to sell 95 Retics or 70 Green Anacondas to responsible, experienced keepers of animals. You could always keep them but again, how many people have the necessary logistics and facilities for animals of this size and weight?

To me.....For many of the larger species of pythons and boas, large scale demand coupled with responsible ownership is simply not there! And supplying the demand to those who will not be responsible will only continue the drive towards regulations of large species seen in states like Florida, where Burmeses have become a major threat to native wild-life.

So to me there are often many good reasons not to breed animals in captivity. The ecology of an area, the market for that species, the genetics of an organism, the size and fecundity of the species, the logistics of housing....these all need to be taken into consideration when choosing to breed or not to breed even a pair of animals.

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

as for whether or not an animal should be bred just simply for the 'experience'. IF there are quality homes available for the babies, i'm all for it... if however, there isn't... i'm completely against it. adding to the overwhelmed rescue centres is not something i wish to do. :cool:

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Exactly!

Me, I am a collect of all things beautiful and rare. Ball pythons being no exception.
Can't say that they will ever be more than pets that I love and adore.
I will be one of those crazy people who by the time I am done will have spent thousands on ball pythons just to have as pets and admire their beauty.
I still need to add to my collection a Pied, Albino, Spider, Stripe and God only knows what else. :)

I shall leave the breeding for the breeders.

I might eventually get a female and breed Al to her, but at the time being he's just a pet. :)

i will sell but i mostly want to breed for personal upgraded snakes tho. i didnt want to have to drop over 1000 for a snake so i just decided to find a deal on a pair of het albinos. which i did :D hopefully they produce for me next season! i will keep one and prob sell the rest of the snakes

i'm not OPPOSED to breeding my pets but im wouldn't be in it for business (i wouldn't object to selling the babies though (money's money)

I thought they were :carrot:

heh....we got this thread to 3 pages before that joke showed up :P

I have a noraml color female and a albion color male that are my babies and are just my pets. I would not even consider breeding them because if you do not know what you are doing alot of things could go wrong and you could loss one of your snakes are both so make sure you know what you are doing and do alot of research before you get into breed them because they are to good of pets to loss but that is just my prefenerce. Good luck on breeding if you do get into breeding.

:D Angel3wolf