If you had to choose 3 Ball Python morphs to start with...

Starting off I would only buy 3 females and buy males after a couple of years when there getting close to breeding weight. Ide say the first ones i would buy would be

0.1 Mojave
0.1 Spider
0.1 pastel

If I were to just have three... A lesser, a clown, and my normal Maru! :D
Because King Clowns are my FAVORITE! And lesser just looks great with everything (to me!) ;)

I love reading everyones choices. :D

I know I love pretty much all the spider combos (and all the bee's, killer, queen, stinger, ect), I quite like pinstripes, lessers and enchis (kingpins and lesser enchis are another two favorites). As for recessives, hypo combos are lovely. I will definitely want to try for a hypo mojave in the future. And I think the bases for all of these are in my price range.

So my paired down list so far is:

Bumblebee
Pin
Spider
Pastel or Super pastel
Lesser
Enchi
Mojave
And any of the above het for hypo.

I would be happy with any three of the above, I think.

I'm a little late but I would start over with female morphs too. (I wound up with all normal girls and one granite girl, though of the 6 normals, 2 are going this year and my granite is ready too.)
#1 bee
#2 pastel yellow belly
#3 pinstripe
(one or more het OG if possible but pushing the $1k limit)

Males come cheaper and could get a pair in a year:gj:

#1 male spider
#2 female pastel
#3 female lesser

Future queen bee factory, lol

I'm starting with a male bee, and my next two will be a female lesser and a female pinstripe. So many combo's with those three snakes.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by volcom

i'll probably buy a double gene male and 2 single gene female.
Example; 1 bumblebee male, 1 pinstripe female and 1 cinnamon female.

But if you want to spent more than $1000, you could buy a triple gene male and 2 double gene females.
Example; 1 killerbee male, 1 lemonblast female and 1 pewter female.

All depends on what you want.

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exactly what I would do

Buy a quality double co-dom female and a single gene female (no overlap in genes). Save for a year and purchase a nice double gene male.

Personally, I prefer quality over quantity, so I'd spend the $1K on one top-notch female.

Ooo, this is fun. I would go with just keepers (not for breeding), and I'd get a Ghost, an Axanthic, and an Albino. A pied would be a close 4th. It wouldn't matter male or female.

...aaaah, a girl can dream!!!

I am kinda in this boat right now. Ive been keeping snakes ( BPs and King Snakes) for a little over 2 years. If I had known what I know now when getting my first snake i would have done things COMPLETELY differently.
The last few months I have been looking into breeding BPs because no one in my area breeds BPs. (My 1st BP was a Normal male ($50) ) Anyways, I have/had about $1000 to start with. I went with getting a Pastel HET Genetic Stripe female ($250) to breed with my normal... I started thinking about it and I thought it would be best to get a male that had some cool genetics that way the off spring would actually be worth something. So, I picked up a Spider HET Genetic Stripe male ($200). BTW both the pastel and spider were about 650-750 grams when I got them, not babies. So I'm looking at $500 invested as of now, but I would only get one clutch with the set up I have now. :please: So, I want to get another female or 2 so my first season seems worth is. That means I would have to buy another adult / sub-adult snake and I cant find anything that is well started, in my price range, and worth breeding to one of my current males. I am starting to think about buying 3 normal females to breed with one of the current males I have now. This way I can keep my cost down on buying expensive female morphs, use that saved money to buy a better male (or one from my clutch Pastel HET G.S X Spider HET G.S. ) to breed with a normal female the next season. I think this is a good way to get the ball rolling, for the least amount of money up front AND still get some cool morphs from your clutches...

So for a total of $650ish you'll have 6 snakes (2 males & 4 females). Not a bad price for 6 snakes and getting a possible 4 clutches.
1.3 Normal
1.0 Spider HET Genetic Stripe
0.1 Pastel HET Genetic Stripe

The Breeding Pairs I would set up with these combos:
Spider HET Genetic Stripe X Pastel HET Genetic Stripe
Spider HET Genetic Stripe X Normal
Spider HET Genetic Stripe X Normal
Normal X Normal (I would only do this if my Spider male was getting tired out...)

Out comes for all this:

Normals
HET Genetic Stripe
Spider
spider HET Genetic Stripe
Pastel
Pastel HET Genetic Stripe
Genetic Stripe
Pastel Genetic Stripe
Spider
Spider HET G.S
Bumble Bee
Bumble Bee HET G.S.
Motley Bee
Genetic Stripe Pastel Spider

I think that's everything... But as you can see you have a lot of cool morph possibilities. And if you get lucky you hold back the female; Motley Bee, Bumble Bee, Pastel Genetic Stripe, or any other nice snake for future breeders :)

If anyone thinks my thought process on all of this is crazy... Please tell me! I am open to all ideas ;) I'm still new to the breeding side of all this. But, so far this is my best strategy for the position I'm in.

I also started breeding rats because the store I have to go to sucks and never has the right sizes in stock... Anyone who has ideas on keeping the smell down please help! Thanks and I hope everything above helps you out!