What types should a beginner breed with first?

I am getting ready to start bringing in some ball pythons for breeding. I dont want to get in over my head and I was going to breed 3 females to one male. Does anybody have any recommendations for what types I should start with that arent more than $500 per snake (as my budget does not yet allow for more than that)? And is it a good idea to breed multiple females with one male? Thanks

Well someone will get to you. Although might I recommend cinammon BP's.

If you have a male that is willing then yes you want multiples. So I would get a proven breeder male.

If you want to breed right now one of the issues will be QT if they do not all come form the same person. Also, not sure how many breeder females will be getting moved this time of year.

well I was thinking about getting them all as babies and raising them for a few years while I go to school. Im not looking to start breeding and introducing them immediately. I am in no big hurry I just know that I should get started on collecting a few good morphs that way when I am done with school in about three years they should be nearly ready to breed. I just dont know what morphs I want to start with so I thought I would post this and see what some you thought.

Buy a proven male pied and as many het pied females as you can afford/fit in your rack.

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Originally Posted by Andybill

well I was thinking about getting them all as babies and raising them for a few years while I go to school. Im not looking to start breeding and introducing them immediately. I am in no big hurry I just know that I should get started on collecting a few good morphs that way when I am done with school in about three years they should be nearly ready to breed. I just dont know what morphs I want to start with so I thought I would post this and see what some you thought.

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Go to worldofballpythons.com and see what you like.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

Buy a proven male pied and as many het pied females as you can afford/fit in your rack.

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A male pied is over $500?


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Originally Posted by kevinb

Go to worldofballpythons.com and see what you like.



A male pied is over $500?


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He said he wanted a male and 3 females spending $500 on each snake. So thats a budget of $2000. A male pied would be like 650-800. I see female het pieds that are well started all the time for like $200. So get a male pied for like $700 and as many het pied females as he wants.

On a $2,000 starting budget I'd definitely get females soon and wait on a male for a year or so. Being that I like hypo, I'll just use my preference as an example, so I'd buy maybe a pastel yellowbelly, a pewter, and a pinstripe/spider/woma het for hypo. In a year, year and a half I'd start looking for my male and maybe shoot for a mojave hypo or black pastel hypo. This would set me up for a bunch of possible combos right off the bat when they start breeding, I would likely get some visual hypo/hypo combos, and a bunch of hets...This way, I'd be setting myself up with a nice project with a focus but a ton of ways to go with it.

Get whatever you like and whatever you can afford.. an expensive snake breeds just like a normal.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

He said he wanted a male and 3 females spending $500 on each snake. So thats a budget of $2000. A male pied would be like 650-800. I see female het pieds that are well started all the time for like $200. So get a male pied for like $700 and as many het pied females as he wants.

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True....didn't think of it from that point of view.

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Get a super-nice bumblebee male and a bunch of normal adult females.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

Get a super-nice bumblebee male and a bunch of normal adult females.

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Doing it this way would only yield spiders and pastels though. I'd get pastel females or super pastel females. That way the OP could get bumblebees and killerbees also. Much better investment.

Super pastel female babies can easily be purchased for $400-$500 each at shows.

Just look at prices of different snakes and then pick whichever ones you like the look of best and will give you the results of what you would like to produce. Its all about personal preference, you dont need others to tell you what you like, they can only tell you what they like.;) It has nothing to do with being a beginning breeder, any different morph will breed the same as any other so pick what you like.

Whether your a beginner or a seasoned vet the same thing applies. Figure out first what ya wanna produce then pick up the animals that it takes to produce them.

I would go with 4 multi gene females first:

- Lemon Blast
- Pastave
- Bumblebee
- Pewter

These would run about $500 a piece. Then in a year or so I would go ahead and purchase a male super pastel. He would roughly run $350-$400 (they are slowly coming down in price). This would give you a pretty nice starter group with no normal offspring in any of the pairings. Just make sure you get the best example of each morph.

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Originally Posted by snake lab

Whether your a beginner or a seasoned vet the same thing applies. Figure out first what ya wanna produce then pick up the animals that it takes to produce them.

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Yeah thats great advice and I have started doing that. I think I figured out what I want:
Male Pastel
Female Pastel
Female Spider
Female Mojave
Female Pinstripe

These should produce a wide spectrum of good morphs.

Those girls sound great. I wouldnt get a pastel male. Id get a calico male to put to those girls. Calico stuff is super hot. You could do crazy things with a calico to those girls for sure

Nobody here like spiders? :(

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Originally Posted by Natassja

Nobody here like spiders? :(

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Bumblebees are half spider :p

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The girl's line up looks good. However, I wouldn't go for a single gene male unless its more of the rarer morphs. Like snake lab suggested calico. That would be a good choice. But if you're set on pastels, get a pastel combo. Single gene base morph males become obsolete fast.

I suggest a pewter or something similar.

In the mean time, I wouldn't worry about males yet. If you plan in getting hatchling girls, then it would take at least 2 years to grow them up. It only takes a hatchling male a few months to reach sexual maturity. So you can get males next year.

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Thank you to all for the input I have a lot to consider but I think I have enough input to make a decision. Everyone has been a big help!

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Yeah thats great advice and I have started doing that. I think I figured out what I want:
Male Pastel
Female Pastel
Female Spider
Female Mojave
Female Pinstripe

These should produce a wide spectrum of good morphs.

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This isn't a bad list of females to start with but since you have a $2000 budget I would upgrade the females to 2 gene girls. And as others have stated you don't need a male right now since you are buying hatchling females.
If I was you this is what I would get.

Female Super Pastel
Female Spinner
Female Black Pewter
And then something like a Female Hypo or Fire.

Then start saving again for a nice male in a year or so.
Once you have these females started and getting close to breeding size find a nice Mojave Lesser BEL or even a Pastel Mojave Lesser BEL male.
This would really open up the doors to producing a large variety of nicer and higher end babies!

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Originally Posted by C&H Exotic Morphs

This isn't a bad list of females to start with but since you have a $2000 budget I would upgrade the females to 2 gene girls. And as others have stated you don't need a male right now since you are buying hatchling females.
If I was you this is what I would get.

Female Super Pastel
Female Spinner
Female Black Pewter
And then something like a Female Hypo or Fire.

Then start saving again for a nice male in a year or so.
Once you have these females started and getting close to breeding size find a nice Mojave Lesser BEL or even a Pastel Mojave Lesser BEL male.
This would really open up the doors to producing a large variety of nicer and higher end babies!

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Maybe I will do a mixture of both get a spinner and maybe a fire and then a spider and a mojave.... I am still thinking on it but I just purchased a female pastel already. what combos make the spinner and the fire? Im still learning all this. And you mention "BEL" im not familiar with that term if you could explain that too plz! thanks for the input!

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Maybe I will do a mixture of both get a spinner and maybe a fire and then a spider and a mojave.... I am still thinking on it but I just purchased a female pastel already. what combos make the spinner and the fire? Im still learning all this. And you mention "BEL" im not familiar with that term if you could explain that too plz! thanks for the input!

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Spinner = Spider + Pinstripe
Fire is a base morph
BEL = Blue Eyed Leucistic (An all white snake with blue eyes. It can either be a Super Butter/Super Lesser/Super Mojave/ ButterxLesser/ButterxMojave/LesserxMojave)

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Spinner = Spider + Pinstripe
Fire is a base morph
BEL = Blue Eyed Leucistic (An all white snake with blue eyes. It can either be a Super Butter/Super Lesser/Super Mojave/ ButterxLesser/ButterxMojave/LesserxMojave)

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Wow theres a lot I dont know! Are there any publications that can really help me fully understand ball python breeding and the different morphs and genetics? Or does everyone just learn as they go? I cant imagine thats all but any pubs would be helpful. Thank you!

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Wow theres a lot I dont know! Are there any publications that can really help me fully understand ball python breeding and the different morphs and genetics? Or does everyone just learn as they go? I cant imagine thats all but any pubs would be helpful. Thank you!

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One of the best places to see all the different morphs and combos of them, plus what will be the outcome of any breedings is
http://worldofballpythons.com
Check out both the morph list and the genetic wizard.

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Originally Posted by Andybill

Wow theres a lot I dont know! Are there any publications that can really help me fully understand ball python breeding and the different morphs and genetics? Or does everyone just learn as they go? I cant imagine thats all but any pubs would be helpful. Thank you!

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Here's a good site to look at the different morphs and combos:
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/

This can calculate different genetic combos for you:
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/wizard/

Some breeding basics:
http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

And if you don't know how to calculate recessive genes percentages, this will help:
http://www.newenglandreptile.com/gen...recessive.html

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Originally Posted by satomi325

Here's a good site to look at the different morphs and combos:
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/

This can calculate different genetic combos for you:
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/wizard/

Some breeding basics:
http://www.ballpython.ca/gallery/breeding.html

And if you don't know how to calculate recessive genes percentages, this will help:
http://www.newenglandreptile.com/gen...recessive.html

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Thanks so much you have been a big help!