New Breeder

I have been keeping ball pythons for just over a year now and I am looking into getting into breeding. Right now all I have is a male pinstripe and a couple normal females. I was wondering what i should get to start my breeding projects. I would like to stick to more dominant and co-dominant morphs and maybe pick up a couple of hets for future projects. I wanted to see what you guys would suggest to get as a starter breeding group.

It really depends upon how much money you have to spend and what your personal preferences are as far as morphs go. I would think starting out with some of the base morphs would be a good start and fairly inexpensive - pastel, mojave, lesser, etc. Buy your females first because it takes them a year or two longer to reach sexual maturity. If you can afford it, you might want to buy a nice three or four gene male. That will give you a good mix when breeding. Good luck.

Yeah that is a personal choice its all in what u want to do but I would get some pastel spiders mojave lesser cinnamon and black pastel can't go.wrong with thoes in the beginning

Get a female morph that is part of a morph you want to make for your own collection. Breed for that morph and sell everything else off. Then move the project along.

People constantly make the mistake of breeding for what is trending instead of breeding for what they want. You will feel a lot more accomplished when you start looking at your collection and seeing more animals that were produced by you than ones bought from other breeders.

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Originally Posted by Gloryhound

Get a female morph that is part of a morph you want to make for your own collection. Breed for that morph and sell everything else off. Then move the project along.

People constantly make the mistake of breeding for what is trending instead of breeding for what they want. You will feel a lot more accomplished when you start looking at your collection and seeing more animals that were produced by you than ones bought from other breeders.

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Check out http://www.worldofballpythons.com/ and play with the genetic wizard & check out the morph list. See what makes you go "wow!" and then start with the base morphs for that and build up :) Trying to breed for what's hot now isn't going to turn out well 2-3 years down the line (assuming you get a hatchling female). Work with what you love, and you'll do great. Work trying to make a buck, and you might lose interest or get disheartened when prices drop. Some of the great starter morphs someone has already listed, you can make many beautiful morphs with mojave, lesser, pastel, spider, fire etc. Hope your projects go well!

Thank you for the input and tips. I like the idea of building up to what I eventually want.

I'd get something pastel or mojave/lesser/butter because they look cool with the pinstripe. But it's all up to you and what you want to make in the future. You should base all your purchases on your future plans and where you want to be.

I really want to get a female butter for my pin. I was thinking of eventually working towards a nuclear pinstripe. I really like the coloring of those. I was thinking of trying to get a bumblebee also.

If you are looking to make a bumblebee you will need a pastel and a spider.

I meant buy a bumblebee so then I will already have the pastel and spider gene

Then buy a female butter and bumblebee..they could probably be had for ~$500 and you could potentially hit some queen spins in 3-4 years (these were just the morphs you mentioned). How much money do you have to spend on breeding stock?

I was in your shoes two years ago. I bought a female mojave, female spider, and male lesser. After that I was able to pick up two breeding size female normals, female pinstripe, and breeding size super pastel male. I was able to breed the super pastel to the two normal females. My first clutch of four eggs just hatched out and I have another clutch of 6 eggs due in a month all pastels. I didn't want to mess with normals (afraid I couldn't sell them.) This next season the lesser male, spider female, and pinstripe female will be ready. I'm so excited to hopefully create some kingpins and lesser bees. My female mojo isn't the best eater so probably won't be ready for another year or so (I can't wait to try for a BEL).

This has been my experience and I'm loving it. Best of luck to you.

I don't have a whole lot to spend but a $500 female isn't out of the question. I'm really thinking I want a female butter, I like what that gene does with about any other gene. But I also want a double gene female so I'm kind of torn because I can't buy both at the same time.

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Originally Posted by bmalk89

I don't have a whole lot to spend but a $500 female isn't out of the question. I'm really thinking I want a female butter, I like what that gene does with about any other gene. But I also want a double gene female so I'm kind of torn because I can't buy both at the same time.

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Just curious, but why not? The butter female combined with the bumblebee should run around $500 together. If its space, then you need to consider what you'll do for housing the babies and whatever other breeding stock you'll house over the years. Just some things to consider. Good luck with your projects and please let me know if you need any help.

Oh I was thinking $500 each. It's hard for me to find butter combo females so I didn't really know how much one would be. And right now I have 5 spots open in my current rack and I can always add another rack. I was also wondering if I had an identical rack, if I could run both off the same thermostat

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Originally Posted by bmalk89

Oh I was thinking $500 each. It's hard for me to find butter combo females so I didn't really know how much one would be. And right now I have 5 spots open in my current rack and I can always add another rack. I was also wondering if I had an identical rack, if I could run both off the same thermostat

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Absolutely, just make sure you don't have too much wattage stacked up on the stat. I've got 3 running off of a herpstat right now