Fire Male Breeder - input? :)

Hello folks, I'm looking at this Fire Male to add to my collection.... he is a proven breeder at 750g. The guy, who is liquidating much of his collection, was asking $300 but accepted my offer of $200 for him.... What do you guys think? :)

http://i1285.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8beed533.jpg

TIA!

It's a good thing he came down to market value :P
I'd need a better pic to give any kind of opinion on quality.

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Originally Posted by snakesRkewl

It's a good thing he came down to market value :P
I'd need a better pic to give any kind of opinion on quality.

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I just fixed it with a larger pic... that one was small... can you see him better now? :) Do you think $200 is still too much? I haven't sealed the deal.....

It's really hard to tell the snakes actual color with that photo, and with fires that's pretty important.

Also, In the last 2 years I have bought 2 fire males just smaller than that boy for half that price, $200 isn't a horrible price but If breeding was the goal, the brighter and nicer fire you get, the nicer the babies you'll make.

That picture isn't in the best lighting..but he looks at least average. He has a nice head flame, some cool blushing on his back. He certainly is a fire. Go see him in person, and if you like him and he looks bright and healthy, then get him. Good luck! Fires are a great gene to work with.:gj:

Very good to know - I will ask him for another pic :) I don't want to drive a whole hour for nothing, which is where I'd pick him up... IF I decide to get him :)

Will definitely go see him in person tomorrow... and let you guys know! He is from Mike Wilbanks...

I am not so sure that it matters if he is a great looking fire or not. It doesn't matter for the calico gene, piebald gene and the same goes for many others. Just a thought! I think it is a good price for a breeder male. Hope it all works out for you!

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Originally Posted by mario16

Because of the head spot is how you can tell it's a fire from a normal? or do normals have that had spot too

Sent from my LG Esteem

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Good fires generally have a more pronounced head stamp, but the color is also a big factor.

For this particular Fire, it is not clean enough for my tastes, but if the color is there in person should be a good breeder.

If it's really a proven breeder (has been with a female that produced eggs which hatched with some fires in the clutch) and not just one that has been observed copulating, then I'd say it's a good price. Just my personal opinion.

Yes he has definitely produced at least one clutch :) he bred him last year

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Originally Posted by bpdesign

I am not so sure that it matters if he is a great looking fire or not. It doesn't matter for the calico gene, piebald gene and the same goes for many others. Just a thought! I think it is a good price for a breeder male. Hope it all works out for you!

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It's a gene used to brighten other genes, it matter a lot.
Just like a pastel, or any of the genetics we use to brighten up combo's, you want the brightest example you can get if you care about the quality of combos you are making.

Calico and pieds are not brightening genetics, they are pattern snakes for the most part.

Well, I got him!! :) yippeeeeee! Producing plugs too!

So you're saying if I have a not so great female pastel and I breed her she will throw not so great babies? If you do you need to take ball pythons 101 or something. I have a horrible pastel female and she has consistently produced some great looking pastels

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Originally Posted by stoaob3

So you're saying if I have a not so great female pastel and I breed her she will throw not so great babies? If you do you need to take ball pythons 101 or something. I have a horrible pastel female and she has consistently produced some great looking pastels

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have you seen how great looking those pastel babies are then they're the same size as your female?

Yep lol two are gonna breed hopefully next year. I'm not saying you don't want to selectively breed. But his first male fire isn't going to throw a wrench in the plans as long as it is in fact a proven breeder. Imho

This is a good discussion - since what we produce to sell is really important, it's good to get input on parents and genetics, etc. Personally, I am trying to get good representations of the morph to breed, and would rather put out a little extra money to get a nice one vs a crappy one, but every once in a while a really good deal does come along too. Anyway, I digress. I guess it's hard to know if your average snakes are going to put out quality offspring unless you raise some of them up.