Feeling emotional about rehoming adults

So my hatchlings are taking food regularly and will soon be heading to their new homes. While I think of rehoming my babies, it makes me think about the subadults and adults I also need to re-home. Either these animals don't fit into my breeding plans anymore, or I have other multi-gene animals that can replace them.

I am having a really hard time bringing myself to put these older animals up for sale since I raised them from hatchlings and purchased them with the intent to keep them. I have a very strong emotional attachment to some of my older males as they were some of the first animals I got when I started keeping ball pythons in 2008.

I know I am male heavy right now and I really should re-home some of my single gene males and a couple normal females.. I just can't bring myself to say goodbye to them!!!! How do you guys do it?? I'm feeling stressed out just thinking about it! Why do I feel so guilty??

I can't speak on how to cope with letting them go, since every animal I have ever brought in on a "temp" basis (foster status) I have ended up keeping. I did eventually have to let one of our dogs go to a new home because it was better for him (needed to be an only dog). I still miss him however I know that he is now in a home that is better suited for him and he is getting all the attention he could need. Hope this at least helps a little.

I know what you are going through, I recently rehomed my male pastel, who was my first snake ever. It was really tough, but what helped me through it the most was knowing that he went to a great home. When somebody contacts you, ask to see their setup and what their future plans are with them. I was very happy to find that the folks who were interested were a family that was just getting started with snakes and had a fantastic setup ready to go before they even contacted me. My first snake turned into their first snake, and they are absolutely loving him. Before this, O turned down a local home that would have meant more profit for me because the guy seemed to be rushing into a commitment he was not prepared for. I think that knowing that my little boy is just as happy and healthy as he was with me is really comforting. Hope this helps!

Its a hard thing to do for me as well. I traded my green tree python last night for a ball python morph. At the time I was more than happy but now I am feeling a little down about it. Its hard to get rid of any pet but you just have to do what is best for you and what will make you happy in the end and stick with your gut.

then don't? lol unless you're scraping by to afford their food or something or really need the money. who said you can't have pets? i have snakes i never intend to breed.

Just don't rehome them!
I purchase every snake with the intent of keeping them for their entire lives, whether or not they are still particularly useful in breeding (some of which are definitely not). But they're my babies and I'm their mama and there is just no way I could ever let them go.

I've not been faced with selling some of my males yet. However, if my lesser gives me a pastel lesser son, he will probably replace his dad. Jax, my lesser, is a house favorite and we're all attached to him so I know it will be hard. I definitely don't envy your position.

I have, however, had to sell a female spider that I had raised up from a hatchling. When I traded her, she was only 725g or so but I just had to keep in mind that she was being replaced by a bumblebee and that I was doing this for a business. I traded her to someone on the forums and that helped me to realize that she would be in good hands and make lots of pretty babies one day.

I've been on the receiving end as well. I got my lesser male and my big normal from a local breeder. She was VERY attached to the normal (Tabitha). She had raised Tabitha since birth and so, when I purchased her, I kept her name and sent the breeder periodic updates. Now that Tabitha is day 32 POS and I'm eagerly awaiting her first clutch, and mine, I keep the breeder informed and it works out well for us.

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeGeek

then don't? lol unless you're scraping by to afford their food or something or really need the money. who said you can't have pets? i have snakes i never intend to breed.

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I've been going back and forth about this for nearly a year... Should I rehome them? Should I just keep them? Should I rehome them??

I can afford to take care of them all, that isn't a problem... I just feel like they would be better off with another small breeder or just as a pet. There are still some snakes that I probably won't ever breed and I won't ever rehome. They are too special to me...


The main ones that I am thinking of rehoming are a male spider, male pinstripe, two adult female normals, and two yearling het VPI axanthics. The ones I am having the hardest time thinking about rehoming are the male pin and spider. I had them since they were babies. The spider was sexed as female when I bought him, and I only found out last year that "she" was actually a he. I feel awful because I was so excited to breed "her" and I was really disappointed to find out he was actually a he. It feels so wrong to just rehome an animal that I raised simply because it wasn't the sex that I had thought. :( I feel like the only way I would rehome him is if he was going to live as a pet or be used for educational purposes. He is a really sweet snake... :(

This is why I don't think I will ever go into breeding. I grow attached very quickly and would probably cry every time I had to let one go. I'm content in having a small collection <too small right now, slowly working on increasing the man's 'appreciation' of my new hobby.> so that I can give equal time to each of my no legged babies.

The easy answer... since you said that finances are not a factor for rehoming, keep them.

Oh, just keep them! If you've been debating this for awhile then maybe the best would be to hold onto them: no regrets. You can always rehome then down the road if you decide to do so, but may not be able to buy them back if you'd let them go.

I think I'll have to compromise with myself. Rehome the 4 normal girls and keep the two males. :P

Now to take pictures and list them for sale... Sigh!!!!

This is the first year we've had to sell off some of our breeders to make space for holdbacks (not really a $ issue, but need space). I had a hard time of it, but then I saw how excited their new owners were, and I remember being pretty grateful to the people that sold me proven breeders when I started out, too. I do have a few that I won't sell, though.

I debated whether or not to re-home a het albino girl that I rescued.

The guy who had her before bred BPs, but only had 3 females (normals including her) and 1 super pastel male. He mainly kept burms. But anyway, he was divorcing his wife at the time and had to leave his animals at the house. The wife turned off all the heat in the house and just kept the fireplace going as the only heat source. This girl's enclosure was a cabinet in the same room as the fireplace, where as all the other snakes were left in the garage. This was in the middle of winter. The guy is a friend of my boyfriends and called us up to take his snakes to try to save. All of the snakes had RI. The super pastel died as did the other two girls. This het. albino girl was the only survivor and I worked really hard help her get better. It's been a year and half since then. She's 100% healthy and has grown from 800g to 2010g. I didn't have any plans to breed her so I put her up for adoption. I did feel some sort of 'connection', but I knew someone else would have better use for her than I.(Either as a nice pet or a breeder).

She did go to someone with a vast reptile collection who was going to be bred to an albino pin in the future. I am happy someone knowledgeable was able to take her and that she could also be useful towards their breeding goals.

I think the same thing can be said about your situation. Yes, it is sad to let some snakes go. But depending on who takes them, they could make someone a very nice pet or a fantastic addition to their breeding adventure.

I already sold my cinny male, and will be selling my fire boy too soon. I felt a LITTLE bit bad since i had them both as babies and raised them up but overall i was happy afterwards. Their lives revolved around eating, pooping, shedding and breeding the ladies. In their new homes they'll get to knock up more lady snakes, so in a way i'm doing them a favor. It's not like they'll miss me, remember me, or even know i was doing them a favor haha!

Yeah it can be tough selling the adults you have raised from babies.
We sold our male Pastel this year, he was the first morph we bought and what really got us into the morph world so that one was tough.
And we also sold our male Bee which was one of the wife's favorites so she was alittle upset with me on that one!

Unfortunately it is part of it as your collection grows.
For us it isn't about feeding them, but a matter of space. So at some point we have to move some of the males we aren't going to be breeding anymore.
We do have a couple males our Pied and our Mojave that I don't think we will sell.
But I have learned and told the better half to try and fall in love with the females!(Of course that doesn't always work!) It's easier to justify keeping them since even a Normal female can still be of use from a breeding/business aspect.

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Originally Posted by Mike41793

I already sold my cinny male, and will be selling my fire boy too soon. I felt a LITTLE bit bad since i had them both as babies and raised them up but overall i was happy afterwards. Their lives revolved around eating, pooping, shedding and breeding the ladies. In their new homes they'll get to knock up more lady snakes, so in a way i'm doing them a favor. It's not like they'll miss me, remember me, or even know i was doing them a favor haha!

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Yes your cinnamon male like my girls and your fire will also this fall.

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I do have the space for them..but it would be roomier and allow for me to get into other projects if I had a couple less adults and sub adults. I have 30 slots for adults, 14/7 (sideways rack) for juvies and 12 for hatchlings.

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Originally Posted by toyota89

Yes your cinnamon male like my girls and your fire will also this fall.

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Haha see steffe, you'd be doing them a favor letting them go get with more ladies!

Remember, YOU decide who you sell to. If you don't wanna sell to someone, then don't. Maybe you can find someone local or who will at least stay in contact for awhile so you're more comfortable with it. :)