Breeding x Normal?

I'm just wondering.. Is there any point at all in breeding to a normal? I've always thought no but I've been wrong plenty before :P

Normal girls if they are really cool looking will get bred. Also if you breed doms or codoms to them half the clutch will be that dom or codom. Also people breed normals to visual morphs get the hets and breed them up. It all depends on what you want to do. I have a yb boy and a dark normal girl that were bred this year and if I get eggs then I plan to keep a yb girl. I wasn't planning to breed. I just like the looks of both the normal and my yb boy. Both are dark.

The cheapest way to start breeding is with a normal female. To me, it's a great way to start - find a nice basic pastel or something to start. My friends that are well experienced breeders all have a nice normal female in their bunch. One guy had a 4000 grab female that drops 10 eggs per clutch and has produced some beautiful babies

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Interesting.. Thanks for the insights guys. Definitely some stuff to think on. I still haven't sexed my BP, I'm just kind of assuming it's a male as it's from PetCo.

NOt all normals from petco are males. My first bp i bought at petco was a female

I agree with you. I don't think they all are but I feel the majority are.

In my personal opinion, I think normals are good for determining new morphs. Otherwise I do not plan on keeping any normals. There are lots of snakes in the hobby so why not produce something of more value and interest. I'd rather spend more on my base of females and get a good group of genes to play with than get normal females and one fancy male. A normal brings nothing to the table gene wise, but takes the same amount of time, tub space, and food that a genetically greater female could have. Especially with single gene male x normal female crosses the best outcome is that one gene. Mojaves, pastels, lessers, cinnamons, etc don't cost all that much to help you get a base of females to pair with a male.

just wondering what you would get ,thanks!

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Originally Posted by Marrissa

In my personal opinion, I think normals are good for determining new morphs. Otherwise I do not plan on keeping any normals. There are lots of snakes in the hobby so why not produce something of more value and interest. I'd rather spend more on my base of females and get a good group of genes to play with than get normal females and one fancy male. A normal brings nothing to the table gene wise, but takes the same amount of time, tub space, and food that a genetically greater female could have. Especially with single gene male x normal female crosses the best outcome is that one gene. Mojaves, pastels, lessers, cinnamons, etc don't cost all that much to help you get a base of females to pair with a male.

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Yup, thats exactly why I asked. I was thinking about how they don't bring anything to the table to have fun with. But yet take up the same amount of space/money a designer morph would (sans the initial purchase price, of course).

Yes there is a point. It just all depends where you stand and what you're looking for.

For instance male morphs are generally cheaper than female morphs, so you can pick up a proven breeder female for a good price. The male can get to breeding size well within a year if they're a solid eater and fed correctly. Females take quite a while longer, because for a young female(1500 grams) is the weight I wait for. While a male can start producing sperm plugs at 500grams and I've seen them sometimes produce earlier than that. It's all based on what you want to do and the price of the morph because of females.

normal females are of limited use. for figuring out new genes you want to keep things simple.

but for new and nice combos, both the male and the female need to contribute something. with a normal female, you cannot hit something more awesome than what the male brings to the table. if you breed a spinner or pewter to a normal you can get more spinners or pewters, sure. but make it an enchi or pastel female or something like that, and you might hit a triple gene combo you have never produced before.

there are lots of single-gene morphs on the market and prices are really coming down for some of them, which on the one hand means you shoud try for clutches with more nice combos in them to get more demand for your hatchlings, on the other hand it means you can get nice single-gene females rather cheaply and easily.

But then, when you just happen to have a normal female, and you are getting into breeding and getting the equipment you need anyway, and you just want to keep her for whatever reason (attachment, 1st pet snake, something you particularly like about her), i also see no reason to not go for the extra clutch. even if you wont hit new stuff this way, an extra clutch is an extra clutch.

Really it's what you are wanting to breed. For me personally, breeding a normal male to anything isn't worth it. Breeding a morph male to a normal female, I do that every year. I plan to keep a few normal female breeders with nice patterns throughout the years.

The patterns from the normal affect their offspring patterns too? On all the snakes or just the normals in the clutch?

If the normal's pattern is genetic, such as genetic banded or genetic black back. These can add amazing results to different morphs (ie: genetic banded enchi or a black back cinnamon).