Holdbacks & Growing Your Collection

Hello, friends!

With my first (and much anticipated) male arriving next week, I've pretty much worn out the WOBP Genetic Wizard dreaming of the pairings and worms of tomorrow. I'm sure I'm not the only one who plays, as my little brother calls it, Virtual Python Pimp, right?

My question for you is when you made the move from virtual breeder to actual breeder, how did you choose what to sell and what to keep as holdbacks? Did you tend to keep stunning examples of hatchlings, regardless of specific genes or sex? Or, did you set "holdback criteria" before a clutch hatches (morph, combo, sex, etc) and stick to that goal? Or, did you wait until everything was out and decide once you saw what you had? Or, did you sell everything no matter what? What would you recommend as initial plans for someone starting from the ground up? Personally, I've played through the entire spectrum of scenarios from "keep everything" to "sell everything" and can think of supporting arguments for both extremes and probably everything in between.

Similarly, for those of you that have been, or are currently, in my shoes: How do you balance growing your collection from the inside with realizing your dream of a small return on your large investment?

Thank you so much for your comments, insights, stories, and smart remarks in advance! :colbert2:

Best regards,
Eric

In my case it was easy. I love anything Spider, so the plan was to start making Spider combos and keep any that made the cut. Unfortunately, early on I made the rookie mistake of getting "male heavy" so I was only going to be keeping females. I started out with a male Spider and my first keeper was a few female Spiders. Once they got up to size I put them with my Pastel and kept a Bumblebee. Next keeper was a Butterbee. The following year I held back a Stingerbee. I broke my rule here and also kept an Enchi Butter because one day I want a Super Enchi, and also held back a male Lesserbee because he rocked. My final keepers were from 2013. I kept a female Spider Nazca, two male Lesser Yellowbelly Nazca's, and a male Yellowbelly Nazca. < I kept all those males because the Nazca was a complete surprise. :)

This coming season I'll be pairing up one of the Nazca boys to mom (Yellowbelly Nazca) in the hopes of getting a Super. I'll probably be pairing up the Stingerbee again (no eggs from her this year) and either the Bumblebee or Butterbee. Not sure what males to put to them though...:confusd:

My advice...don't end up male heavy! Seems like everyone does. :)

You can go any route you want... alot of people keep their best snake from the clutch no matter the sex but say you hit a triple or quad morph and and its the best thing you can get from the clutch... well one day it will replace its parents which was a single or double gene... starting off you really want to keep some females and not go male heavy, but if you hit your odds and pull out a triple gene male your better off keeping him to replace the father... but you can choose what you want to do is the best part.. maybe you like how one looks and want it instead of a clutch mate... or you dont like how any of them look so you sell them all... or maybe you dont have room for any more or you want to only keep 2 hold backs from 2 clutchs... your best way is to prolly wait for all of them to be hatched before deciding, but also have an idea of what you are shooting for... and keep it realistic, dont plan on 6 females to hold back on 2 clutches of 4 eggs each lol.. but make if your own, everyone goes about it a different way and after you hatch your first clutch youll know what to do :)

My pairings are done with an eye toward keeping a specific morph as a holdback if one is produced - breed what you like.

Sometimes I have a really hard time limiting myself to just one.

Thanks for sharing your personal roadmap there sho220. I'm just getting started as you know and I love the spider morphs myself and look forward to what the next few years will bring. When starting out I can easily see how it's easy to get male heavy. Right now there are so many nice males for sale in my area and the females are rare and expensive. I do have another source of income to live on so my method will be to hold back any and all good female snakes for the first year or so.

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Originally Posted by alan12013

Thanks for sharing your personal roadmap there sho220. I'm just getting started as you know and I love the spider morphs myself and look forward to what the next few years will bring. When starting out I can easily see how it's easy to get male heavy. Right now there are so many nice males for sale in my area and the females are rare and expensive. I do have another source of income to live on so my method will be to hold back any and all good female snakes for the first year or so.

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Good luck and keep us posted on your progress. :gj:

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Originally Posted by sho220

My advice...don't end up male heavy! Seems like everyone does. :)

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Yeah - I'm going to be aiming for at least (most?) a 1:4 M:F ratio. I just had the opportunity arise at the right time on a second male I couldn't pass up (I'm not banking on him going this season for me). I don't regret that decision one bit.

Side note: How did you end up with surprise Nazca in your collection? Did I miss a thread somewhere?

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Originally Posted by bcr229

My pairings are done with an eye toward keeping a specific morph as a holdback if one is produced...

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Regardless of gender?

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Sometimes I have a really hard time limiting myself to just one.

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I can only imagine. :)

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Originally Posted by bobmurffy

You can go any route you want...everyone goes about it a different way and after you hatch your first clutch youll know what to do :)

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That's the kind of advice my personality has a strong love/hate relationship with. Thanks! :P

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Side note: How did you end up with surprise Nazca in your collection? Did I miss a thread somewhere?

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I'll try to keep this short...

Several years ago I traded a female Spider for a female Yellowbelly. I did the trade with a guy that was just down the road from me. Fast forward several years, and I finally get eggs from the Yellowbelly. The babies hatch and look a bit off. Nothing drastic, just a little different. I posted pics of the clutch here and got an email from Jon Courtney of coldbloodedaddiction, who is also just down the road from me. He say's they have Nazca in them and asks about the parents of the clutch. I tell him the Lesserbee (Sire) was hatched by me and there's nothing special about him, other than he's just a nice Lesserbee. I told him the Yellowbelly (Dam) was from a guy down in Fredericksburg. Turns out, Jon knows the guy, and he got the Yellowbelly from Jon. The Yellowbelly was a baby that was related to a group of wild caught imports Jon got from Ian of Outback Reptiles, that Jon originally thought were Granites. Jon had been working with this group since 2003 and after several years proved them out to be similiar to the Paint/Sentinel/Neo/Speckled stuff that has been established. I don't think they've been proven compatible with all those yet, hence the name "Nazca" being used.

I've been hesistant to call them Nazca's because, well, I usually don't luck into stuff like this...however, I did notice they looked a bit off, and Jon's a pro breeder who I have a great deal of respect for, so his opinion holds a great deal of weight for me. I'm about 99.8% sure they're Nazcas...Producing a Super will take care of that last .2% :D

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Regardless of gender?

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Example: I have eggs incubating now from a mojave x lesser pairing. If (fingers crossed) there's just one BEL in the clutch then it will be held back regardless of gender. If the odds are in my favor and there are more than one, then it depends... if there are two males or two females, I'll hold back one. If a male and female BEL are in the clutch then I'll keep both.

I personally have planned all my future breedings with hopes of certain snakes hatching. I would holdback those specific snakes, and if any happened to be male, they would replace their father unless I like him too much. Also any absolutely exquisite hatchlings would probably have to stay with me, too.


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I think it all comes down to personally preference.

For me, it's 2 or 3 things.

1) Am I shooting for something specific for...well...me? And I hit it?! Hell yeah I am keeping it.
2) Not something I aimed for but it's a combo I don't have. Or a gender I don't have for that morph. Maybe I'll keep it if I like the look.
3) Something completely unexpected. So I am gonna keep it to dink around with.

Everything else gets sold.

That's just me though.

I tried as much as possible to follow the original plan, during the first few years I held back the best looking females to grow them and one day breed them to make even higher end combos.

Now I hold back both males and females, always the best example and always trying to follow the main plan, of course this means as I holdback 2, and 3 genes animals and as they become ready to breed, I let go of single gene animals to make sure that the collection keeps a size that I am comfortable with.

I started and still am breeding for female holdbacks for future plans.
However if I get a good looking two gene that could replace a couple males then so be it.
I started very male heavy. I am almost at a 1.1 ratio.
A couple more seasons and then if everything goes right my male population will get cut way back on my visuals.
Have to make room for a bunch of 😉hets😉 that will need to be grown out.

I will hold back no more than ONE animal per clutch. Only way to keep things sane on my end.

Now, if it is a female, hooray more females.

But, if it is male, it needs to be one that I am comfortable replacing his father with. This keeps the number of males in check.

Ex. #1: Desert Ghost X Enchi - Held back one female Enchi het DG
Ex. #2: Hypo Mojave X Black Pewter het Hypo - Held back a Hypo Black Pewter Mojave to replace the Hypo Mojave dad

There well could be clutches down the road where I do not hit the right snake I am looking for, and hold back zero.

This is my first season as well, but I decided even before the eggs came how I would do things.
I decided that a snake with a nice combo, such as lesserbee or queenbee would be holdbacks no matter the gender since they are on my morph wish list, the rest I will probably sell.

I did get a lesserbee, but not a queen, so the lesserbee is a keeper no matter gender because it is smoking hot and I wanted that morph. I also have a bumblebee that I might keep if it's a female. I don't know their genders yet, because I SUCK at popping and will ask a friend to check later on xD For now they need to grow and eat, so no rush there.

I also have a clutch coming soon from a spinnerblast, so I might get a nicer looking bumblebee from that one since this first one is a little too brown for my taste. If I get another spinnerblast female I might keep it and let it get big, and then sell/trade or breed it myself when it's adult, their value increase over time so I don't mind holding onto some babies for future value.

I do know however that before the eggs hatch next year I might have to re-prioritize things, since I will be breeding a butterfire to bumblebee/spinner/spinnerblast, aiming for nuclear spider, nuclear spinner, and nuclear bee and nuclear spinnerblast <3 Only time will tell how many holdbacks that will give me, so I know I can't keep too many from this season. I might have to settle for the lesserbee. xD

I holdback on what I want to make down the road. I also have been holding back more females than males. Gotta have the females to make the supers and might as well start getting them up to size.

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Originally Posted by Blue Apple Herps

I holdback on what I want to make down the road. I also have been holding back more females than males. Gotta have the females to make the supers and might as well start getting them up to size.

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That's what I'm thinking too and what starts getting me thinking, "Man - I'm going to have to buy more females if I want to keep up with any male holdbacks." For perspective's sake, next year's female holdbacks won't be breeding size until the 2016/2017 season. I'm glad I'm a patient person.

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

My question for you is when you made the move from virtual breeder to actual breeder, how did you choose what to sell and what to keep as holdbacks?

Did you tend to keep stunning examples of hatchlings, regardless of specific genes or sex? Or, did you set "holdback criteria" before a clutch hatches (morph, combo, sex, etc) and stick to that goal? Or, did you wait until everything was out and decide once you saw what you had? Or, did you sell everything no matter what? What would you recommend as initial plans for someone starting from the ground up? Personally, I've played through the entire spectrum of scenarios from "keep everything" to "sell everything" and can think of supporting arguments for both extremes and probably everything in between.

Similarly, for those of you that have been, or are currently, in my shoes: How do you balance growing your collection from the inside with realizing your dream of a small return on your large investment?

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First, let me clarify that I haven't actually done this yet. I've got eggs in the oven though! :D

My plan (we'll see how well I end up sticking to it....) is to have a plan and *mostly* stick to it. But you have to be willing to be flexible if something unexpectedly wonderful pops up. If I unexpectedly hatch out (insert expensive recessive morph here) and it's a male in a clutch I said I was going to sell everything or hold back only a single female... well, guess what, I'm holding back that male and possibly some of the phets. If I unexpectedly hatch out what may be a new morph, I'm holding back everything. But, for the most part, I expect to hold back a limited number of females and sell everything else in the early years. If/when I get to the point I'm expecting hatchlings with lots of genes or things like double hets where I'd need a pair, then I'll plan on holding back some males. But mostly, you can get better selection of males (and thus get higher quality ones) for a lot cheaper than females, so I'd plan on buying the males I need rather than holding them back, and that will allow me to introduce new genes (both in terms of new morphs and for the sake of avoiding inbreeding), and possibly improve the quality of my stock or get combinations I don't have the right pieces to produce. If I happen to have both the pastel and spider genes only in females, and I really want a bumblebee. Well, maybe I should just buy one instead of holding back a male to produce one. Or buy something like a cinnabee which I could then pair with my pastel to get that bumblebee and the possibility of hitting a triple as well.

I think there are 3 big things to watch out for. Lots of people have already mentioned how easy it is to get male heavy, so keep that in mind when choosing what to hold back. If you want to hold back a male, maybe you should sell the father instead of the son. BTW, that's another reason I think I should mostly only hold back females. I KNOW I'll be more attached to ones I hatched out, and that'll make it easier to sell off extra males when I've got an upgrade to replace them.

Another thing is to make sure the overall number of animals you have doesn't grow too big. If you have too many, it'll become work to take care of them, and can kill your enjoyment. Don't let that happen.

And finally, this gets mentioned in lots of "what should I buy" threads, and I think it is worth a mention here too. Hold back what you like. What excites you. Don't worry so much about what has high value or will make a better return on your investment. Which morphs & combos are worth more than others can (and will) change, so you are aiming at a moving target. At least if you are working with what you like, you'll smile when you have to clean up their poop even if they aren't worth a dime.

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Originally Posted by Royal Hijinx

I will hold back no more than ONE animal per clutch.

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Ha! I'm picturing you repeating this in the mirror in the morning before checking on the incubator for new noses.

What would have happened if the odds smiled on you and you produced both a male and a female Hypo Black Pewter Mojave from that clutch?

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Ha! I'm picturing you repeating this in the mirror in the morning before checking on the incubator for new noses.

What would have happened if the odds smiled on you and you produced both a male and a female Hypo Black Pewter Mojave from that clutch?

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Rules are meant to be broken...:D

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Originally Posted by kc261

First, let me clarify that I haven't actually done this yet. I've got eggs in the oven though! :D

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Congrats!

I'm glad to see others that put as much thought into this silly little hobby as I do. I absolutely appreciate you taking your time to lay it all out there for me.

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Originally Posted by sho220

Rules are meant to be broken...:D

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I keep telling that to my husband.

Its cool seeing peoples opinions and methods on this, great thread.

Although im at least a year away from even having a male to breed I agree with this method below the most. Of course I know once I see a few really nice combos hatch out regardless of the sex iid be tempted to hold more then one back I can say that ill TRY to follow it. Seems like a good way of keeping everything in control and not being left with a huge increase of animals in one season or too many males since (if I stick to the plan) the fathers would be replaced with the sons.

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Originally Posted by Royal Hijinx

I will hold back no more than ONE animal per clutch. Only way to keep things sane on my end.

Now, if it is a female, hooray more females.

But, if it is male, it needs to be one that I am comfortable replacing his father with. This keeps the number of males in check.

There well could be clutches down the road where I do not hit the right snake I am looking for, and hold back zero.

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If you don't want to get overwhelmed, you have to stick to a plan. It is too easy to keep too many animals and either not be able to properly care for them, or to become less excited by your collection because of the work that it will entail. As you are growing your collection, set a number for how many snakes you can add that season, then, I would holdback females and any males that can replace their father, staying under that number. When you sell an adult, then you can keep more holdbacks?

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Originally Posted by Slowcountry Balls

If you don't want to get overwhelmed, you have to stick to a plan. It is too easy to keep too many animals and either not be able to properly care for them, or to become less excited by your collection because of the work that it will entail. As you are growing your collection, set a number for how many snakes you can add that season, then, I would holdback females and any males that can replace their father, staying under that number. When you sell an adult, then you can keep more holdbacks?

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I've definitely sacrificed breeder size males and females to keep extra hatchlings. I think your point about keeping a collection to a reasonable size is important. If it becomes a burden, it's no longer fun...

Guys, what works for me is to keep pattern mutations in males, I.e. Sugars, leopards, spiders, pins, deserts, etc and my females are color mutations. I then plan my breeds 2 years in advance and pre-select my breeding sets.


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If you plan your pairings 2 years in advance, you will likely be behind the game.

I personally consider certain genes to be "female" genes...... Spider, Pinstripe, Pastel (unless you are talking a hot 3-4 gene super male with any of those genes). Just for example- I would never even holdback a hot 1.0 LemonBlast. Hot 1.0 KillerBlast- yes ;)

We are looking to hit, and holdback a hot 1.0 Sugar FireFly. Besides that maybe a Banana Enchi as far as males go.

Females.... gonna have to be a hot double gene, or a spectacular example of a morph I could use, that eats like a hog out of the egg..... Enchi, Sugar, Fire. I'll probably sell every single gene female hatchling to get a few nice yearlings that will breed sooner. Waiting 2-3 years on a single gene female seems crazy to me personally.

Recessive projects not included here ;)

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

If you plan your pairings 2 years in advance, you will likely be behind the game.

I personally consider certain genes to be "female" genes...... Spider, Pinstripe, Pastel (unless you are talking a hot 3-4 gene super male with any of those genes). Just for example- I would never even holdback a hot 1.0 LemonBlast. Hot 1.0 KillerBlast- yes ;)

We are looking to hit, and holdback a hot 1.0 Sugar FireFly. Besides that maybe a Banana Enchi as far as males go.

Females.... gonna have to be a hot double gene, or a spectacular example of a morph I could use, that eats like a hog out of the egg..... Enchi, Sugar, Fire. I'll probably sell every single gene female hatchling to get a few nice yearlings that will breed sooner. Waiting 2-3 years on a single gene female seems crazy to me personally.

Recessive projects not included here ;)

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It sounds very much like your thinking aligns with the way my head works. Also, based on your 13/14 season thread, you're on route to have a pretty dang good year to show for it. Remind me to look you up when it comes time for me to play matchmaker with my own collection!

PS - My Spinner Blast girl thanks you for the kind words about her "female genes". :gj: It's a good thing my Enchi and Sugar girls were asleep by the last sentence. ;)

And..... Holding back more than one male of the morph you desire to breed is a wise decision. One may not make it to breeding size, and even if he does, the females you plan on pairing him with may not think he's so "suave'.

If I hit more than one male Sugar FireFly, at least 2 will be held back.

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

And..... Holding back more than one male of the morph you desire to breed is a wise decision. One may not make it to breeding size, and even if he does, the females you plan on pairing him with may not think he's so "suave'.

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I agree totally for those who have medium to large numbers of snakes. Or regarding certain projects (that double het animal isn't worth a whole lot without a matching partner). And for several more reasons than the ones you list. Snakes can get sick and die. Snakes can be missexed.

But for those of us dealing with smaller collections of snakes, holding back 2 genetically identical animals really limits the possibilities of what we can produce. So, in many cases, I'd rather be delayed in reaching a particular target morph because of one of these types of issues, than be unable to reach many other morphs I'd like to target because I just don't have the genetic diversity. One has to find a balance between the two.

Collections are meant to grow :D

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Originally Posted by kc261

...But for those of us dealing with smaller collections of snakes, holding back 2 genetically identical animals really limits the possibilities of what we can produce...

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I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a moment. How is having two genetically identical animals held back in your collection limiting?

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Originally Posted by kc261

But for those of us dealing with smaller collections of snakes, holding back 2 genetically identical animals really limits the possibilities of what we can produce.

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It does not limit your possibilities, it nearly ensures them ;)

You don't need to hold them back forever. Once they get a few meals in them and get to 300-400g you will know which one you are going to hold back for sure. You hold back the stallion. The one that hits his meal as soon as it hits the tub floor. This guy had 20+ locks compared to his older, larger brother at ~15 locks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXfAo_4WTs4

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

I'm going to play devil's advocate here for a moment. How is having two genetically identical animals held back in your collection limiting?

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I said for those of us dealing with smaller collections, it would be limiting. And, I probably wasn't clear enough, but I meant those of us who are for whatever reason keeping our collection small.

If it is a choice of keeping back one or two, and that means you end up with 21 or 22 snakes you are keeping, then it isn't limiting at all. But if for whatever reason you have decided to limit the number of adults you have to 20, then it becomes a choice of keeping back one or two, and thus getting rid of 1 or 2 other animals to make space for them. Then you start limiting your genetic diversity.

Admittedly, that won't always be the case. For a really simple example, let's assume the breeder in question started out with all single gene animals. They bred their male spider to their pastel female and got a couple male bumblebees. They can get rid of the spider male that was the dad, and also their pastel male (assuming they have one), and still keep back both male bumblebees and not lose any diversity at all. But, in that assumption is the explanation to how they could lose diversity. If they don't have a pastel male, they are going to have to get rid of a different male, and possibly eliminate whatever gene that male carried from their collection.

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Originally Posted by kc261

I said for those of us dealing with smaller collections, it would be limiting. And, I probably wasn't clear enough, but I meant those of us who are for whatever reason keeping our collection small.

If it is a choice of keeping back one or two, and that means you end up with 21 or 22 snakes you are keeping, then it isn't limiting at all. But if for whatever reason you have decided to limit the number of adults you have to 20, then it becomes a choice of keeping back one or two, and thus getting rid of 1 or 2 other animals to make space for them. Then you start limiting your genetic diversity.

Admittedly, that won't always be the case. For a really simple example, let's assume the breeder in question started out with all single gene animals. They bred their male spider to their pastel female and got a couple male bumblebees. They can get rid of the spider male that was the dad, and also their pastel male (assuming they have one), and still keep back both male bumblebees and not lose any diversity at all. But, in that assumption is the explanation to how they could lose diversity. If they don't have a pastel male, they are going to have to get rid of a different male, and possibly eliminate whatever gene that male carried from their collection.

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So only limiting by a self-imposed cap on the total number of animals in your collection? I absolutely understand this reasoning, as I currently have a small collection myself. However, as KING JAMES so simply put it, "Collections are meant to grow :D" and that's what I'm looking to do. :gj:

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Originally Posted by Eric Alan

Ha! I'm picturing you repeating this in the mirror in the morning before checking on the incubator for new noses.

What would have happened if the odds smiled on you and you produced both a male and a female Hypo Black Pewter Mojave from that clutch?

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I would have kept the female and sold the male.

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Originally Posted by coreydelong

And..... Holding back more than one male of the morph you desire to breed is a wise decision. One may not make it to breeding size, and even if he does, the females you plan on pairing him with may not think he's so "suave'.

If I hit more than one male Sugar FireFly, at least 2 will be held back.

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I agree with having extra males in case something happens (death, lack of performance, etc...), but I personally would not keep 2 of the same thing. For all of my non-recessive projects I have a primary male and a backup male laid out. I make sure I am happy with either pairing, and all is well. That backup male may be the cleanup hitter on more than one project.

When I first began breeding, I felt like I wanted to keep everything. I've only hatched out a few clutches and because last year was so bad for me (two clutches had issues due to temperature spike and dehydration in one of the clutches) I took this past season off and I might take this season off. My most recent good year (2011) I wanted to keep just about every morph that hatched out, but I quickly learned that wasn't a good idea because I filled up nearly all available space. So over the past few seasons, I've been selling a few snakes here and there to thin down my numbers. I'm down to 18 and plan to sell another 3-4 or so to make more room. I've decided for now I'm going to breed small scale (because now that my reptiles are in a smaller room, I don't have the space to expand with many holdbacks), maybe 1-3 clutches a year until I move into a bigger home. Holdbacks will only be those snakes I really think I breed in the future and for which I have breeding plans already thought up.

For example, my next pairing will be a bumblebee to a pinstripe. I will only hold back a female or male spinner blast. Anything else will be sold. Years ago, I'd have wanted to keep any female or male bumblebees, spinners, or lemon blasts. Now, I'd rather wait for that 3-gene animal to use as a breeder, rather than keeping multiple 2-gene animals.

Since this is my 5th year of breeding, I have been lucky enough to hit on a few nice clutches (well for me they are anyway). I held on to 4 hatchlings total (2 male and 2 female). When I hold back males, I hold back supers or multi-gene hatchlings that will be replacing their fathers (this year jigsaw replaces pinstripe and silver streak will eventually replace my black pewter as I am attempting my black pewter to pewter pairing again next year). As for females, it depends on what projects we are working on. Or if the female just blows me away I will keep her. The females I kept this year are a pastel enchi and a nice little bee which I plan on working into several projects down the line with a new morph that should be arriving Wednesday :D

I'd fall into the category of holding back 2 of the same gene male. Just because I'm planning my breeding on a project level with very specific desired outcomes. I currently have only 4 projects if you can call them that. The only purpose of one of them is to crank out the highest quality of a particular line of animal while line breeding for my own visual tastes. I'm extremely hopeful and excited about that particular projects potential for me especially starting out! It's because of the specificity of my desired outcomes that for most projects a standard backup male wouldn't be sufficient. I currently only have around 30 Ball Pythons and the 4 projects but as time goes on and I get what I consider to be a large collection then I might have enough mobility to allow for another back up male of other genetics move into a different slot. As Corey has pointed out you don't have to keep him forever and from my experience you can tell the problem snakes fairly early although I do not have experience with breeding just feeding.

OH BTW Alan... I h8 u... How many snakes have you picked up this year... with 4 months in the year left... lol Jelly my friend Jelly...

LOL I'm also single and have way too much time on my hands. Plus I'm paying for it big time! Imagine my weekly rat bill until I get these suckers breeding! At least you've managed to get some rats to produce, mine just eat and drink a ton! I'm pretty sure at least one should have got pregnant and dropped by now. Dang.

At ~150g I have pretty much determined most of my holdbacks out of the doubles of the same morph I have produced :gj:

I like that this thread has "risen to the top" now that more people are hatching clutches. Thanks for the additional insight, everyone!

We usually plan what we want to keep from each clutch - including sex ;). Mostly we are keeping females that are best looking examples of the morphs / combos or males that we want to use in the future replacing it's dad etc. :).