What do you look for in purchasing a ball python?

Hey guys and gals!

Wanting to get an understanding of what people look for when choosing a ball python (or multiple animals).
Do you prefer a heavily multi gened animal or perhaps just a crisp vibrant 2 gene/3 gene animal.

I am hoping to breed a largish collection and to obviously succeed in having regular buyers for my animals I want to know what you guys think.
Leaving aside the fact that the majority of the animals I want to breed are morphs that I love (Clown, bamboo, bongo, leopard, banana and axanthic...if you must know :P ) but i know it is also good to be aware of whats "hot" and whats not.

Hope you can help!!

IMO, quality is important... More important than an animal having a lot of genes involved. If I was in your shoes and wanting to start breeding (I assume you already own BPs?), then I would select one project and get maybe 2 females that would work with that project to start growing up and then hunt for the perfect male to go with them.

I like reduced pattern and a lot of contrast, also if a breeder can show you pics of the parent animals that will help tell you how yours might mature. Some BPs hold color a lot better than others, so this could be important in the long run.

Also keep in mind that when you have many genes at play in one clutch, it can be more difficult to accurately label what they are... Especially if you are new to breeding.

Finally, you may want to look at your local market. If you are planning on shipping, then this isn't as big of a factor, but some people sell mostly locally and certain morphs are more popular in certain areas. If you want to do local sales and your local market is slow on BPs (hard to move) then maybe plan on starting small and seeing how your results are before producing a lot of clutches. This also plays into why it is important to breed what you like... you might have to hang onto the entire clutch for a while to move them and make less profit, so it's better to like what you're producing and enjoy the animals.

Quality and the ability to advance my projects. I prefer 2-4 Gene anything over that gets muddy (usaly)

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Originally Posted by artgecko

IMO, quality is important... More important than an animal having a lot of genes involved. If I was in your shoes and wanting to start breeding (I assume you already own BPs?), then I would select one project and get maybe 2 females that would work with that project to start growing up and then hunt for the perfect male to go with them.

I like reduced pattern and a lot of contrast, also if a breeder can show you pics of the parent animals that will help tell you how yours might mature. Some BPs hold color a lot better than others, so this could be important in the long run.

Also keep in mind that when you have many genes at play in one clutch, it can be more difficult to accurately label what they are... Especially if you are new to breeding.

Finally, you may want to look at your local market. If you are planning on shipping, then this isn't as big of a factor, but some people sell mostly locally and certain morphs are more popular in certain areas. If you want to do local sales and your local market is slow on BPs (hard to move) then maybe plan on starting small and seeing how your results are before producing a lot of clutches. This also plays into why it is important to breed what you like... you might have to hang onto the entire clutch for a while to move them and make less profit, so it's better to like what you're producing and enjoy the animals.

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Have had ball pythons throughout my life but at the moment dont have any. However, have the chance to get back into them (ex gf was not a fan) and I have the experience, so looking to breed some interesting morphs.

I think you are right that I should start small. I can see how I fair like that and will be completely ready for any problems that may arise. Perhaps a few female adults (I know a few good breeders with a few breeding adults that i rather like) and a couple of males. I like reduced pattern on certain morphs but contrast is a big thing for me. 2-3 gene animals are more likely to produce that rather than a 6-7 gene animal (I'm sure I will be proven wrong on this by some new combo).

thanks anyway though!!

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Originally Posted by StillBP

Quality and the ability to advance my projects. I prefer 2-4 Gene anything over that gets muddy (usaly)

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Yeah I have plans for certain projects and would like to set them in motion sooner rather than later. Any hatchlings I produce I would like to be able to use for other projects.

Those heavily gened ball pythons tend to get all muddy and no offense to anybody, quite ugly as grown snakes. Why do you think when advertising people only show babies fresh out of the egg, and never show an example of it fullgrown ??

I'll stick to quality 2-3 gene that stays good looking as the snake ages.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Those heavily gened ball pythons tend to get all muddy and no offense to anybody, quite ugly as grown snakes. Why do you think when advertising people only show babies fresh out of the egg, and never show an example of it fullgrown ??

I'll stick to quality 2-3 gene that stays good looking as the snake ages.

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Agreed!

'Clown firefly', 'leopard Mochi' and 'bamboo enchi YB' are some targets I really want to hit!! All nice 3 genes that grow up still looking great.

:)

Anything clown is good, its actually my favorite one gene!

I just look to see if they are healthy. I don't care about genes or anything, or breeding, or any of that. I only have them for pets.

I think this is really just personal preference as a buyer. There's no right or wrong way as long as the animal is healthy.

But as far as breeding goes, I wouldn't go about it that way. Breed what you want to breed. Not what other people want you to breed.

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Originally Posted by PythonBabes

Anything clown is good, its actually my favorite one gene!

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Yeah Clown is my favourite gene. I love Leopard too, though more when combined with other genes. Axanthic Leopard Clown would be phenomenal!!

Id be geeking out massively if I could get that.

I look for something that fits in my projects which mean it has to be hypo, pied or clown or gets for either.

Second it has to aesthetically appealing to me, because it has the genes I need or want it dies not mean it will automatically be something I will had in my collection, I tend to be very picky when it comes to my animals.

Like others have said, don't go in too many directions. I sure have. I am playing with too many genes. Oddly enough what I found I enjoy more than anything else is breeding for size and temperament. There is probably no money in that endeavor but I like having big, mellow, easy feeding snakes.

Looking for a pretty normal, that is healthy, and mellow.

Been posting here for a couple of years, and still don't own a BP, but that is what I'll go for when I purchase one. I very much admire some of the BP morphs, but a normal is what I want to own. I like goldfish that are fancy morphs, I like hairless rats, and many of the newer colours in parrots (esp. the pineapple greencheek conure), but for some reason, snakes almost always look best to me in their wild colours.

That said, my cornsnake is a "plasma" - blood-red lavender, and I think his patternless silver pink is absolutely gorgeous.

I have normally picked up single or double genes only. They allow me to see how good an example of the gene is present without muddying it up with too many other genes. I would rather find two perfect single gene snakes, and breed them to create a beautiful double gene snake. I have only picked up one 3 gene snake ever and it was actually an Enchi Double het for Ghost and Clown. That said, it is a great example of an Enchi and I have seen the ghost and clown genes that are in play too. I spent two years looking for the right Pied. If you're truly interested in producing the finest snake and not just selling snakes, then remember that its a marathon, not a sprint. You shouldn't care if it takes three years to move to the next step as long as you achieve the desired result.

As a pet owner, the snake's personality was more important to me than morph.

Though, if I do ever breed him I'm going to aim for a female with similar disposition as an experiment to see if the "wow he's so docile and happy he's not scary at all!" attitude is inheritable.

How headshy they are factors heavily. I look for large docile females who I can watch tv with. That makes a perfect pet python.

And nowadays only normals. I'm against how far we've taken morphs so morally I won't own one unless one needs a free home.

My most beloved ball I got damn near out of the egg and she was my baby. Her death is why I haven't bought another ball yet, just not ready and I'm focusing on all my attention on new species right now.

When I'm ready I'll raise another one but Goldy was one in a million.

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Originally Posted by rlditmars

I have normally picked up single or double genes only. They allow me to see how good an example of the gene is present without muddying it up with too many other genes. I would rather find two perfect single gene snakes, and breed them to create a beautiful double gene snake. I have only picked up one 3 gene snake ever and it was actually an Enchi Double het for Ghost and Clown. That said, it is a great example of an Enchi and I have seen the ghost and clown genes that are in play too. I spent two years looking for the right Pied. If you're truly interested in producing the finest snake and not just selling snakes, then remember that its a marathon, not a sprint. You shouldn't care if it takes three years to move to the next step as long as you achieve the desired result.

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Oh I am definitely not going to be sprinting with this. I have projects I want to try and I know that it will take several years to get the desired (if the odd gods are kind) results.
I just wanted to "gage the terrain" so to speak.

But from what I have seen people post I think I will stick to 2-3 genes that I like and try and produce healthy, calm and happy animals.

:D

I hope you either found or will find that holy grail Pied!!

There's a lot of different breeding strategies but I think the one that has the most impact on the hobby is the guy that takes a little known gene and works it into a bunch of other combos. That frontier style breeding is what really gets the attention of all of the other breeders out there. I've seen people pick up normals that have a slightly different pattern, breed and breed back to form a super which in some cases turns out bizzare, then gives that morph their own name and breeds it into all different kinds of morphs. I think that's how you can really stand out in the hobby, and when people see what you are doing they want to jump in on that project too.

Right now I'm working with the Jungle Woma gene. Not many people even know about it. The super form is called a Puzzleback, looks sort of like a Leopard Pastel. Other genes I would consider 'frotier style' would be Tristripe, Scaleless, etc...

I've been watching the ball python market for a couple years now and what was hot a few years ago is no longer 'hot'. GHI was all the rage and very expensive, now the market is flooded and prices have tanked. Still a cool gene, but if you buy hatchilngs today that are hot more than likely in three years when they are ready to breed that morph may no longer be the hottest thing on the market.

Also, a lot of people are focusing on just one or two genes like pieds, clowns, axanthics, etc. JD Constrictors made the most famous snake on the planet, the 'Stormtrooper'. The only thing he works with is Axanthics.

As far as multigene animals, personally I wouldn't care if I bought a muddy looking six gene snake. The point is not the appearance of the snake itself, it's the fact that one snake can produce dozens of different kinds of babies. You are selling the babies, not the six banger parent.

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Originally Posted by Staddon

I hope you either found or will find that holy grail Pied!!

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I did find it. Here is a link to the thread where I posted some pictures.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...ight=rlditmars