Expensive Females!

Why are female ball pythons so more expensive than males. Should I purchase a female normal first to save money in the long run when I start to breed since buying a het male will be cheaper.

always buy the females first, they need to be bigger to lay eggs. you can usually get a male breeding in the first year while females take 2-3 years.


vaughn

So since I plan to breed in the future I should get a Female Normal? This is also going to be my First BP. Also size is not a problem

a normal girl would be a good choice. if by chance you get out of bp's or something happens you can always sell her. and if breeding is your goal, you got to have the big girls first to get eggs!


vaughn

the thing is I don't plan to breed as soon as the BP is mature. I plan to breed like 4-5 years from now.

males only take a year to be able to breed, the females may take 2-3 years.
either way should be fine, but i like bigger females so they come first.


vaughn

Also what about pricing. Will buying a Norm Female and a Het albino Male be cheaper than a Norm Male and Het Female?

yes normally het males are cheaper than females. if your goal is to get albinos i'd save up for a 100% het pair. or you can buy 50%possible het girls and a 100% het male. if you buy poss. hets (or any hets) make sure they come from a good breeder and buy 3 or 4 of them to better your chances. you can find 100% het prs. now from 600 and up, in a couple of years they may be a little less.


vaughn

To answer the question.. females are more expensive because there is more need for them. You only need one male for several females, hence more demand for females.

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Originally Posted by HelicopterPilot

Also what about pricing. Will buying a Norm Female and a Het albino Male be cheaper than a Norm Male and Het Female?

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I'm going through the same problems/questions right now, here's what I've found.

If you buy a normal female, you would have to have a Co-Dom or Dom trait male to mate with her as het recessives bred with normals will only produce normals. Albino is a recessive trait, so you would need two hets to produce albinos. Doms are exactly the opposite, pricewise, from recessives. The males are usually more in demand because you can have 1 het or homo male and breed him to multiple normal females in a season and get about 50% morphs and the other 50% will be 100% hets.

You're right, the genetics is REALLY confusing... and I'm not even sure I just explained it properly. (Adam, Others, back me up on this please :) )

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Originally Posted by ddbjdealer

I'm going through the same problems/questions right now, here's what I've found.

If you buy a normal female, you would have to have a Co-Dom or Dom trait male to mate with her as het recessives bred with normals will only produce normals. Albino is a recessive trait, so you would need two hets to produce albinos. Doms are exactly the opposite, pricewise, from recessives. The males are usually more in demand because you can have 1 het or homo male and breed him to multiple normal females in a season and get about 50% morphs and the other 50% will be 100% hets.

You're right, the genetics is REALLY confusing... and I'm not even sure I just explained it properly. (Adam, Others, back me up on this please :) )

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Not entirely correct. Here is what i learnt from various resources

For simple recessive traits, the possible outcome of het(father) x normal(mother)l is 50% hets (normal looking offsprings) and 50% normal. You dont get any homo here, you will need to breed the hets back to the father to get albino, that is if the hets are indeed hets.

For Co Dom/Dom traits, its alot different. For easier interpretation, the hets = Co-Dom and homo = Dom. Lets take Pastel for example. Pastels are actually hets for Super Pastel (homo). The possible outcome for het (which is pastel) x normal, is 50% hets(pastel) and 50% normals. Same thing here, you dont get any homo offsprings, you will need to breed the hets back to the father to get Super Pastel(homo). The difference here is that you dont need to second guess the hets as they are visually different from their normal sibs.

I seem to plug my genetics page a lot, but see if this helps a little. I tried to make it in as layman of terms as possible.
http://www.geocities.com/bait4snake/genetics.html
It might be hard to find Het (Morph) female cuz everyone hangs on to theirs, so sometimes the best thing is to buy a few normal females, then a het or homo male and make your own. It might take more time, but your stock will be your own and you'll have a large colony to work with. This also helps when you have little cash and you're in it for the fun.

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Originally Posted by bait4snake

This also helps when you have little cash and you're in it for the fun.

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Why else would anyone be "in it"? ... LOL ... Surely not for the money! ... LOL ... Most of the people that jump in thinking they're going to make money breeding snakes don't last very long. :D

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Why else would anyone be "in it"? ... LOL ... Surely not for the money! ... LOL ... Most of the people that jump in thinking they're going to make money breeding snakes don't last very long. :D

-adam

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I for one am hoping to make SOME money! I know I won't become rich but while breeding is fun, nobody wants to just throw money out the window.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I for one am hoping to make SOME money! I know I won't become rich but while breeding is fun, nobody wants to just throw money out the window.

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I wouldn't go as far as to see you'll be throwing money out the window, but contrary to some popular beliefs very few people ever make enough money to be able to quit their "real jobs" and breed snakes full time.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

I wouldn't go as far as to see you'll be throwing money out the window, but contrary to some popular beliefs very few people ever make enough money to be able to quit their "real jobs" and breed snakes full time.

-adam

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Yeah..I doubt that will happen for me. I enjoy my career though and am not looking to get out of it quite yet.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

Yeah..I doubt that will happen for me. I enjoy my career though and am not looking to get out of it quite yet.

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Exactly ... therefore, you've got to be in it for the fun first and foremost. Of course there's some money to be made, but with all of the work involved in raising them, cleaning them, breeding them, incubating eggs, hatching babies, starting babies, sales, & shipping, if you're not having fun, the "extra cash" that you'll make won't really seem worth it.

Do what you love and love what you do! :D ;)

-adam

Hmm ,since breeding won't usually be a "job" I am looking to be a herpotologist. I am going to study in that field

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Exactly ... therefore, you've got to be in it for the fun first and foremost. Of course there's some money to be made, but with all of the work involved in raising them, cleaning them, breeding them, incubating eggs, hatching babies, starting babies, sales, & shipping, if you're not having fun, the "extra cash" that you'll make won't really seem worth it.

Do what you love and love what you do! :D ;)

-adam

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Most of the people that get into breeding morphs, started out with normals.
So I'd have to say they have some sort of passion towards the snakes to begin with.
Also, I don't think it's even possible to quit your day job to breed Ball Pythons, do to the fact that they dont lay eggs all year round, and you need some sort of income to feed yourself and the snakes. :P

Main reason I got into Ball Python morphs was for the love of them, and the "extra money" I make will go into expanding my collection ...

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Originally Posted by Leon

Most of the people that get into breeding morphs, started out with normals.
So I'd have to say they have some sort of passion towards the snakes to begin with.
Also, I don't think it's even possible to quit your day job to breed Ball Pythons, do to the fact that they dont lay eggs all year round, and you need some sort of income to feed yourself and the snakes. :P

Main reason I got into Ball Python morphs was for the love of them, and the "extra money" I make will go into expanding my collection ...

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Agreed! The extra money and then some will go into expanding my collection in my case!