Why sold in pairs?

Why do some breeders only sell M/F pairs? I can speculate all day, but wanted to know why many of the rare snakes are only sold off in pairs from the same litter. If the thought is for them to be breeding pairs, then is it really safe to match up litter mates?

For those of you who really wanted a single, but could only find a pair - Did you buy both and sell/trade the other or just keep the extra +1?

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Originally Posted by Nick_MD

Why do some breeders only sell M/F pairs? I can speculate all day, but wanted to know why many of the rare snakes are only sold off in pairs from the same litter. If the thought is for them to be breeding pairs, then is it really safe to match up litter mates?

For those of you who really wanted a single, but could only find a pair - Did you buy both and sell/trade the other or just keep the extra +1?

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Because rare species need to be bred more, they dont need to be sold in singles as pets as that doesnt help the preservation of the species. Now a lot of breeders will sell a single if you talk to them and you already have half of the pair but otherwise it's better to sell in pairs. And as for breeding, reptiles can inbreed for a little while before it affects anything. Yes it's better to mix bloodlines to make new blood and decrease inbreeding but sometimes that's not always possible with some species. The ideal situation would be you buy the pair and switch one half with someone else to better each others blood, but it's not the end of the world if you have to breed siblings together.

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And it's also because breeders don't want to be stuck with solo males after others looking to breed only want to buy up the "more desired" females for their own breeding project.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

And it's also because breeders don't want to be stuck with solo males after others looking to breed only want to buy up the "more desired" females for their own breeding project.

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This as well. It's soooooo much harder to sell males than females. Earlier this year I had 4.7 albino blood pythons and everyone wanted females. Never had a single person ask about males. I ended up having to wholesale them

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Originally Posted by The-ReptiRanch

This as well. It's soooooo much harder to sell males than females. Earlier this year I had 4.7 albino blood pythons and everyone wanted females. Never had a single person ask about males. I ended up having to wholesale them

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That's just so frustrating. :(

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's just so frustrating. :(

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For sure, but it was also a bad time of year. Everyone had already just spent all their stimulus and tax return money and had nothing left to spend

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

And it's also because breeders don't want to be stuck with solo males after others looking to breed only want to buy up the "more desired" females for their own breeding project.

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I'd figure this would drive selling single males, but condition it that if you bought a female you also have to buy a male. In my case, it was the male that I really wanted but had to buy both. It's fine as I have the capacity, but I was only really looking for the one. Now I've got two and options...

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Originally Posted by Nick_MD

I'd figure this would drive selling single males, but condition it that if you bought a female you also have to buy a male. In my case, it was the male that I really wanted but had to buy both. It's fine as I have the capacity, but I was only really looking for the one. Now I've got two and options...

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It sometimes comes down to the individual breeder- what gender they have a surplus of- as to whether or not they want to sell singles. Oh well, what's one more snake...;)

I've never sold only in pairs, but I have offered slight discounts for pairs and trios.

When my retics breed, I will definitely be listing them as 1.1 pairs and a discussion may persuade me to sell singles. Part of it is encouraging pure locality breeding, but part is discouraging SD males to mainland females. I can't prevent it if that's what people want to do, but I can at least make it harder for them to waste pure locale SDs on that. I was on a wait list for years before I got mine, and plenty of people just like me are patiently waiting because they want pure locale.

Thanks for the context everyone. Feels like one of those good problems where you end up with 2 snakes instead of 1. The price point was a little too good to argue with since the 2nd one was basically half price.

I especially get the sentiment about encouraging the "pure locality breeding" as that certainly applies in this case of Barranquilla Boas. One of the options is give it a try in 4-5 years when they're ready, but I personally have no experience with reptile breeding and it feels a little odd getting nudged in that direction. Plenty of time to warm up to the idea though.

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Originally Posted by Nick_MD

personally have no experience with reptile breeding and it feels a little odd getting nudged in that direction. Plenty of time to warm up to the idea though.

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It's not something to take on unless you are ready, but keep in mind that it will be several years before it's even appropriate timing if you are getting hatchlings. I'm not familiar with that locality of boa, but some of those dwarf boas can take 6-8 years to be ready because growth rate is so slow on appropriate diet. That is a lot of time to learn and get that breeding bug. If you don't personally, there may be some really serious breeder nearby you worth trusting who would kill to have a breeder loan of that particular locality and could be missing either the male or female. Watching Garrett's (Reach Out Reptiles) videos about Karompa retics can really put things in perspective about what some of these breeders go through to preserve them. You never know what legislation will come along entirely preventing a certain species being imported from outside the country which is the case with the retics. Even if your country doesn't do it, the country that they come from might ban exports because of over collection.

I have encountered this situation twice. The breeders for my Tarahumara Mountain Boas and my Rough-scaled Sand Boas each insisted on selling only pairs - and this after I made it very clear that I would happily purchase just males. I very much trusted and respected these particular breeders and didn't want to do business with anyone else, so...I got pairs.

In both cases, I had planned to sell one from each pair, but...having done rescue work for so long, and based on the godawful situations I see every day in the new keeper's group I admin, I have to confess that I probably would be way, way too picky about potential owners to ever actually sell a snake. And of course, it didn't take much time at all for me to fall in love with them, and now the idea of getting rid of any of them is just unimaginable.

The Sand Boa breeder occasionally reaches out with friendly comments about how he's sure I'll be producing beautiful litters in a couple of years, though I've told him I have no intention of breeding, lol. I confess I am tempted to breed the Tarahumara once because they are really amazing little Boas - but I wouldn't do it unless I was 100% confident about the people buying them. So chances are very good this will never happen.

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Originally Posted by Caitlin

...I have to confess that I probably would be way, way too picky about potential owners to ever actually sell a snake. And of course, it didn't take much time at all for me to fall in love with them, and now the idea of getting rid of any of them is just unimaginable.

... I confess I am tempted to breed the Tarahumara once because they are really amazing little Boas - but I wouldn't do it unless I was 100% confident about the people buying them. So chances are very good this will never happen.

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Pretty much my situation. I don't want to get into shipping or dealing to someone I don't know, so it would need to be someone local that I trust (or a group of folks if I got into breeding). Rehoming a pet is not something I take lightly, even after less than a week and with minimal handling. I was content to wait another year to find this locality boa, but when the breeder who has a great reputation offered up these two I jumped on it. I can live with it if the only negative is listening to my family asking me why I got two of the same thing.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...om/JhSXxhI.jpg

:sweeet: Looks like a pretty good decision to me. Some things are too hard to pass up.

Wow, they are gorgeous. And you didn't get two of the same thing! They'll grow to have their own distinct personalities :). As I write this, my female Tarahumara is asking to come out of her enclosure, as she does almost every day. The male is tucked away in his favorite hide and while he's a sweetheart he just isn't as outgoing. Once I let Frida out, she'll climb around for awhile and then either settle on my lap while I read or she'll climb into an activity box I set up for her and spend most of the day there either exploring or hanging out in her favorite basket or on a piece of cork bark she likes.

Congratulations on a truly beautiful pair of Boas. I'll be looking forward to more photos and updates.