Why are the ladies more expensive?

I can see myself trying to breed BP's someday down the road...and would like to clear something up, I know that there must be a reason why a female morph or het for morph BP is more expensive than a male....but I can't think of it. It seems to me that a male would be able to spread his mutated gene into more snakes than a female would. One albino male and 10 regular females could make the same amount of 100% hets as one regular male and 10 albino females for a lot less money...right? Then by keeping the female hets, you could breed them back to your male...and boom...albinos, or you could breed brothers and sisters together.....still cheaper by having one boy albino to start the whole thing....where am I wrong? Thanks for helping me out.

One male can fertilize many females. Using your scenario, one Het male or Homo male can fertilize many het or homo females to produce homos. Thus, they are more in demand. There are exceptions, though, when it comes to dominant genes like spider or pinstripe. Males are in more of a demand because they can produce that morph using normals or mix them with other morphs.

You are correct.... One male homozygous Albino can make a bunch of 100% hets. Then, in three years... you can breed the het females from that/those clutches back to the sire and make albinos.... OR, you can spend the money for the females and make them in a whole lot less time. :) (Hence why the females are more important and in more demand as far as simple recessive traits go)

Buy a male homozygous Albino = $2500 (+/-)
Buy a 10 Lot of Female Normals (Hatchlings) = $500 (+/-)

Male breeding maturity = 18 Mo (+/-)
Female breeding maturity = 28 Mo (+/-)

40 100 % Hets in 36 Months or so... (Assuming 4 eggs per clutch, 20 females, 20 males)

Raise those females up to breeding size (another 28 months), and then in 36 MORE months, you get albinos... 72 months.... 20 female hets, 20 albinos (1/4 +/-)

OR... you could buy a pair of het albinos for $850 (+/-) and get albinos in half the time.... OR, you could buy a homozygous albino female for $3000 now, raise it to maturity, then all the males you produce from her, only take half as long to get up to maturity to breed back to her... hence the value difference.... females take a lot longer to get up to size than the males... :)

Hope I explained this in a clear enough manner.... ;)

ddbjdealer...thank you, that's what I was looking for. I knew that males reach sexual maturity faster than do females...I just didn't take that into effect with the value. If I do get into breeding, my plan has always been to buy a pair of hets..I just had the other scenario stuck in my head and it confused me a bit...thanks again

I think to add onto what was said earlier too about simple recessives, you have to consider the time value invested in a pair of hets vs the time value of a homozygous animal. In my mind, I can't fully justify investing $XXX.XX into a heterozygous pair, cleaning their tubs for 3+ years, and even then only run a 25% chance of producing a homozygous animal. For example, an albino or a hypo, I could save enough money to buy a homozygous animal 2 or 3 times over in the same time frame. (In context of a simple recessive trait again) In conclusion, I'm saying that if you want a solid return on the capital AND time and effort you are putting into this....save your money for a homozygous male and as many het females as you can. Your odds are SIGNIFICANTLY better down that road!

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

save your money for a homozygous male and as many het females as you can. Your odds are SIGNIFICANTLY better down that road!

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Thats the road I'm going down.... Homozygous males and het females.... More initial cost, but better odds and faster returns...

I understand the return/profit margin, and odds...but I doubt that I do it to try and make a bunch of money. I'm interested in doing it because it sounds like fun, and I like raising snakes. I imagine I would sell some of the offspring, but that is not my driving force.

Not to derail, but Sirhissball, your sig says you have bison - I'd love to see some pictures if you have any. =)

Aren't there rules against naming Bison "Bambi". I bet he gets beat up a lot.

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Originally Posted by srozell

Aren't there rules against naming Bison "Bambi". I bet he gets beat up a lot.

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ROTFLMAO! :lmao:

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Originally Posted by ddbjdealer

Thats the road I'm going down.... Homozygous males and het females.... More initial cost, but better odds and faster returns...

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I, unfortunately, do not have the funds to go this route, so I have to go the very slow route of a heterozygous male, creating possible hets with normal females and raising the possible hets.

While I understand saving the money that I would be spending over those years, for me, that's easier said than done - money has a way of burning a hole out of my pocket. I haven't been able to find flame retardent pockets yet! :oops:

One thing that I am considering is purchasing a female pastel however, breeding her to the het hypo male, and perhaps doing some trades with the pastel poss het hypo babies. Unfortunately, my dreams are bigger than my pocketbook!

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Originally Posted by cassandra

Not to derail, but Sirhissball, your sig says you have bison - I'd love to see some pictures if you have any. =)

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I do have pics..I need to get them posted, I'll try to get them on my comp sometime this week, I need to post pics of my snakes too. Sadly our Buff. named Death met his demise at the hand of the butcher yesterday...he was a big boy; 2800 pounds, nearly 8 feet at the top of his shoulder...tasty. The other two, Bambi (he does get picked on) and Danny DeVito (the worlds smallest bison) are being kept as pets.