Newbie?

What's up Ball-pythons.net?

I have kept and bred Burmese pythons for a few years and recently sold off my breeding groups of albinos, granites and labs along with their 6' Neodesha cages. I loved my Burms but, cleaning horse sized poop as well as tightening laws on giant snakes took it's toll. :mad: I kept the tub racks used for neos and a large fridge incubator. Since getting rid of my snakes the house just doesn't feel the same!

I'm thinking of spending the cash along with my Christmas bonus in ball pythons now that prices are somewhat down to earth. I would like to buy into bp's since they are small compared to Burms. I could probably house 100 balls in the same room I kept 16 adult Burms. I'm leaning toward buying some piebalds and a few other morphs. Any suggestions on getting the most bang for my buck?

Albinos have held their prices pretty firm over the years. Personally I would go for some Double hets and make some combo morphs.

Albinos are must have on the list! I would like to buy 1.0 Het and 1.2 Albinos.

It really depends on your budget and what YOU love. Don't worry about the "market". Piebalds are some of the more stunning morphs for sure! You'll get as many different suggestions as you do members, as everyone has their favorites! :D


For example, in recessives, my personal favorites are clowns, piebalds and hypos (ghosts). I'll be getting a nice lemon pastel male in January. And I love pinstripes, and will probably get one of those before I get a spider. Daily my favorites change! LOL

Oh, and welcome!!!!

well, the short answer has always been, 'get what you like the best' . But if you just want an opinion on how I'd do it if I had the funds and were just starting out, I'd go with a couple of recessive mutations (homozygous males and het females), a couple of co-dominant mutations (males) and one or two pattern mutations (males) , along with a dozen normal females.

It'd be hard to go wrong choosing from this list.

Albino
Hypo
Pied
Pastel
Lesser
Pinstripe
Spider

I'm sure others have their own lists and preferances, but these would make a good start.

Mark

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Originally Posted by rabernet

It really depends on your budget and what YOU love. Don't worry about the "market". Piebalds are some of the more stunning morphs for sure! You'll get as many different suggestions as you do members, as everyone has their favorites! :D


For example, in recessives, my personal favorites are clowns, piebalds and hypos (ghosts). I'll be getting a nice lemon pastel male in January. And I love pinstripes, and will probably get one of those before I get a spider. Daily my favorites change! LOL

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Thanks Rabernet, just cruising kingsnake I have seen some super nice bp's. I would like to balance out what I like with what is somewhat in demand or on the up and up. Don't know if posting this is proper but, I would like to stay under $20,000. This is my budget for which I can live with regardless.

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Originally Posted by MarkS

well, the short answer has always been, 'get what you like the best' . But if you just want an opinion on how I'd do it if I had the funds and were just starting out, I'd go with a couple of recessive mutations (homozygous males and het females), a couple of co-dominant mutations (males) and one or two pattern mutations (males) , along with a dozen normal females.

It'd be hard to go wrong choosing from this list.

Albino
Hypo
Pied
Pastel
Lesser
Pinstripe
Spider

I'm sure others have their own lists and preferances, but these would make a good start.

Mark

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Thanks Mark, I planned on picking up a dozen normal females since the basics seem to include a few co-doms in the mix somewhere. I had a chat with Mike Wilbanks from constrictors.com (no relation) the other day on some choices. Just thought I would get a number of opinions.

Hey Tim,

Welcome to the forum. My suggestion would be to take it slow and do some research, there are so many awesome morphs and combos out there that you're going to want them all. Recessive like everyone has said maintain their value the best. I happen to love Pastels and now with the way they've come down in price it'd be silly not to pick one up. I would try to get a recessive project going and perhaps a co-dom project. Clowns, Pastels, Spiders, Axanthics and YBs...those would be on my list.

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Originally Posted by Tim Wilbanks

Thanks Rabernet, just cruising kingsnake I have seen some super nice bp's. I would like to balance out what I like with what is somewhat in demand or on the up and up. Don't know if posting this is proper but, I would like to stay under $20,000. This is my budget for which I can live with regardless.

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It's only proper if you have no problem sharing that. There are several excellent breeders that participate right here on the site. So as to not get myself in trouble if I leave anyone out - I'll just say pay attention to the banner ads, and also to the posts in the morphs section of the forum, as many of them participate there. I've purchased from two here, but there are several others I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from as well!

Nice budget to work with, so I'm sure you'll be able to find some really nice base animals to start with. Reduced clowns are really gaining a lot of attention this season, a recessive gene, so a nice male and a het female would be a good choice. But again, it's totally what YOU love, what YOU aren't going to look at while you're cleaning and going - man, I really don't like that snake.

I love the reduced clowns. I think they are some of the most gorgeous snakes... and I think clowns have a lot of potential.


There is also a lot of untapped potential in the axanthics. Lots of people have been talking about the mixes these guys can make... who knows what'll hatch out in a few months :)

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Originally Posted by Spaniard

Hey Tim,

Welcome to the forum. My suggestion would be to take it slow and do some research, there are so many awesome morphs and combos out there that you're going to want them all. Recessive like everyone has said maintain their value the best. I happen to love Pastels and now with the way they've come down in price it'd be silly not to pick one up. I would try to get a recessive project going and perhaps a co-dom project. Clowns, Pastels, Spiders, Axanthics and YBs...those would be on my list.

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Tim, I'm not really in any hurry.
I'm just making my list and checking it twice. :)

Thanks Rabernet, no disrespect to anyone but, Mike and Bob Clark treated me well over the years with my Burms from price to care to breeding to sales. I'll most likely be buying most or all my bp's from them or at least giving them first shot at supplying my list. I signed up here to get varying opinions to those that I would get on their websites. I know who I'm probably buying from, just working on what I'm buying.

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Originally Posted by Tim Wilbanks

Mike and Bob Clark treated me well over the years with my Burms from price to care to breeding to sales. I'll most likely be buying most or all my bp's from them or at least giving them first shot at supplying my list.

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Absolutely two of the best in the biz ... You'll do great working with Mike and Bob as you already know ... Strong choice for sure!

And I've heard that many find Mike to be a handsome fellow, so that's just a bonus! ;)

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you post lots of pics ... we LOVE pictures over here!!!! :D :sweeet: :D

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

And I've heard that many find Mike to be a handsome fellow, so that's just a bonus! ;)-adam

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I think many of the women here would argue that the Great Wysocki is the most handsome breeder of all! :love: :wuv:

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Originally Posted by Tim Wilbanks

Thanks Rabernet, no disrespect to anyone but, Mike and Bob Clark treated me well over the years with my Burms from price to care to breeding to sales. I'll most likely be buying most or all my bp's from them or at least giving them first shot at supplying my list. I signed up here to get varying opinions to those that I would get on their websites. I know who I'm probably buying from, just working on what I'm buying.

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No disprespect at all! It's good to work with breeders that you have a good relationship with and trust, and you sound like you have that all lined up! :sweeet:

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Originally Posted by rabernet

I think many of the women here would argue that the Great Wysocki is the most handsome breeder of all! :love: :wuv:

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Funny that you mention that ... there's a rumor about a story of mistaken identities in Daytona ... hence my comment about Mike ... remember, there's always a story between the lines. :P ;) :rofl:

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Absolutely two of the best in the biz ... You'll do great working with Mike and Bob as you already know ... Strong choice for sure!

And I've heard that many find Mike to be a handsome fellow, so that's just a bonus! ;)

Whatever you decide to go with, make sure you post lots of pics ... we LOVE pictures over here!!!! :D :sweeet: :D

-adam

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Adam, I don't know about the handsome part but, both Mike and Bob treated me very well before, during and years after each purchase. Any suggestions on what to buy?

Welcome to BP.net! :handshake:


If I had that kind of money to start from scratch, I think I would pick up a few co-doms (along with that requisite set of breeding girls ;) ) that would help bring in some relatively early cash flow...while focusing primarily on my favorite recessive morphs and future combos.

If you're not in a rush and are willing to grow up babies into breeders, your $$ will obviously stretch a lot farther. :D

Just off the top of my head, without doing any math...my dream start-up (with a budget) would look something like:

2.0 pastels
0.1 spider
1.0 mojave
1.0 lesser (or butter!)
1.1 yellow bellies

1.2 het caramels
1.2 het pieds
1.2 het clowns
1.1 albinos

0.? normals for dom breeding (as many as I could manage)

I'm sure there's some key morphs I'm forgetting...and like I said, this is just totally off the top of my head, so my ratios and such could probably be tweaked to better effeciency.

I can only dream of having a budget like that.

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Originally Posted by Tim Wilbanks

Any suggestions on what to buy?

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LOL ... Never ask a breeder that question. :P ... If you were to ask 10 different ball breeders what to buy, you'd get 10 different answers and all of them would reflect whats available on their own price lists ... :rofl: ... Let the animals "speak to you" ... choosing a living creature to take into your home and care for over the course of the next 2 to 3 decades in my opinion is an intensely personal decision ... you know what you like, just dive in and don't look back ... the dollars and cents will work themselves out over time ... the market is strong and the future is bright. ;)

Good luck! :sweeet:

-adam

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Originally Posted by rabernet

No disprespect at all! It's good to work with breeders that you have a good relationship with and trust, and you sound like you have that all lined up! :sweeet:

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I'm sure I won't be able to find any one single breeder with all the morphs I may want. But, It does ease the process when you know and are comfortable with the breeders. I've learned loyalty has it's benefits when dealing with breeders or anyone.

Thanks JLC, I'm in no rush at all. I prefer to buy young babies and raise them up to buying adults that who knows what your getting. I learned with my other snakes that time flies.

Thanks Adam, that's why I'm trying to ask numerous breeders as well as future breeders who hopefully have done some of their homework and don't mind sharing the wealth. ;) As for the whole market thing, I'm not too concerned with it as I learned with my burms that have nowhere near the demand or market of balls. :)

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Funny that you mention that ... there's a rumor about a story of mistaken identities in Daytona ... hence my comment about Mike ... remember, there's always a story between the lines. :P ;) :rofl:

-adam

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Dang that not being in the know sometimes!! Although, now that you mention it, the story sounds familiar, must have been told during drinks in the evening, I am, afterall - a lightweight when it comes to drinking! :D