Keeping offspring vs. selling..

So.. for what you are breeding this year.. do you have an idea of how many/which ones you want to holdback and which ones you will sell?
I have two clutches this year; both normal x pastel. One is possibly normal x spider. My plan, if the ratio gods bless me, is to keep two female pastels, and go for Supers and Bees in the future. I might also keep a normal if it speaks to me and I cannot part with it, or a male Pastel. :) Now if I get a Spider or two, any female would automatically be a keeper. Unless I sell it off to get an albino and het albino..
Fun stuff!

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

So.. for what you are breeding this year.. do you have an idea of how many/which ones you want to holdback and which ones you will sell?
I have two clutches this year; both normal x pastel. One is possibly normal x spider. My plan, if the ratio gods bless me, is to keep two female pastels, and go for Supers and Bees in the future. I might also keep a normal if it speaks to me and I cannot part with it, or a male Pastel. :) Now if I get a Spider or two, any female would automatically be a keeper. Unless I sell it off to get an albino and het albino..
Fun stuff!

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I want to hold back a female spider or two and another female pastel. I want to hold back another genetic banded female and male.

I want to hold back everything, but I just don't have the room, and need a little money to pay for all the consumables.

yeah; holding everything back would be ideal :) And there does have to be money for those pesky things like utility bills.. internet service.. car payments.. can't they all just go away and let us spend all of our $$ on snakes? Now that would be fun..

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Originally Posted by Ginevive

yeah; holding everything back would be ideal :) And there does have to be money for those pesky things like utility bills.. internet service.. car payments.. can't they all just go away and let us spend all of our $$ on snakes? Now that would be fun..

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Just do what I do don't pay them and in like 3 months of not answering the phone **PUFFFF** no bills.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Just do what I do don't pay them and in like 3 months of not answering the phone **PUFFFF** no bills.

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Last time I tried that, I had a different outcome. **PUFFFF** no house.

So this is a bit off topic, but for the smallers breeders, or those who are just starting to breed, who do you sell the babies to? I'm hoping I can breed next year, but I'm kinda unsure as to how to go about selling the babies I don't want to (well, can't) keep....I'd probablly keep them all if it was possible. ^_^

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Last time I tried that, I had a different outcome. **PUFFFF** no house.

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Oh don't be such a kill joy..LOL thats just something be banks tell you to keep you under their thumb. Its all a conspiracy man. :D

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Originally Posted by tweets_4611

So this is a bit off topic, but for the smallers breeders, or those who are just starting to breed, who do you sell the babies to? I'm hoping I can breed next year, but I'm kinda unsure as to how to go about selling the babies I don't want to (well, can't) keep....I'd probablly keep them all if it was possible. ^_^

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Before you breed you need to make sure you can reach the market. If you can't afford a web site or have a table at a couple of expos or there isn't a local market for them you might want to wait.
You'll also need to be prepared to house feed and care for every snake you produce for at least 4-5 feedings (or until their eating good) and also in case they don't sale as quickly as you expect. If you can't at this point in time for what ever reason you might want to wait.

How ever I am planning to sale at small local expos, local people that know I'm breeding and have already placed orders, I have a website I'm gearing up, you sale here to a point, and I'm going to be selling my normals to a reptile pet shop here in Jackson.

Lets see ....

Keeping 1 or 2 female pastels.
I think I have to keep whatever females come out of the poss het albino girl that dropped eggs, unless I get some albinos. Even at that I would keep at least
a female.
Probably keeping 2 poss het pied girls.

This is definitely the hard decision, don't want to keep too many, but I would keep tham all if I had the space, $$ , time, etc ...

Neil

I want to keep everything :) and buy the ones others are selling ;)

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Originally Posted by Holbeird

I want to keep everything :) and buy the ones others are selling ;)

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Let me send you my phone number and a price list. :D

Well, mine won't be for another year but... I already plan on holding back at least two female pastels IF the morph/odds fairy is kind to me, same with yellow bellies. As far as anything else that I don't hold onto, and I won't know for sure until that time comes, lol! I already have a website I am working on, several people who want babies and I may go to the local show as well.

I am keeping every female that hatches this season except I am going to sell one 6 egg clutch of 50% poss het lavenders that should start pipping in the next couple of days(hoping for a lot of females). I am only going to sell those so I can pick up a male lesser and a pair of Ruppel stonewashed pastels in Daytona. The hard part for me is trying to sell of all of my poss het males that are hatching. I just don't feel right selling any of my hatchlings to the local pet store.

My decision this year is easy, as I will have no babies... but last year my clutch was from a normal x normal breeding and I planned on keeping the two females that were produced. I sold/found homes for others through friends, internet classifieds, and local classifieds. Next year will be more difficult to pick and choose, as most of the babies I produce (if all goes well) will be from unproven projects. If a project proves dom/co-dom, I will keep any visible morphs and perhaps the siblings... so that would be the whole clutch. If the babies show no phenotype, I will end up keeping them to try and prove/disprove that they are carriers. I also have one recessive morph project, and if all goes well I will keep all visible carriers and female hets.

Also, you should be prepared to keep each hatchling for quite some time, perhaps more than just 5 or 6 feedings... as it is really hard to predict how many potential buyers you will have, and how many of those actually complete a sale. I'd be prepared to keep them into at least sub-adulthood, especially if you want to try to hold your asking price.

All normal males,poss het males,66%hets males will be sold. All normal females will be sold. All poss het females will be held back. The only male i am keeping is the PIED male.

Sorry i sell to friends. I have one who wants to by all of my males. Ok sold. Some I sell to local pet stores.

well, when I do get my 100% het pied pair and they are of breedable age (like 2 years from now), I will keep any pieds that hatch and sell/give away the siblings. Thats my plans in thought for now, that could always change over the years. :D

Keeping everything.... not paying the bills for three months, ignoring the phone for 3 months and then living in a tent on abandoned toxic waste land for the rest of my very short expected life.... *Priceless* :)

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Originally Posted by Rapture

Also, you should be prepared to keep each hatchling for quite some time, perhaps more than just 5 or 6 feedings... as it is really hard to predict how many potential buyers you will have, and how many of those actually complete a sale. I'd be prepared to keep them into at least sub-adulthood, especially if you want to try to hold your asking price.

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This is a great point that you made. I hate seeing ads that say "everything must go.." It is akin to the horse-selling tactic "she needs to be sold by this date, or else she is going off to the meat auction!"
I am definately going to be prepared to keep all hatchlings if the need is there!

Ya know, I was just thinking about this. I was planning on keeping all my female albinos and selling everything else, but then I thought, "Hey, I could keep twice as many female het albinos for half the price and produce the same amount of albinos in three years, and at the same time sell all my albinos and have enough money to invest in a Lesser male that can produce in two years. That doubles my income in three years than if I had just kept the female albinos."

Then I thought, "But what if I want DH Albino Piebalds?! I'm going to have to keep at least one female albino this year and maybe another next year."

I don't know how you bigger breeders do this!! I swear, just having these eggs in the incubator is the most agitating, anxiety-causing thing on earth..! I might have a flippin' conniption once I actually see my first hatchling.. lol

Sorry to inform you, but it doesn't get any better next year, after you have had hatchlings before. Next year, you'll be waiting for your first Spider to pip, then the following year, you are waiting on your first Bumbleebee, and then the next year, you are waiting on your first Killerbee to pi, and then the next year....you get the picture.

Yeah, and then you look at the eggs once a week and if anything looks slightly odd, you start to panick!!!

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Sorry to inform you, but it doesn't get any better next year, after you have had hatchlings before. Next year, you'll be waiting for your first Spider to pip, then the following year, you are waiting on your first Bumbleebee, and then the next year, you are waiting on your first Killerbee to pi, and then the next year....you get the picture.

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Tim, you are so right. It never gets any easier or less exciting!:carrot:

I think that breeding these snakes is so flippin' fun. :D

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Originally Posted by bait4snake

Yeah, and then you look at the eggs once a week and if anything looks slightly odd, you start to panick!!!

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LOL ... after a few years of doing it, you get over that whole looking at the eggs every week thing ... they'll hatch when they hatch. ;) :D

-adam

From my breeding's in the near future I will be keeping a female albino, female pastel and female yellowbelly. Now when it comes to my pied project, bumblebee and super pastel it really doesn't matter the sex. I might keep a male spider in the future also. Can't wait, some of these will not breed in 07 but that's alright. :rockon: