How to pick the best bee?

Hi everyone,

I was planning on breeding either a pastel or a spider to my pastel females this upcoming winter in the hopes of shooting for a bee or super pastel.

On the other hand, a conversation with Adam got me thinking that it would be worthwhile to just pony up the dough and get a male bumblebee. That way I'll be hitting some way better morphs :gj:

First, what do you think about that decision? Yes? No?

Second, I have seen great bees and terrible bees. What do you look for in a baby bee? I know pastels you avoid the orange, but I don't see that same orange in bees. How else do you choose?

Some say choose spider parents with high white sides, but I have seen high white sided bumblebees that are as brown as a spider by two years old.

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

JonV

i really like a clean looking bee. very bright and yellow. i dont actually care about how hig the white on the sides are. just clean. ive seen some bees that seem to darken up a bit even at a young age.

i think they have a bee for sale in the nerd available section. it was bred to a bright lemon. it costs like a grand more than the regular bees. but very worth it.. very yellow with no dark spots.

I may "bee" a little bias as I just picked up a bee from Kevin, but I just couldn't resist. It is the most beautiful snake I have ever seen.

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Originally Posted by Jenn

I may "bee" a little bias as I just picked up a bee from Kevin, but I just couldn't resist. It is the most beautiful snake I have ever seen.

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were you the one who bought that $3k lemon bumble bee??

When I was shopping for a bee I looked specifically for a couple things.

1st: Lightness, the lighter the better. If they already have a darker appearance when they hatch, it will more than likely just get darker and brown out with age.

2nd: Cleanliness, I wanted a snake with as little "peppering" as possible. Plus clean well defined black markings.

I hand picked my bee from Brock and he can attest to the fact that I picked up and looked over each bee very closely several times before picking one.

Here is what I ended up with, he has darkened just a hair since this picture was taken but is still very yellow and bright.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10..._MG_9819-1.jpg

stunning panther.. flawless photo too

Very nice, thanks for the information everyone.

So

1) Light
2) Clean

Anything else??

JonV

Panther, what was the type of pastel mixed into your bee? Does it make a significant difference?

JonV

Quote:

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Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj

Panther, what was the type of pastel mixed into your bee? Does it make a significant difference?

JonV

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Not sure but I think it was a Bell line pastel? Brock would know for sure. Not sure what difference it makes....

Jon I have no idea what pastel line was in that bee that produced Chris's bumblebee. It looks great though that is for sure. I hatched out more than a few bee's last year and Chris really did handpick the one for him. I remember his as a little baby and his yellow color sure did stand out! Chris your photographs of him as always are spectacular!

Jon my advice to you is to look over all the pictures of available bees when you are buying and then make your decision when you purchase.

Brock

:taz:

I say save your cash and try to get them on your own, its much fun that way to breed two different morphs and hitting the odds, I mean thats what I did.
The best way to get a bee is to breed a Spider to a pastel female, well thats the way I did it and I landed with 3 bees,1 spider, 1 pastel and 1 normal. All the bees looked different in my clutch and I kept two of the bees for my collection and the other went to a very cool person. The only thing was out of all the babies they were all females, but I was happy.:D


Here are my two girls!
#3
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/8430/img7078ba3.jpg
#1
http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/6383/img7084vk7.jpg

This year I'm trying for pewters.:gj:

Good luck with whatever you go with, bees are very hot snakes and I always wanted one and now I have two.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by panthercz

When I was shopping for a bee I looked specifically for a couple things.

1st: Lightness, the lighter the better. If they already have a darker appearance when they hatch, it will more than likely just get darker and brown out with age.

2nd: Cleanliness, I wanted a snake with as little "peppering" as possible. Plus clean well defined black markings.

I hand picked my bee from Brock and he can attest to the fact that I picked up and looked over each bee very closely several times before picking one.

Here is what I ended up with, he has darkened just a hair since this picture was taken but is still very yellow and bright.
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y10..._MG_9819-1.jpg

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Oh my dear god.
That bee is amazing and is exactly how I want my bee to look.
If Brock has pictures of the parents I would love to see them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dragondavy

I say save your cash and try to get them on your own, its much fun that way to breed two different morphs and hitting the odds, I mean thats what I did.

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That's always an option. But when I start thinking about if I miss next year...or the following year...etc...and then my long term goals are set back years. Not to mention, what if I do produce a bee but it's less than stellar? I wouldn't want to make a mediocre bee my star breeder. Those are my two biggest reasons for wanting to purchase rather than shoot for it on my own....not to mention then I can shoot for killer bees right off the bat! :gj:


JonV

Thats cool, to each there own.
I see everyone wants to be the first to come out with a morph, I do it for fun.

When I started to see these prices, one day they are 3k and the next they are 900 I figured I do it my self, no rush here.
My first time breeding I landed what I wanted, so thats the way I do, if it don't happen thats all good maybe next time.

Well, you'll find a good deal now on a bee now that everyone has them and they are around 900 maybe less.

A couple things I've seen, maybe others can chime in as well.

The same parents don't always throw the same pastels. Odd I know, but I've had 2 years of the same pairings produce and one year they were "ok" and this past year they were awesome. I'm hoping to get "awesome" again this year :)

Less than stellar animals sometimes throw you curveballs too and throw awesome animals. But I agree....I like to have the one I look at everyday be something I love openning the drawer to. It's twice as nice when that something is produced by your own hard work and patience.

I think pairing a NERD lemon with an especially clean and reduced spider makes for the lightest and brightest bees http://www.iheartpaws.com/forums/ima...Bananejump.gif