Breeding Ball Pythons - Some things to consider...

Iv been thinking about starting my own ball python breeding project after keeping reptiles for going on 6 years now, this post was excellent and gave me some great advise and insight into things to come, I'm going out on Friday two buy myself two yellow bellys to start my project from my local exotics centre, now I would like to ask a question after reading all this, obviously time is a key factor among many others and I understand that breeding is a hobby to us all who are passionate about our reptile and animals alike, my main concern is not yet but when my collection is larger, is it possible to keep a full time job and breeding or would I be better to drop to part time hours or quit my job entirely? Thanks in advance for any light on the subject

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Originally Posted by ekansnakekans

Iv been thinking about starting my own ball python breeding project after keeping reptiles for going on 6 years now, this post was excellent and gave me some great advise and insight into things to come, I'm going out on Friday two buy myself two yellow bellys to start my project from my local exotics centre, now I would like to ask a question after reading all this, obviously time is a key factor among many others and I understand that breeding is a hobby to us all who are passionate about our reptile and animals alike, my main concern is not yet but when my collection is larger, is it possible to keep a full time job and breeding or would I be better to drop to part time hours or quit my job entirely? Thanks in advance for any light on the subject

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Unless you are breeding a a huge scale (like hundreds and hundreds of animals), you're going to still be working full time. Most of the hobbiest breeders have full time jobs. There are only a handful out of the thousands of breeders out there, that do THIS full time.

Right no worries thank you very much for your help

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Best hobby ever!
Will never do this for the money, I'm happy if it pays the expenses and allows for a new snake every now and then:)

Great post.. I think time is the most important part of the hobby also.. That's what is keeping me from breeding. I only keep the amount of snakes I know I have time for, which is two.

So can you tell me how to breed ball pythons without cooling? With details? So this is what I have collected: you feed the female as much as she wants, and then you stop feeding for 3 weeks so she can clean out her body, and then you put them together in a big container with paper towels and look for lock ups. Then you let them rest for a couple of days and then put them back together just to make sure. Then you wait and the female should get bigger and bigger and a few months later you should get eggs and you get them in the incubator. Plz correct me and tell me if im right.

Never heard of the stopping feeding to clear out her body part?

That was a great post, That should be a sticky, not for just snake breeding, but for any animal breeding program. I bred bloodhounds , for 20 years and you are right. If you do it right it might offset your hobby, but you don't get rich. I bred because i loved the breed and i asure you it was a lot of work. My husband and i shared the work and it was like having second full time jobs. The vet bills were astronomical because every pup healthy or not had at least 3 visits and litters were 10- 12 pups. i wish everyone who wanted to breed any animal could read your post. Do i regret my breeding years, no never, I would do it all over again, The biggest problem i have with many breeders today is they don't know when to retire. When it becomes a chore, and you can't take as good a care of your animals, its time to hang it up.

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Originally Posted by jglass38

I despise keeping records. Its my least favorite part!

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That is so weird I absolutely love keeping records. I love seeing how much they have grown and how well they are eating. Also what kind of records do you keep because I think my records are a little scarce. I just keep records on what they are eating and how often and when they go into shed and how much they weigh whenever I feel like weighing them. But I also only have two snakes as of now so that may be why.

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Originally Posted by cassandra

Great post Jamie! (even tho you do wear little girls pink panties whenever possible =D)

And the time...yeah...spent an hour just cleaning one cage this week. Big snake, big cage, big POOP. But I knew that going into it. When thinking about having a snake or another snake or another 10 snakes, you need to ask "am I ready to commit to cleaning up this animal's poo for potential the next several decades?"

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Yes i agree but, you also shouldn't get a snake based on the clean up. I think if you buy a snake that you really really love then the clean up is not a big deal. It's just something that comes with having an awesome pet.