Got an offer--any advice?

[purplemuffin]

So, there is a reptile shop about 5 minutes from my house and Nathan and I have become the owner's "computer guys" which is cool... We are sort of apprentices at the shop and we get deals cut on supplies, feeders, animals, and he's actually offered to build Nathan's dad's tegu cage. It's working out really fun and it's been a really good way to get experience honestly!

Well, recently we've been talking and showing off our pets to him and he has taken a HUGE liking to Nagini. Everytime a boa person walks in the store he pulls out her pictures and asks them what they think of her, lol. He's actually really interested in working out a breeding loan since we don't have the males and he has REALLY nice males available. Now, she's not ready to breed yet(she's only a year old), but he's really serious about this. We've never done anything like this before, so we are very nervous. She would be at the shop while breeding is happening, which is only 5 minutes away(and we are there a couple times a week), but of course is nerve wracking cause she's our baby! Haha, he actually wanted to buy her first, but we wouldn't back down and so he's very determined to get her worked in.

When it comes time for this to possibly happen, I'd love to know things to watch out for... Things that should be gotten in writing I guess. Apparently he's got a nice double gene male he wants to breed with her(I think he has a hypo dutch pastel or something, I know it's hypo and something, I just forgot what he said the second gene was)


I guess I'm just sort of in shock and laughing a little, I knew my girl was a pretty lady, I didn't expect to have this happen! He must be willing to accept the 'risk' I guess that she won't prove out. Honestly, I still think she's a normal, but he's downright convinced she's a low expression jungle, or at least has some kind of 'color brightening trait' in there or just has good genes or something!

I dunno, I'm totally floored. I guess I don't know how to react.










Man, I really need to get a picture of her in her light phase now. All those are her in her dark phase(always looks best the day I leave my camera at home!) The only light phase picture I really have is a small piece of her as a baby, comparing that to her on a 'dark' day:




I do trust the guy, we've actually been watching him do this with another regular customer, and since we are the ones building and (starting tomorrow) running his website and kingsnake account, I don't think he'd want to rip us off. I've seen crazier things happen though. I guess I want to make sure all this happens as smoothly as possible. It's sort of an amazing opportunity, he has some boas worth well over a grand(and that's just in the front of his shop, he has his 'expensive snakes' in his warehouse) and the chance to get a baby bred from his nice stock is just kind of incredible.

[TheWinWizard]

I hope you don't take this the wrong way but this guy has all these expensive snakes along with a warehouse and he has 2 people off the street taking care of his website and kingsnake account. Just doesn't smell right to me.

[boadaddy]

Honestly if I were in a situation like that, I would have him bring the male to you . Snakes should have privacy while breeding and a reptile shop isn't the best or cleanest place for that in my honest opinion. You have a couple years at least until she's even ready for something like breeding, plenty of time to write up a good contract so the other dude feels safe bringing his male to you guys. What thewinwizard said, another reason to make him bring the male to her...doesn't add up? She should be bred to a nice junglow to see if she is in fact a low expression jungle and prove that out either way.

[purplemuffin]

That was moreso his offer because we had never bred anything before, I could probably go ahead and tell him to do it the other way around since we have the girl. She would be in the back room most likely (that's where he's got his other breeding boas for this season)

Either way, I understand the skepticism, I have a few friends who've worked in the reptile business for a while who are going to check him out. And we still have two or so years til it would happen, so we have plenty of time to decide "Yeah, we're not interested!"

[Evenstar]

I agree with both winwizard and boadaddy. Something doesn't seem to smell right to me either. My concern is why is he so interested in YOUR snake in particular??

Now, don't get me wrong, Nagini is a gorgeous snake. But a low-expression jungle is not that hard to find and one isn't really all that expensive either. Please don't be offended! As I said, she IS lovely! But the genetics aren't that uncommon. This guy could find a proven jungle young adult female to breed his males to and then he'd own that female and all the resulting babies. Likewise, YOU can find a very nice male for Nagini within the next year or so.

To give you an example, I bought Peaches from a good breeder at a rept expo in May. She is a double gene animal - hypo dh ivory ghost - and she is a very very nice hypo. She is 9 months old now. I paid $200 for her. I am picking up a male for her this Saturday (incidentally from the same breeder). He is another hypo het ghost and is also an extremely nice, clean hypo and he has a genetic stripe which was proven out by the breeder with his sire. I paid $160 for this male. So for less than $400 I have 2 reeeaally nice hypos that together will produce hypos, super hypos, and ghosts all with a genetic stripe!

I know you said you trust this guy, and really, only you two can make this decision. But since you asked us here, I am thinking that you have some concerns and maybe you aren't feeling totally comfortable with this situation. If that's the case, my advice to you is WALK AWAY. To quote Robert Frost, "Good fences make good neighbors...." Just because you work with this guy doesn't mean you can't say no. Thank him for the compliment of wanting to breed his male to your snake, but leave it at that. If you're comfortable taking one further step, you might offer him one of Nagini's future offspring (from your own male) when she has them, perhaps at a slightly discounted price as a thank you for waiting. Just a thought!

Breeding arrangements with snakes can be FULL of inconsistancies, loopholes, and vagrancies. It can work, but it can be one major headache too. I don't know that you would find this particular situation worth it in light of how easy it would be to simply have your own male. You have plenty of time, and I garauntee that you'll be able to find the perfect boy for your perfect girl!