New breeder looking for advice ~

[Stellary]

Hey all! I've owned a couple of regular ball pythons but I'm looking to move up and become a breeder. I'd like to plan out which morphs I should breed, something simple, cheap and easy to acquire to start out with.
I've been dreaming of breeding leucistics for the last few years, but I'm not sure how popular they are or if it would be worth the effort.
I do not currently own any ball pythons yet, but I've been trying to make up plans for the last few months and really need someone to point me in the right direction.
I was really interested in getting a fire or mojave morph to start out with.

I'd really love any pointers, advice or constructive criticism anyone can offer. Please keep negative comments to youtself, thanks!

Note: I live in Mississippi and surprisingly enough, there doesn't seem to be that many breeders around here. So I feel like it would be pretty easy to get started.

[redshepherd]

BEL's are still pretty popular! I'd personally get a mojave female for my super lesser male, if I ever got into breeding him.

Like everyone always says, keep in mind that you won't be *earning* money by breeding, especially just starting out- there are already a ton of hobby breeders out there advertising and trying to sell their snakes, and it's hard to compete with the big name breeders who are already breeding hundreds of BP's.

You will technically still be "losing" money, just make up for some of what you invested in your efforts, and break even at best. Breeding BP's would really just be spending some money to pursue this personal enjoyment and how fascinating the whole thing is.

Don't forget to ask yourself f you are capable and prepared to keep and feed all of the hatchlings during the time that they don't sell yet, which may take months.

Choose the morphs that you personally enjoy, because that's what makes it the most fulfilling and worthwhile in the end. =)

[Galaxygirl]

I had a big waiting list for my BEL babies just from selling on Craigslist. People were willing to pay whatever I asked for them as long as they could get one (I'm in Houston and one of the only breeders here). I'd say they're still a really popular morph. A lot of people want those pure white snakes with blue eyes. I'd bet they're probably one of the best investments if you're starting out, as Mojave and Butter/Lesser are very cheap and BEL's are easy to make and still pretty expensive.

A cool project you could get into is Mojave BEL's, and get a Mystic or Phantom to throw in there as well. Something easy like a Mojave male (Or Super Mojoave (BEL) male if you want to spend around $300+ on a male), Mojave or Butter/Lesser female, and Mystic or Phantom Female. Start out making BEL's and Mystic Potions / Purple Passions, which are two really popular combos.

[Stellary]

I had a big waiting list for my BEL babies just from selling on Craigslist. People were willing to pay whatever I asked for them as log as they could get one (I'm in Houston and one of the only breeders here). I'd say they're still a really popular morph. A lot of people want those pure white snakes with blue eyes. I'd bet they're probably one of the best investments if you're starting out, as Mojave and Butter/Lesser are very cheap and BEL's are easy to make and still pretty expensive.

A cool project you could get into is Mojave BEL's, and get a Mystic or Phantom to throw in there as well. Something easy like a Mojave male (Or Super Mojoave (BEL) male if you want to spend around $300+ on a male), Mojave or Butter/Lesser female, and Mystic or Phantom Female. Start out making BEL's and Mystic Potions / Purple Passions, which are two really popular combos.

Thanks for the tip! This is what I was hoping to hear. I've been looking for a real nice mojave girl to start out with, but I also know that reputable breeders are very important!
How do you make mystic potions ? They look absolutely gorgeous!

[Galaxygirl]

You need Mojave and Mystic to make a Mystic Potion, or Mojave and Phantom to make a Purple Passion (Both combos are similar looking). That's why I'd recommend getting a Mojave combo male, a Mojave female to breed him to and make BELs, and a Mystic or Phantom female to breed him to to make Mystic Potions or Purple Passions. I'd recommend checking out www.worldofballpythons.com and owal genetics calculator. Owal is really useful for seeing what clutches you can create.

Just make sure to Google the names of sellers you're looking to buy from and you can check out Fauna Board of Inquiry to see if they're listed there.

[Stellary]

Thanks. C: this is super helpful. Are there breeders that you'd recommend ? I've seen mojave range anywhere from 50-100$ and it's hard to tell whats legit and what's a rip off lol.

[bks2100]

You need to pick out what morphs are popular along with what morphs you like. I personally am not a fan of albinos really so breeding those, even if they were popular, just doesn't make sense. This is a hobby after all.

I'm starting off just now too so I only have 4 snakes, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about if I want to buy one or two more snakes now and what my breeding plans will be. I think for starting off co-doms are the best, recessives are just a bit too long and who knows what recessives will be popular next year. I'd be aiming for multi gene animals though both for the excitement and the variety.

Since you like BEL I'd go for a lesser x mojave pairing. It gets you to the same place but when you breed it to anything else you'll get lessers and mojaves instead of just all of one. The only thing I don't like about breeding BEL is that it's harder to tell what other genes you have in there. You can blacklight them and see patterns but some morphs might be hard to see. I personally like the super fires, but I don't think they're really comparable to BEL, just because they do have pattern still and if you're going for BEL you usually want the all white.

Like for everyone else though I'd recommend buying just females right now, they take at least 2 years and sometimes up to 5 years to be breedable. Buy females this year and then a male or males next year. You could get a male this year just to be sure he'll be ready in case you have a faster grower female that gets up to breeding size her 2nd winter, but if you don't have anything ready then you'll have spent a years worth of rats on the male along with the fact that morphs depreciate with time. So if you buy the male now it could be 200 for the morph you want, then in a year they could drop down to 100, or for the same 200 you can get an additional gene (or even another male of a different morph). This all depends on your budget though. If you have over a thousand dollar budget you could get some really nice snakes, if you have a 200 dollar budget you're probably looking at normal females with a 1-3 gene male (still not a bad idea really).

[darkranger69]

if you like bel go for it because like said above they are quite easy to sell , it is a beginner morph, one of the most popular. don t buy a male right now. better you start with 1 to 4 female and contrary to others i will avoid mojave except if you are willing to make crystal, ghi or potion combos down the road. i will go for lesser females and according to their growth buy a white diamond male in 1 or 2 years. Mojave bels have a grey head cap. Some white diamond can get yellowish with aged as well and it s here you should be carefull when picking your male.
This is the way i will go for making little profit or at least nullify the cost.

But As hobbist, i will tell you to take your time and check all different morphs because breeding snakes take you from 1 snake to a couple to 10 snakes to much more. So make sure which kind of hobbist you will be and is there a chance that you gonna expend? if you think you will likely have a growing collection over the years. you may have to think your first project as financement but also as a breeding stock compatible with your next project.

For exemple:
Mojave goes with mystic/special/ghi for the most common stunning combos.
lesser goes with enchi/spider/pastel/pinstripe.
het. russo is not that obvious as key morph in stunning combos.
and there is the black eyes leucy: super fire. it s also a very easy to sell morph but fit to much more projects. And aged better than any blue eyes leucy. If you ask the 5 must have morphs in any collections for a 10 to 50 snake collection, i guess you will almost always have Fire, pastel, enchi.
So if you feel like gonna expend i suggest you like few did above to consider black eyes leucy.

[Stellary]

I would like to make this out to be more than just a hobby in the future, which is why I know I should be very selective of which snakes I choose for my collection. But I know it's best to start out small instead of biting off more than I can chew, which is why I thought BELs were a reasonable goal. C:

[AKA Dave]

The other option to get BEL's is what I did. I purchased a 1.0 Mystic Potion this year. Next year, I'll look for a few proven 0.1 Lesser BPs. This combo will give you a 50% chance at a white snake, with half of those being blue eyed and the other half black. You'll also throw Mojaves and Mystics.

Dave