Breeding 1 of 3 types with my Axanthic Spider....which one?

[99transam]

Ok I have a lesser female and Axanthic Spider male.
I might be trading my lesser for either a axanthic lesser, or a het red axanthic lesser. (Love lessers)
I've looked at morphs graphs to see and its still up in the air as to which combo will give me a better visual clutch. Obviously the plain lesser being at the bottom.

A. Keep my plain lesser cause it won't be that dramatic of a change?
B. Trade her and opt for the axanthic or het res axanthic for a more visual pleasing babies that would also sell for more?
All input is more than welcomed guys/gals. I know I can't go wrong with either, just didn't know ifshe was worth trading.

[Warren_Booth]

There is a very simple answer to this, but one that most people seem to overlook nowadays. 1) Forget money and what you think you can sell or trade babies for in the future. That is not a realistic rationale to start swapping animals. 2) What morph do you really like. So much so that if you succeed in breeding them, you would be happy to keep them all if they do not sell.

One you have decided... that is your answer. Not difficult, but too many people think ball pythons = dollar signs, and that is the wrong way to think about this hobby. You get animals or an animal that you are really excited to own. End of.

That's my two cents anyway, and how I look at this hobby (and have done for 22 years).

Warren

[99transam]

There is a very simple answer to this, but one that most people seem to overlook nowadays. 1) Forget money and what you think you can sell or trade babies for in the future. That is not a realistic rationale to start swapping animals. 2) What morph do you really like. So much so that if you succeed in breeding them, you would be happy to keep them all if they do not sell.

One you have decided... that is your answer. Not difficult, but too many people think ball pythons = dollar signs, and that is the wrong way to think about this hobby. You get animals or an animal that you are really excited to own. End of.

That's my two cents anyway, and how I look at this hobby (and have done for 22 years).

Warren

Yeah, its not really about money!!! Shouldn't have even mentioned that. I'm just trying to figure out what combo would give me more variety to pair with the axanthic spider that might hit an awesomely rare-ish morph

[99transam]

In other words I love all 3 of these lessers.
Just trying to put my finger on which one will yeild more variety when its time to breed.

[the_rotten1]

Well, with a lesser female you'll get normals, lessers, spiders, and lesser bees that are het for axanthic (that means you can't see the axanthic gene, because it's recessive).

With an axanthic lesser you'll get axanthics, axanthic spiders, axanthic lessers, and axanthic lesser bees. (These babies are visual recessives. You can see the gene because they have two copies of it, one from each parent.)

With a het red axanthic lesser you would get normals, spiders, het red axanthics, lessers, spider het reds, lesser het reds, lesser bees, and het red lesser bees. All would be het for axanthic. (The het red axanthic gene is very different from the axanthic gene. It's co-dominant, not recessive. So with this last option you're adding a fourth gene to your breeding plans. The first two options deal with three genes.)

As you can see, the first two options would be capable of producing four different types of offspring while the last option would give you eight possible types, so the het red axanthic lesser is the winner if you want variety. The visual axanthics (the babies from a lesser axanthic female) would be worth more money, but you would have to make sure that both snakes are from the same line of axanthics. A lot of lines aren't compatible, and if they're not compatible the babies won't be visual recessives. Do you know which line your male is from?

Then you have to think about whether or not you like the look of all the possible morphs you're going to get. If you like yellow in your snakes, the plain lesser might produce babies that are more pleasing to you. If you go with an axanthic lesser than all your snakes will be axanthic, so no yellow and more grays and browns. The het red would also give you grays and browns, but with yellow and without as much red. You should google some of these snakes or find them on the world of ball pythons morph list and see if you like how they look.

Here's a link to the morph list: http://www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/?
They also have a genetics wizard which will show you what offspring you get from potential pairings: http://www.worldofballpythons.com/wizard/

I have spiders and axanthics in my own collection. No lesser or het red yet, though I love both. My axanthic girl is VPI line and she's a beauty. I'm not a big fan of the color yellow, so I'm really excited about my future plans for her.

[99transam]

I still don't see where I get a normal from!?! I see if it were a regular spider I have a 1/4 chance of a normal, but not with a axanthic spider.
Its the vpi line axanthic spider btw. I've been leaning towards an axanthic lesser more so than the others from the start. So I would need to make sure the axanthic lesser is from the vpi line correct?
The one I'm looking at just says axanthic.....no vpi or sk..hmmmmm.
Thanks a ton, that really helped

[PitOnTheProwl]

You forgot about the female.
Your male will go Spider Het Ax and Normal Het Ax
The female you use will break down the same and you will only get visuals if she is VPI visual or Het