Best Morphs based on genes I already have

[pewpewpew]

I know I know.. First post, in the breeders forum.. faux pas.

BUT, I am at least 3 years away from putting 2 snakes in one tub and I am just trying to learn as much as I can now.

I have lurked and searched these and other forums for the last 2 months and finally decided I couldn't find exactly what I wanted to know.

So without further adieu,

I have a male Het Axanthic and a female Pastel Het Axanthic from the same clutch. Female is a picky eater so they are both 1000g almost on the nose.

I know these aren't any kind of crazy gene combos but I would like to optimize my start. What would be the best 3 males and 1 female to buy?

I also know I might be better off just buying snakes that have the genes I want, but I also like the visual axanthic snakes.

My other question is, in order to start breeding het's do you have to start with high probability het combos or are you guys IDing 1/16 chance hets by breeding them out?

[Godzilla78]

The idea of breeding het to het is not so great. Each hatchling only has a 25% chance for a visual. And a 75% chance of being a “possible het” which are practically useless for breeding, and can only be sold at the low price of normals.
If you want a visual axanthic combo, buy a visual axanthic combo. It is silly imo, to breed a whole clutch of snakes, just to hope for a visual axanthic lottery. And then have a bunch of babies you will have to give away.

What is your goal in breeding pythons? Money? Getting a huge pile of snakes to take care of just fun? That is a lot of mouths to feed, and a lot of money and work spent, when you could just buy whatever morph you want.

[pewpewpew]

Thank you for your response and logic. I did not plan on breeding het to het, but from many of the videos and posts I've seen, hets can be very useful for cost effective breeding.

My question about breeding hets was geared towards selling 100% hets. to further expand, I was under the impression that most visually normal het snakes for sale are the losers of the visual lottery, but playing around with the genetic wizard, I find most combos I plug in are possible hets only.

But to honestly answer your question as to why I am considering breeding, I thoroughly enjoy the science behind it. It intrigues me. AND my son (7yo) spends most of his day watching snakebitesTV and other youtube channels centered around morphs and genetics. I think it would be an excellent hobby for my son and I to enjoy together, and I think it would be a great opportunity to teach my son entrepreneurship.

I don't think breeding balls is a get rich quick scheme or anything like that, but I do plan on having my son keep books on the operation and making him buy his own snakes (even if I offset the cost considerably.)

[Godzilla78]

Thank you for your response and logic. I did not plan on breeding het to het, but from many of the videos and posts I've seen, hets can be very useful for cost effective breeding.

My question about breeding hets was geared towards selling 100% hets. to further expand, I was under the impression that most visually normal het snakes for sale are the losers of the visual lottery, but playing around with the genetic wizard, I find most combos I plug in are possible hets only.

But to honestly answer your question as to why I am considering breeding, I thoroughly enjoy the science behind it. It intrigues me. AND my son (7yo) spends most of his day watching snakebitesTV and other youtube channels centered around morphs and genetics. I think it would be an excellent hobby for my son and I to enjoy together, and I think it would be a great opportunity to teach my son entrepreneurship.

I don't think breeding balls is a get rich quick scheme or anything like that, but I do plan on having my son keep books on the operation and making him buy his own snakes (even if I offset the cost considerably.)

In that case, buy a high-end visual axanthic combo morph male and breed it to multiple female het axanthics and het axanthic combos.
That will be the best results for your buck.


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[cchardwick]

Actually if your female is already 1000 grams you could probably breed her next year. I bred my smallest female at 1200 grams to start, she is gaining weight fast as her follicles develop so she should be up to an over 1500 grams by the time she lays, maybe even after she lays. I switched to live and it worked for all my snakes except one female pied that will not go this year. I actually got her to eat an adult live mouse last week but that was her first meal in about four months.

Just curious why you want three more males and just one female? I'd suggest getting a few more females and maybe one more male, one male can breed up to three females.

Everyone has to start somewhere. I was just looking back in the records of a well known large breeder and 15 years ago he used a lot of normal females. I actually picked up quite a few myself to move things along quicker. You can breed het to het and hold back all the females that are visual and sell the males. Once the females are mature you can sell off all of your hets and pick up a nice multi gene visual Axanthic male to breed back to your females, or maybe a real nice multigene male het Axanthic. Then hold back just one of the visual multigene Axanthic males to breed back to your visual females. Once you get a bunch of visual axanthics going you can sell off your normal het axanthics and continually upgrade your collection (or keep expanding). Even a normal het Axanthic female is useful down the road if you bring in some new genes to the mix, you can get a lot of snakes real fast. For example, you could breed an albino pied to your female het Axanthic and hold back the babies and breed them back together. You would get pieds, albino pieds and possibly Axanthic pieds (or even snow pieds). Even with just the possibility of het Axanthic you would still do well. Then hold back your visuals and sell the rest. It takes quite a few years but eventually you'll be doing quite well with a minimal investment.

Keep in mind that most reptile pet stores or wholesalers will buy all of your hatchings, most pay $15 per normal as long as they have had three meals. I've seen some pet stores sell them for close to $100. I've even seen normal het pied females that are adult size ready to breed sell for $400.

[Godzilla78]

Definitely possible to go the “long game”, as you described Hardwick. That is a lot more time and work, but more fun I suppose.


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[cchardwick]

I think a lot of breeders do both, maybe start with het axanthics and a couple years down the road buy a couple visual pieds as a separate project and expand as you invest a bit more. Once you have babies to sell you can use that money to reinvest in additional morphs. I think most breeders use hets when they are just starting out or later on down the road to try to make some worlds first combos. I have a lot of ideas to make some new stuff, especially some new Axanthic stuff. I'm planning on buying just one visual female to get started and can make all my own hets from there, lots of projects would take 6-10 years but I'm in no hurry LOL.

[PitOnTheProwl]

My question is what Axanthic are you working with?