Starting out new. What should I get?

[glcharles94]

So I've owned a normal ball python before had success raising it and when i went to college I donated it to my little brother for safe keeping with focusing on my studies. After graduating and moving on in the big world, I'm looking for a part time hobby and would like to get into breeding ball pythons.

I've done my research with how to breed and genetics and all that good stuff but I'm really stumped on what morphs to start out with. I'm fascinated with bananas, and Super Cinnamons and I've read into their genetic problems with breeding and what not but I'm sort of weary of breeding them for my first time. I know piebalds are popular but im not really into going the "mainstream" route(if i can say that). I know people say breed what you like but I'm really fascinated in the creating and mixing mutations aspect. So I want advice from established breeders and newbie breeders that maybe learned somethings along the way and wished they bought or got something different and went down a different route.

If you had to start all over and start out with 1 male and 1 female what would you choose?

Would you get simple 1 or 2 gene male and females?
Or would you get a powerhouse ( atleast 3- 5 genes) male and/or female?
What morphs would you try to play with first?
Would you buy a proven female or baby or sub adult?

I know im going to stay small and get 1 male possible 2-3 females and try to grow as i get the hang of it instead of trying to grow big right away, but im just having a hard time getting my feet wet because i want to buy everything on morphmarket but i know i can't yet. I hope this makes sense and thank you to the people who spend the time to read this and respond.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First I would not buy one male and one female right out the bat I would buy 2 or 3 females, 1 gene if recessive, multiple if not recessive.

I would raise them up for a year and than worry about a male and get the most gene I can afford.

Now no one can dictate what YOU should breed that's on you, and the first thing that comes in consideration is breeding what YOU like and breeding what sells.

Regardless of the level you want to breed for, many people say I don't want to do it for the money, well I can guarantee that even if your goal is not to make money but have a hobby or want your collection paying for itself, you do not want to loose money.

So the question is how do you not loose money? By being smart about investing (I say smart not cheap), and by knowing YOUR market, knowing what is in demand what is over produced, knowing how to establish a reputation that will make people want to buy from you, by knowing how to market yourself, by having a plan.

You also need to think about housing, feeders (either finding a reliable source for live or breeding your own), incubation etc, space (that can amount to an nice cost on the top of your starter animals.)

In other words YOU have a lot of work ahead of yourself that only YOU can do, putting two snakes together it's the easy part so easy every one and their grand mother does it, the other side of the coin a lot of people give up within 3 to 5 years when if they went the right way about it they would actually start making a profit.

You need to get started with at least 5K that also mean you must be willing to lose those 5K.

[glcharles94]

Thank you Deborah. That does guide me in the right direction. I have looked at all aspects of this hobby and know the time and investment I'm getting myself into. I am planning on doing mostly DIY racks and a incubator to eliminate most of the cost. I also plan on building most of my infrastructure while raising my females. But thank you again for your time and advise.

[PitOnTheProwl]

Best advice is to start with females.
The time it takes to grow them out and be ready to breed can take two to three years if not longer.
Buy a couple very good looking animals with the genetics you like. In a year or two start looking for a power house male to compliment the time you will then have invested.
Males are usually cheaper and their price drops every year.
I have a thing for recessive genes but a lot of people dont want to invest the time into making a bunch of hets and then proving them out. I like the long game.

[Godzilla78]

Invest in the most amazing, rare morphs you can. Go big, spend big!

I’d rather have 1 snake worth $3,000 that eats 1 rat per week, rather than 10 snakes worth $300 each, that eat 10 rats a week! (Simple math)
a rare, hot gene, especially recessives, will hold value. A very common, over-produced dominant gene can quickly depreciate to barely more value than a normal.