Ideas on Breeding my Super Pastel?

[Tytysi]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this site, and new to reptiles in general. I've wanted a snake, and to be able to breed them for years, and I'm finally at a point in my life that I can make that happen.

I have a female super pastel that's a bout a year old, so I still have at least a year to decide what to breed her with. So, any suggestions?

I thought that breeding her with a normal would be good practice. The male would be very cheap to obtain, and if I've got a good grip on the genetics, this will result in a full clutch of het pastels, right?

Any suggestions or guidance for my first clutch would be wonderful!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this site, and new to reptiles in general. I've wanted a snake, and to be able to breed them for years, and I'm finally at a point in my life that I can make that happen.

I have a female super pastel that's a bout a year old, so I still have at least a year to decide what to breed her with. So, any suggestions?

I thought that breeding her with a normal would be good practice. The male would be very cheap to obtain, and if I've got a good grip on the genetics, this will result in a full clutch of het pastels, right?

Any suggestions or guidance for my first clutch would be wonderful!

I think the first step would be to learn genetics first, Super Pastel to Normal = all Pastel

Second step is to know the market an realise that the market is FLOODED with pastel which sell for about $20 to $40 which means by the time you hatch them house them and sells them which can take a LONG time because again they are Pastel you will be in the red financially.

Breeding a normal male to a Super Pastel female is a waste, always get the most gene you can afford, and I know you may not be in it for the money but trust me no one is in it to lose money and having to care for multiple mouths for an undetermined amount of time.

Now here is a tip the most popular Mutation pet wise at shows and locally is the Banana or Coral Glow they are affordable but they sell.

[rufretic]

I agree with Deborah, no good reason to make pastels unless you want to keep them all yourself as additional pets. I understand breeding for 'practice' but to make a bunch of unwanted animals for practice is cruel. For example, my first breeding attempt was to experience it and see how much I would enjoy the breeding part of the hobby. I knew if I was going to breed responsibly, I would need to make babies that would be easy to find good homes for. So my first and only pairing that year had 5 genes in the mix, 2 from dad and 3 from mom, so I knew I had good odds of making desirable combos. It went well and I sold all but one I held back. Didn't make any normals and still to this day I have been lucky enough to not make a single normal or pastel but I stack my odds with good pairings that have little to no chance of making animals that I can't find homes for. There is already so many ball pythons that if you are going to breed and make more, at least be responsible and create animals that people are looking for so that you know they will all eventually find good homes. Super pastel is not a bad animal to start with, at least you know you will make pastel at the very least, now just pick a male that will make combos that you like so you can add to your collection and also combos that there is a high demand for. Lot's of choices but I like Deborah's suggestion of banana because it is very popular and I would take it a little farther and add at least one more desirable gene like leopard for example. Leopard bananas are beautiful as well as pastel leopards. Leopard is another very popular gene and the more genes you have in the mix, the more possible combos you can make and the lesser chance you have at making single gene animals. You should have no problem finding homes for the animals you produce. The little bit higher price will be well worth the added enjoyment and it will be much easier to find them homes and recoup what you have spent. You'll still get the practice but you will also add enjoyment and experience the excitement of dreaming about what combos you will hit and that is one of the most enjoyable experiences of breeding, anticipating and then seeing what hatches out. Good luck!

[Tytysi]

Thank you guys for the advice!! The genetics involved in breeding seems simple enough, so at least I know anything I breed with her will have a pastel gene.

I will admit that I definitely didn’t think about the market. I was honestly just thinking how cool it would be to breed pythons and get not-normals, but I suppose the market’s a lot more complex than that... I think I’m going to use the upcoming year to decide what kind of project I’d like to start. A cinnamon fire pastel pinstripe spider is gorgeous, but that seems like a lofty goal for a beginner breeder. Years of breeding, but definitely something worth looking into.