Recent purchase and have a few questions

[Adinelli1092]

I went to my first ever reptile expo today and I could have spent every dollar I have earned in the last 20 years in there today. I was in heaven😍. So many vendors, so many morphs, but there was one that caught my eye. I was looking for a male ( I wanted to attempt breeding next season, with what I thought was a original female I already owned until they showed me how to sex them, and when I got home, of course I already had a male &#128548 but anyway, one juvenile/subadult caught my eye, a piebald het albino. He is gorgeous with coloring only on/around his head, and his tale, the rest is bright white!! My questions are how do you know, or how can you tell if they truly have that heterozygous trait, or is it something you have to trust the seller on? Second, I am going to begin looking for a female particularly one that I will be able to bread this next season. I am knew to the morphs and not sure what I should be looking to breed with either of my males. I’m not sure if my original/normal is truly that as I live in the middle of nowhere and the only pet shop for 60 miles just had him labeled as “ball python”. I would be open to any and all suggestions, please let me know. Also I would love to show pictures I just am not sure how. Thank you very much for reading my book a just wrote 😜and let me know what you all think. Have a great day everyone.

[Albert Clark]

Well, congrats on attending your very first reptile expo! Always a good idea to show up to expos on a budget or at least have a idea of what you plan to spend and stick to it. There are a lot of morphs out there but since you are new to the breeding idea, work with something that you truly like. Seems you have a genuine like for the piebalds and that’s a great project. Especially one that is het for albino. It’s a good idea also to buy from reputable breeders that have been tested by their popularity with other enthusiasts and ones that have a good track record with other buyers and sellers. As you grow in the hobby you will hear of certain breeders that are usually at expos and some may be authors of books on reptile care and breeding. It’s a process, as you study the posts on this forum and go through the search bar for topics that interest you will be a big help learning. The main way to tell if a animal is truly het for a gene is to purchase from someone reputable and can guarantee the parents of the animals they sell. Maybe by photos of the parents actually breeding , maybe a written guarantee. You usually should go for animals that are 100% het as opposed to a lower percentage to give you the best possible outcome in what you may be trying to achieve in breeding trials.

[Bogertophis]

...Also I would love to show pictures I just am not sure how...

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures Most members here use Tapatalk app but there's other options.

[nikkubus]

There is always going to be some level of trust involved with buy non-visual hets. If they show a picture of a lock with one animal being visual, that really helps, but you never know if those are the actual parents or if they might have bred multiple males to a female. I have purchased hets from people that aren't highly reputable and had good results, but I know a lot of people have gotten burned on it. I would say if it's something super expensive, stick with people who have a solid reputation. If it's a cheaper and common one like Pied, a person doesn't have nearly as much incentive to lie and probably is really selling you a het. I don't price my non-visual hets any differently than something without the het, and most people won't for the average priced stuff, so again, not a lot of incentive to lie. Sometimes it's worth giving a smaller seller a chance since its not costing more, and if it proves out great, if it doesn't, no huge loss. When it's some brand new, super expensive morph, people will price even a het at several thousand dollars, and its a different story, but those are projects I wouldn't recommend a person get into in the first place unless they have a lot of experience and reputation.

[Adinelli1092]

Thank you very much for your response!!! I am very excited with my new hobby. I wasn’t really a fan of snakes until I held my first ball about three years ago, and I just fell in love. There are so many morphs and there were quite a few others that I loved, but they were thousands or even $10,000 and that is just not in my budget. I really do like the way the piebald‘s look. When I get everything figured out for breeding and attempt to do it, I think I am going to stick in that lane at least for a little while. This is more of a hobby for me, but who knows maybe I’ll end up loving it, and it will become more than that. Thank you for your time!!

[Snagrio]

There is always going to be some level of trust involved with buy non-visual hets. If they show a picture of a lock with one animal being visual, that really helps, but you never know if those are the actual parents or if they might have bred multiple males to a female. I have purchased hets from people that aren't highly reputable and had good results, but I know a lot of people have gotten burned on it. I would say if it's something super expensive, stick with people who have a solid reputation. If it's a cheaper and common one like Pied, a person doesn't have nearly as much incentive to lie and probably is really selling you a het. I don't price my non-visual hets any differently than something without the het, and most people won't for the average priced stuff, so again, not a lot of incentive to lie. Sometimes it's worth giving a smaller seller a chance since its not costing more, and if it proves out great, if it doesn't, no huge loss. When it's some brand new, super expensive morph, people will price even a het at several thousand dollars, and its a different story, but those are projects I wouldn't recommend a person get into in the first place unless they have a lot of experience and reputation.

I've been curious for a while how commonplace "het scams" are. Seems like something incredibly easy to do and potentially get away with since in a lot of cases the buyer can't possibly know they've been scammed until years after the fact when they find none of the offspring carrying the promised hidden gene.

[Adinelli1092]

I did a little research into the guy I was buying it from, he has only been in selling for a few years, but many people spoke highly of him. He is also a young man who just loves snakes, and has had his own legitimate business since he was 16. The price was not bad at all, honestly a little cheaper than most pied’s I had seen so I figured I would take a chance, if it wasn’t het albino, like you said no big loss.

[Adinelli1092]

Thank you !!!! I was able to put them up under Adinelli pics in gallery. Thank you again and enjoy

[Albert Clark]

Your original / normal male does appear to be a normal or “wild type”. He does look to have a somewhat reduced pattern especially towards the lower one third of his body. Normals are so variable but a lot of times have hidden genes or may be het for something that can only come to light by breeding the animal. As you post more pics take a photo of the normal’s belly for us. Right now he’s a nice reduced pattern normal.

[Bogertophis]

... I am very excited with my new hobby. I wasn’t really a fan of snakes until I held my first ball about three years ago, and I just fell in love...

I know exactly what you mean, lol. To meet & hold a snake is to fall in love with them. For this reason, I've also done many programs & informal "meet & greets" for YEARS with my snakes (pre-pandemic) just because it's SO much fun to watch people who fear & think they 'hate' snakes totally change their minds when they meet them up close.

Of course it has to be a mellow snake, but nearly all of mine are, & I've changed many minds that way- the more people that learn the truth about snakes, the more favorably they vote when subjects like "bans" come along too. I just never get tired of hearing someone say "I NEVER thought I'd EVER hold- or even touch!- a snake! Much less, like it!?" And some stayed to keep holding the snake for a long time, too, then shared their personal amazement with friends & family. And we're talking about adults- many older adults, whose minds had been made up for a lifetime.

Incidentally, this is why these horrible laws they're trying to pass in states are so dangerous- to make it illegal to share your animals in any such venues, including school classrooms. I know I saw animals shared in programs at school when I was a kid- including one with a giant snake- that left a lasting favorable impression.