Professional Breeding of Giant Snakes

[YungRasputin]

tried asking this in a FB group but nobody could give me a straight answer of course so perhaps here is best: when breeding big snakes commercially how many systems of tubs do i need? like obvi i need the hatchling tub system but should i also get a juvenile tub system and/or subadult system as well? i am curious because i don’t know exactly how fast snakes go and i am trying to plan this whole thing out - i know you have to wait for them to have a couple sheds, get some meals down, get established, etc prior to shipping - just trying to make sure i assemble everything i need

if realistically i do need a series of systems what do people breeding burms, scrubs, retics, etc typically use ��

[YungRasputin]

i have a hatchling system i am saving up for so i am basically wondering a) should i get system for other developmental stages and b) what dimensions would those be, good brands, etc - Vision has some good hatchlings systems but idk how well their juvenile systems would stack up when considering the size of big snake clutches and the size they get as juvinles, subadults, etc - I’ve heard “Freedom Breeder” a lot?

[Homebody]

If you need the help of this forum to set up a giant snake breeding operation, then your not ready to set up a giant snake breeding operation.

[YungRasputin]

If you need the help of this forum to set up a giant snake breeding operation, then your not ready to set up a giant snake breeding operation.

i think what’s weirdly frustrating is that it is impossible to “be ready for a breeding operation” unless one learns about said breeding operations first through inquiry and research and planning - it would be most helpful if people could just answer the question

[Animallover3541]

What I think Homebody means is that since you're still doing research, you should probably wait a little bit longer to start breeding until you have as much information as possible.

[YungRasputin]

i am not planning to breed anytime soon, and even if I was planning too it wouldn’t be possible as all of the snakes that i have rn that i plan to pair in the future are snakelets - what i am doing rn is planning out the actual logistics of the whole thing, see what equipment i need, how much space does that take up, etc - the only thing that’s happening in the immediate is acquiring my specimens and then acquiring adult housing - the breeding equipment comes after that as far as egg incubators, etc go - and the actual breeding comes much much later because i want to make 200% that i have absolutely everything I could possibly need and know exactly what my game plan is going to be before that would occur and I want my snakes to be a beyond what would be considered a minimal breeding age/size for health reasons

[YungRasputin]

to me this is going to be something which is going to take several years of slow grow snake growth and saving and investment in resources, equipment, etc - the actual breeding is not anything that could happen in the immediate

[YungRasputin]

[dunno how to delete comment]

[Bogertophis]

[dunno how to delete comment]

You only have about 10 minutes after posting to edit your post- after that, pm a mod (such as myself) to request post be deleted.

[nikkubus]

I've never bred giant snakes but I've done some reading on it because it's something I've been interested in. So keep that in mind with my advice on this topic. I'm only answering because the experienced people haven't answered yet, which hopefully they will.

Some things to consider:
-Giant snakes can lay huge clutches, sometimes with over 40 eggs.
-Burms and Retics specifically have wildly varying growth rates because of dwarf and super dwarf genetics being mixed in. That's before even getting into different feeding methods.
-Each species is going to have different requirements, so you may have better luck asking specifically about one species at a time.
-Racks aren't the best option for arboreal and semi-arboreal past a certain size, and commercial racks aren't in general unless it's for really young hatchlings and you compensate by just using a much larger tub.
-Selling giant snakes is more niche, so you could need to hold on to OS much longer than something like a BP.
-Some species you would need another person or two to help you handle the animals, especially trying to pull a clutch from a protective giant mama or an excited territorial male that can smell females.

If I were to undertake a project like that, I would first want to make sure I have a very large amount of space for several stacks of something like Animal Plastic style enclosures. I'd probably skip commercial racks all together and just start with loads of T1's because they already start so big, can grow fairly fast, and probably most would stick around a while until you get heavily established as a breeder. Given the backlog for those types of enclosures we experienced the last couple years, I would purchase them before even pairing even if their turnaround time is pretty fast at the time because you never know when it will get backlogged again. I would expect it to be a huge money sync for many years, if not forever. It is not something I would consider at all without really being in it for non-financial reasons, but instead have a strong desire to create something special or preserve genetics of some locality.

Can it be done with racks for hatchling to juveniles, sure. This is what most of the commercial breeders do, but none of the species you mentioned would really be happy as juveniles in racks. They are not pet rocks like a BP usually is, especially retics. I've listened to breeders rationalize their larger AP style enclosures to people that think they need whole bedrooms, and I tend to mostly agree depending on the species, but the young ones are pretty active.

That's my 2c. There are far more experienced people in this forum than myself on this topic though.