Newbie?

[Tim Wilbanks]

What's up Ball-pythons.net?

I have kept and bred Burmese pythons for a few years and recently sold off my breeding groups of albinos, granites and labs along with their 6' Neodesha cages. I loved my Burms but, cleaning horse sized poop as well as tightening laws on giant snakes took it's toll. I kept the tub racks used for neos and a large fridge incubator. Since getting rid of my snakes the house just doesn't feel the same!

I'm thinking of spending the cash along with my Christmas bonus in ball pythons now that prices are somewhat down to earth. I would like to buy into bp's since they are small compared to Burms. I could probably house 100 balls in the same room I kept 16 adult Burms. I'm leaning toward buying some piebalds and a few other morphs. Any suggestions on getting the most bang for my buck?

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Albinos have held their prices pretty firm over the years. Personally I would go for some Double hets and make some combo morphs.

[Tim Wilbanks]

Albinos are must have on the list! I would like to buy 1.0 Het and 1.2 Albinos.

[rabernet]

It really depends on your budget and what YOU love. Don't worry about the "market". Piebalds are some of the more stunning morphs for sure! You'll get as many different suggestions as you do members, as everyone has their favorites!


For example, in recessives, my personal favorites are clowns, piebalds and hypos (ghosts). I'll be getting a nice lemon pastel male in January. And I love pinstripes, and will probably get one of those before I get a spider. Daily my favorites change! LOL

[rabernet]

Oh, and welcome!!!!

[MarkS]

well, the short answer has always been, 'get what you like the best' . But if you just want an opinion on how I'd do it if I had the funds and were just starting out, I'd go with a couple of recessive mutations (homozygous males and het females), a couple of co-dominant mutations (males) and one or two pattern mutations (males) , along with a dozen normal females.

It'd be hard to go wrong choosing from this list.

Albino
Hypo
Pied
Pastel
Lesser
Pinstripe
Spider

I'm sure others have their own lists and preferances, but these would make a good start.

Mark

[Tim Wilbanks]

It really depends on your budget and what YOU love. Don't worry about the "market". Piebalds are some of the more stunning morphs for sure! You'll get as many different suggestions as you do members, as everyone has their favorites!


For example, in recessives, my personal favorites are clowns, piebalds and hypos (ghosts). I'll be getting a nice lemon pastel male in January. And I love pinstripes, and will probably get one of those before I get a spider. Daily my favorites change! LOL

Thanks Rabernet, just cruising kingsnake I have seen some super nice bp's. I would like to balance out what I like with what is somewhat in demand or on the up and up. Don't know if posting this is proper but, I would like to stay under $20,000. This is my budget for which I can live with regardless.

[Tim Wilbanks]

well, the short answer has always been, 'get what you like the best' . But if you just want an opinion on how I'd do it if I had the funds and were just starting out, I'd go with a couple of recessive mutations (homozygous males and het females), a couple of co-dominant mutations (males) and one or two pattern mutations (males) , along with a dozen normal females.

It'd be hard to go wrong choosing from this list.

Albino
Hypo
Pied
Pastel
Lesser
Pinstripe
Spider

I'm sure others have their own lists and preferances, but these would make a good start.

Mark

Thanks Mark, I planned on picking up a dozen normal females since the basics seem to include a few co-doms in the mix somewhere. I had a chat with Mike Wilbanks from constrictors.com (no relation) the other day on some choices. Just thought I would get a number of opinions.

[Spaniard]

Hey Tim,

Welcome to the forum. My suggestion would be to take it slow and do some research, there are so many awesome morphs and combos out there that you're going to want them all. Recessive like everyone has said maintain their value the best. I happen to love Pastels and now with the way they've come down in price it'd be silly not to pick one up. I would try to get a recessive project going and perhaps a co-dom project. Clowns, Pastels, Spiders, Axanthics and YBs...those would be on my list.

[rabernet]

Thanks Rabernet, just cruising kingsnake I have seen some super nice bp's. I would like to balance out what I like with what is somewhat in demand or on the up and up. Don't know if posting this is proper but, I would like to stay under $20,000. This is my budget for which I can live with regardless.

It's only proper if you have no problem sharing that. There are several excellent breeders that participate right here on the site. So as to not get myself in trouble if I leave anyone out - I'll just say pay attention to the banner ads, and also to the posts in the morphs section of the forum, as many of them participate there. I've purchased from two here, but there are several others I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from as well!

Nice budget to work with, so I'm sure you'll be able to find some really nice base animals to start with. Reduced clowns are really gaining a lot of attention this season, a recessive gene, so a nice male and a het female would be a good choice. But again, it's totally what YOU love, what YOU aren't going to look at while you're cleaning and going - man, I really don't like that snake.