A thought occurred to me, and after scanning through posts I've seen no answer, so I figured I would put the question out. I realize that there will be no universal answer, but I am hoping to start a discussion. I also know that Ball Python breeding is relatively young, and this won't apply for a long time for a lot of snakes in peoples' collections.

What time do you think is an appropriate age to retire a breeder? 20 years? 30? When they start displaying difficulties? Any different standards that you would hold males and females to? And finally, what would you do with your retired breeders? Keep them as pets? Sell them as pets? Anything else?

Since Balls live such a long time, and breeding has seemed to really explode in the last decade and a half, I figured that this would be something interesting to ask people.