Hello everyone,

I'm 16 years old, a senior in high school and I've been looking into ball pythons. Turtles and tortoises are my passion, and I will always feel that way, but snakes are awesome. Additionally, I think that they could provide a good foundation for genetic work with turtles and tortoises, and just breeding as a whole.

The first thing I'd like to know is how I should set them up. I was thinking I'd just go to the store and get a couple of those metal storage racks, and then use heat cord to serve as the heat source. I would also have to get some thermostats for them obviously. I would fill the rack up with a assorted bins based on the animals I'm getting.

I have a few questions though:
1.) what all do I need? I imagine I'll need forceps, a scale, hides and tub supplies, and something to supplement humidity. I have a lot of this as I work with the chelonians.

2.) Food supplier and price? I could look this up but I don't know the exact diet of the animals. How often should I feed?

3.) Workload? I'm not trying to get out of anything, so be honest with me. I'm planning to start up a small chelonian breeding business and so if it's going to drastically hinder my available time, let me know. I'll be in college, working, and taking care of the animals.

4.) I'll have to figure out genetics, but what would be some good morphs to start with? And what is the system for breeding as in female rotations and such.

If iyou think this is a dumb idea, tell me. I don't want to just dive into it, I would like to slowly progress from keeping to breeding and then expanding. Another note is that reptile breeding won't be my main job, so it's not like I'm just trying to get a huge group. I'm just interested in them. Ideally, one day I would have lots of turtles and tortoises, and then a larger than average collection of snakes and amphibians, but who knows. Thanks.