Beginner breeding?

[shelliebear]

Oh my god, I so know what you're talking about--I've been hunting endlessly for days, trying to find a female snake to maybe breed my male BP to someday.
They are EXPENSIVE! Females more so than males.
There are barely, if any, breeders where I live, so I'm mostly looking online (unless I want to pay $80 at Petsmart/Petco for ONE BP). Shipping sucks, and unless you save up enough to get more than one female at a time, you'll lose money paying it.
Also, you need to get more than one female to breed your male to. Well, ok, not NEED to, but you get it. If you want to at least break even on the snakes you'll buy, you want as many offspring as possible--so I'd say for every male, probably have 2-3 females to breed him to.
Also, plan for the fact that people may not jump to buy your baby snakes at first. If that happens, what will you do for housing them? Housing multiple babies in the same tank could cause them to refuse feed, and downright stress them out.
I agree, though, that they are addictive little buggers.
One more thing--perhaps instead of buying a snake right away, you should save up for a while (if you can, I can imagine what college must be like) and see if you can get a more expensive morph, i.e. bees or Super pastels, lemon blasts, etc. That way you could sell them for a little more, too.)
Shellie
Source: my new book on BP's

[Freakie_frog]

So obviously I'm new here. I've had a male normal ball python for a little over a year now. I bought him as just a pet. However, as I'm sure you all know, the lil buggers are really freaking addictive. My friends agree and they all want one now too.

First of all having only had you snake for a little over a year I'd suggest looking real hard at your housing situation and your long term housing options. Where you live now may allow one snake as a pet but might get a little miffed if they find half a dozen or more over night..

I don't think he's old enough to be bred yet, but I think in the future, my best friend and I would like to breed my Ramses to her....well she doesn't have one yet. Anyway, we're hoping that selling the offspring will help make college a little more bearable. I'd rather spend time taking care of lil snake babies than party. XD

Breeding and hatching is allot of fun but it is also a lot of work. Baby hatchlings are not set-it-and-forget-it things something else to think about. Getting them feeding can be a challenge and finding the right size food for them every 5 days can be costly and problematic. What happens to the food when they don't eat, ect ect ect..

So I'm sure that breeding these guys is more lucrative than expensive, or else you guys wouldn't do it.

LOL I wish with the cost of feeders, bedding, housing, heating, marketing, shipping, ect ect you'll be doing good to break even in two - three years..

My question is, is it better to get a normal female, breed them and sell the offspring for $35 each until we've got enough, and then buy a cheap morph like a pastel? Or would it be better to just jump straight to the morphs? I've been doing some browsing and finding a female pastel under $150 (the most my friend wants to spend on the snake alone) is extremely difficult.

Thoughts?

What you breed isn't going to matter pastels eat the same food as a normal so pick what you like. But understand selling snakes isn't like selling cookies at a bake sale. You might have to house and feed and care for them for months before selling a single one..

Lets examine the costs Of breeding a pastel female to a normal in rough values..and can be adjusted but are simply an average..and assuming you don't raise your own feeder.. Which costs more for a couple of snakes than buying them..

• Pastel female: 200.00
• Food once a week; 1.50 for 156 weeks (3 years time it takes on average to get a female to breeding weight) X2 have to feed the male too
• Houseing; small rack 200.00 remember you'll have babies to consider..
• Thermostat and heating; 285.00 (roughly)
• Incubator with thermostat; 250.00 (roughly)
  Now after the babies are hatched assuming everything goes great!
  average of 6 eggs with 3 of them on average being Pastels.
• Baby food for three months (lets say you sell out in 3 months) 6.00 every 5 days = 18.00
• still feeding mom and dad mind you

Now you sell out great..
Invested over the last three years

Roughly

$1,421.00 invested

- $375.00 total value of animals sold at todays prices with no shipping

Leaves you

-$1046.00 in the hole

[SpartaDog]

You guys forget I was going to do a partnership and split all the costs. That being said, we'd be splitting the profit too so I guess it doesn't matter.

Yeah, you guys win. I think she's just going to get a nice normal gal and breed once or twice for the sake of doing it. We can try again seriously after college.

[j_h_smith]

You guys forget I was going to do a partnership and split all the costs. That being said, we'd be splitting the profit too so I guess it doesn't matter.

Yeah, you guys win. I think she's just going to get a nice normal gal and breed once or twice for the sake of doing it. We can try again seriously after college.

You can become a breeder. It's a good hobby, but with most hobbies, it's going to cost you. At least you can make some money back when you sell your neonates. Go into it with that attitude and you won't be disappointed.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith

[Kyle@theHeathertoft]

Well, I was hoping to make money doing something I love. I'm a firm believer in the "If you work doing something you love, you'll never work a day in your life" philosophy. I'm definitely passionate about snakes, and especially balls. But you guys seem to be doing a good job of talking me out of it.

I love snakes, too. I love the thought of breeding, being able to look at a beautiful co-dom someday and say "Yeah, I bred this little fellow myself."

I also love the fact that I have a very decent "day job" and a steady paycheque. Sometime soon I'll be moving up from an hourly paid rate to making 50% commission on the dogs I groom. I love grooming. And I will never quit my job as a dog groomer to breed snakes...a whole year's worth of clutches may fail but BY GOD people's dog's hair will still need to be washed and trimmed.

Of course nothing is stopping you from making this your hobby! I am really enjoying all my snakes, am very excited about some of the plans I have, and am daydreaming about next year when I might be able to start pairing up a female or two.

Do what you love, love what you do, and enjoy your hobbies.

I dunno. It seems I'll be waiting until after college then. Thanks for the input, guys, and for knocking some sense into me before it was too late.

...fair enough. College is hella tough, and devours so much time and energy...maybe try this: put $10 a week into a jar, and at the end of college, take your "snake fund" and buy the coolest morph you can afford. Raise 'em up and then reconsider breeding...as a joyous hobby!

It's okay to breed bps but to expect it to help pay for college is unrealistic! Go ahead a breed for the enjoyment!

THIS. If you do feel like you have the time/energy/finances, get some cool single-morph snakes and raise 'em up, then breed for fun as a hobby!

One more thing--perhaps instead of buying a snake right away, you should save up for a while (if you can, I can imagine what college must be like) and see if you can get a more expensive morph, i.e. Bees or Super pastels, lemon blasts, etc. That way you could sell them for a little more, too.

Exactly. Grab a calculator and figure out what $10 a week is after two to four years. That'd be a rockin' snake fund.

First of all having only had you snake for a little over a year I'd suggest looking real hard at your housing situation and your long term housing options. Where you live now may allow one snake as a pet but might get a little miffed if they find half a dozen or more over night..

True story: I'm moving at the end of the month from this crappy little apartment to a nice two-bedroom full-basement rented house at the end of the month.

I'm moving because I want my cats to have more room to run around, and so I can get more snakes. Right now my snakes live in my room, which...isn't comfortable for me since I do not like the heat I now keep it at. Once we move, the snakes are getting their own room. Our current landlord hates snakes and honestly doesn't like that I have them...the new landlord, when I asked about how lenient the pet policy is, told me I can have a bajillion snakes so long as I take pictures to share with everyone and even showed me how the room the snakes will be in is already rigged for reptiles. Turns out the landlord used to be really big into lizards and geckos! The new landlord is fine with me having as many as I want, and it's worth it to me to have adequate space.

Yes that's right, I'm changing my living arrangement for cats and pythons.

Now you sell out great..
Invested over the last three years

Roughly
$1,421.00 invested
- $375.00 total value of animals sold at todays prices with no shipping
Leaves you
-$1046.00 in the hole

Though having a snake you bred yourself, to me, is priceless. Yeah I could probably have not bought any of my snakes and instead spent all that money on a Super Mojave hatchling...but it wouldn't be the same.