What would you do?

[Crawly's Mom]

Hey guys! I was curious to see what people would do in my situation, so I thought I would ask! Currently I have two female BPs, one spider and one normal. Both are still quite small, only a few months old, so nowhere near breeding ready. I have never bred snakes. The only contact I had with snakes before these two was working in the science lab at school and caring for the menagerie there. The prospect really excites me... but I don't want to get too big for my britches too soon. How long did you guys take to get into breeding? Also... would it be best to wait it out till these girls are older and maybe buy a baby male now to breed with them? There is a show coming up next month in Phoenix, I am sure there will be plenty of snakes there to look at and choose from if I wait. Where would you begin? On a limited budget, what's the best choice for a male? Two gene hopefully for a bigger possibility of non-normal babes.

[meowmeowkazoo]

I would wait until your females are about a year old before you get a male. Males breed at a much smaller size than the ladies do. Also, taking care of your females while they grow will help give you time to figure out if you really do want to breed them, and will give you invaluable learning experience.

For a normal and a spider I would get one of the following males:

Super Pastel
Pastave
Pewter
Pastel Butter
Pastel Lesser
Lemonblast
Firefly
Kingpin

Some of those are much cheaper than others, but the longer you wait the better a male you can get.

Good luck either way.

[el8ch]

I would wait until your females are about a year old before you get a male. Males breed at a much smaller size than the ladies do. Also, taking care of your females while they grow will help give you time to figure out if you really do want to breed them, and will give you invaluable learning experience.

I agree - typically your females will be ready to breed at 18 months (+1500 grams min) if all goes well. Males will go much smaller and at less than half the age.

Get a dual gene morph (male) later on down the road and really decide what your breeding goals will be. With the spider gene you will be able to produce a lot of nice morphs if you get a dual gene male with the pastel gene. The pastel gene is a really nice enhancer to multi-gene morphs.

[decensored]

I agree with the above posters. Over the next year SAVE SAVE SAVE for a cool morph (I've been putting away $50.00 a pay for my fire enchi im getting in february. There's no realy point in getting one till next year. Males can breed after about a year old and females need to be between 2 and 3 normally so although you can get one now if you want - I would personally wait and do LOTS OF RESEARCH into what you can make using what gene's and plan it out.

[RestlessRobie]

Oh how the addiction grows. I have a hatchling female pied and I am waiting at least a year befoer I pick up a het or well anything to breed her with it will be at least 2 more likely 3 years before she is ready to breed and well I am just enjoying her cuteness at the moment. And yes I have plans for a snake room in the distant future. I have an outbuilding with power, water, cable, Phone, and heat that is unused ATM so I see a couple racks in my future. But for now I have to wait and be patient. My goal is a double recesive Pied and haven't decided yet so I got a few year to work toward it.

[Crawly's Mom]

I think after searching through a lot of morphs that I really like the nuclear morphs? Like the nuclear spider. Which I guess is fire, butter, and spider. I already have a spider female, so I guess I would be looking for a fire or butter male or maybe even a combo of the two?

[Lorgakor]

I agree - typically your females will be ready to breed at 18 months (+1500 grams min) if all goes well. Males will go much smaller and at less than half the age.

Get a dual gene morph (male) later on down the road and really decide what your breeding goals will be. With the spider gene you will be able to produce a lot of nice morphs if you get a dual gene male with the pastel gene. The pastel gene is a really nice enhancer to multi-gene morphs.

What? Females are being bred earlier than two years old now?

[meowmeowkazoo]

What? Females are being bred earlier than two years old now?

It's not age so much as weight that determines when they are ready to breed. Some females are ready before they are two years old.