What types should a beginner breed with first?

[Foschi Exotic Serpents]

Get a super-nice bumblebee male and a bunch of normal adult females.

Doing it this way would only yield spiders and pastels though. I'd get pastel females or super pastel females. That way the OP could get bumblebees and killerbees also. Much better investment.

Super pastel female babies can easily be purchased for $400-$500 each at shows.

[snake lab]

Whether your a beginner or a seasoned vet the same thing applies. Figure out first what ya wanna produce then pick up the animals that it takes to produce them.

[Andybill]

Whether your a beginner or a seasoned vet the same thing applies. Figure out first what ya wanna produce then pick up the animals that it takes to produce them.

Yeah thats great advice and I have started doing that. I think I figured out what I want:
Male Pastel
Female Pastel
Female Spider
Female Mojave
Female Pinstripe

These should produce a wide spectrum of good morphs.

[snake lab]

Those girls sound great. I wouldnt get a pastel male. Id get a calico male to put to those girls. Calico stuff is super hot. You could do crazy things with a calico to those girls for sure

[C&H Exotic Morphs]

Yeah thats great advice and I have started doing that. I think I figured out what I want:
Male Pastel
Female Pastel
Female Spider
Female Mojave
Female Pinstripe

These should produce a wide spectrum of good morphs.

This isn't a bad list of females to start with but since you have a $2000 budget I would upgrade the females to 2 gene girls. And as others have stated you don't need a male right now since you are buying hatchling females.
If I was you this is what I would get.

Female Super Pastel
Female Spinner
Female Black Pewter
And then something like a Female Hypo or Fire.

Then start saving again for a nice male in a year or so.
Once you have these females started and getting close to breeding size find a nice Mojave Lesser BEL or even a Pastel Mojave Lesser BEL male.
This would really open up the doors to producing a large variety of nicer and higher end babies!

[Andybill]

This isn't a bad list of females to start with but since you have a $2000 budget I would upgrade the females to 2 gene girls. And as others have stated you don't need a male right now since you are buying hatchling females.
If I was you this is what I would get.

Female Super Pastel
Female Spinner
Female Black Pewter
And then something like a Female Hypo or Fire.

Then start saving again for a nice male in a year or so.
Once you have these females started and getting close to breeding size find a nice Mojave Lesser BEL or even a Pastel Mojave Lesser BEL male.
This would really open up the doors to producing a large variety of nicer and higher end babies!

Maybe I will do a mixture of both get a spinner and maybe a fire and then a spider and a mojave.... I am still thinking on it but I just purchased a female pastel already. what combos make the spinner and the fire? Im still learning all this. And you mention "BEL" im not familiar with that term if you could explain that too plz! thanks for the input!

[satomi325]

Maybe I will do a mixture of both get a spinner and maybe a fire and then a spider and a mojave.... I am still thinking on it but I just purchased a female pastel already. what combos make the spinner and the fire? Im still learning all this. And you mention "BEL" im not familiar with that term if you could explain that too plz! thanks for the input!

Spinner = Spider + Pinstripe
Fire is a base morph
BEL = Blue Eyed Leucistic (An all white snake with blue eyes. It can either be a Super Butter/Super Lesser/Super Mojave/ ButterxLesser/ButterxMojave/LesserxMojave)

[Andybill]

Spinner = Spider + Pinstripe
Fire is a base morph
BEL = Blue Eyed Leucistic (An all white snake with blue eyes. It can either be a Super Butter/Super Lesser/Super Mojave/ ButterxLesser/ButterxMojave/LesserxMojave)

Wow theres a lot I dont know! Are there any publications that can really help me fully understand ball python breeding and the different morphs and genetics? Or does everyone just learn as they go? I cant imagine thats all but any pubs would be helpful. Thank you!