New Breeder looking for opinions

[colbyjh]

A friend of mine recently got me hooked on ball pythons. He convinced me to just go to an expo with him and I ended up leaving there with multiple snakes. I've done some research, and there is still a lot more to be done. Our collection right now consists of:

Female:	Male:
2 Pastels	Pastel
Lesser	Bumble Bee
Fire	Pinstripe

Right now our thoughts on breeding are:

Female	Male	Possible results
Pastel	Pinstripe	1/4 Lemon Blasts
Pastel	Bee	1/8 Killerbee 1/8 Super Pastels
Fire	Bee	1/8 FireBee, 1/8 Firefly
Lesser	Pinstripe	1/4 Kingpin

The male Pastel is one that my friend bought that we currently have nothing to breed him to.


This is the first season and none of our snakes are big enough to breed yet. We will be ready by next year. I have about reached the max I am willing to spend (for now), unless there is something for under $500 that yall really think would help my collection.


Right now we have the snakes in fish tanks and we are looking at getting used snake racks for about $250-$300 from a local reptile shop. The owner of the store also breeds ball pythons so I have spent a lot of time talking to him. He said that my next step, other than the equipment, should be to start getting into recessive traits like orange ghost.


He has 3 100% het orange ghost females that he is willing to sell me for a pretty good deal. A pastel, normal, and spider together for $350. I could get a het male to breed with them next year. I'm really considering jumping on this. Would you? Or would you suggest that I stick with what I have for now?


As I said, I am very new to this and I'm looking for other peoples opinions. My goal with breeding is to make the higher end/cooler looking snakes, but also to at least make enough money to cover the costs. I know this is a long term investment and I don't expect to make my money back within a year. But I would love to be able to make new
combinations of ball pythons and make some money in the process.


Thanks for reading this post, if there is any other information you feel would help you give better advice or a more informed opinion please let me know.


Thank you,

Colby

[kevinb]

I'm not exactly sure I understand what morph and sex snakes you have?

[Mike41793]

If you have a Pastel Lesser Bumblebee Fire Pinstripe male then feel free to breed that to anything and you'll make sweet babies. Thats a 6 gene animal and bc it has 2 pastel genes it wont produce any normals.

[OzarkPythons]

If you have a Pastel Lesser Bumblebee Fire Pinstripe male then feel free to breed that to anything and you'll make sweet babies. Thats a 6 gene animal and bc it has 2 pastel genes it wont produce any normals.

I believe his table is showing each male and female morph he has. Just sayin..

To the op: in my opinion, hold off on animals for a bit and invest in a rack with flexwatt heat and a thermostat. Aquariums work, but are not very space efficient when you own multiple snakes.
Then, if you have open slots available in the rack, get more just my opinion.

- - - Updated - - -

To those who dont understand the table..
He has 2 pastel females, lesser fem, fire fem, pastel male, bee male, and pinstripe male.

[Andybill]

I think you have to start thinking about equipment and cost of operation. I would not add anymore pastel to the collection in your case because you have plenty. For under or around 500 you could add an enchi female; a morph I think every collection should have.

[Mike41793]

I believe his table is showing each male and female morph he has. Just sayin..

To the op: in my opinion, hold off on animals for a bit and invest in a rack with flexwatt heat and a thermostat. Aquariums work, but are not very space efficient when you own multiple snakes.
Then, if you have open slots available in the rack, get more just my opinion.

- - - Updated - - -

To those who dont understand the table..
He has 2 pastel females, lesser fem, fire fem, pastel male, bee male, and pinstripe male.

Im on tapatalk, i cant see any tables lol

[OzarkPythons]

I think you have to start thinking about equipment and cost of operation. I would not add anymore pastel to the collection in your case because you have plenty. For under or around 500 you could add an enchi female; a morph I think every collection should have.

Definitely agree and also, yes, recessives are worth getting into.
Recessives hold their value better than doms and codoms, so are definitely worth it on the breeding side.

Ghosts/hypos have been around for a long time and make some killer combos. Clowns, albinos, ghosts, axanthics and piebalds are all recessive mutations that offer a lot of oppurtunities.

[lovepig78]

Try hatching and raising the 4 clutches you have planned... Then slow creep into recessives. I would recommend getting some visual females... And make your own hets

[S.I.R.]

In my opinion, your possible pairings you listed look really good. As far as the orange ghost projects, if you want to get into the recessive morphs, look into pieds, g-stripes or clowns. I really love the recessive morphs. That being said, I would go ahead and invest in equipment. Trust me, I hate to spend money on bedding, thermostats, and other misc supplies. In the long run you will be way ahead of the pack if you have a solid setup and do not have to scrape by with the bare minimum of equipment.

[iCandiBallPythons]

Just make sure its something you see yourself doing and not because other ppl are doing it too, it's not cheap and only gets more expensive. Keep in mind also, the lower you come into the market, the longer it will take you to see any return on your investment.