Where do you sell most of your normal hatchlings?

[OctagonGecko729]

Just to clarify the posts I typed up I'm not saying culling is out of the question. But at the same time if someone decides to breed ANY ANIMAL, they should expect and prepare for the worst. I got the feeling they were asking "Can I just cull all the normals I end up with when I breed." That to me was disturbing because people should not be going into breeding with that mindset. All options of finding the normal bp a home should be exhausted first before saying "k let's cull all of them because they might end up living a crappy life." I believe our mindset should be more along the liens of "when I sell my normal ball python to someone, let's put a little caresheet in there and do some very crude screening to make sure they at least have a thermostat, uth and knows what a snake eats."

Ah yeah, sorry about that. No, my main point of starting all this up was just to start up a discussion to get people thinking about where their normal or lower end BPs go to and whether it would be better to cull them vs. wholesaling them or handing them out like candy at expos. Mostly just meant for folks to self reflect a little about their decision to breed less expensive animals and try to get rid of them in whatever way they can. I'm of course not proposing that anyone here doesn't do interviews with their buyers, hand out caresheets, do home checks, etc. but I mostly just wanted to pick you alls brains a bit about the topic since I'm new to these forums and to BPs.

It is generally not as taboo a topic in the gecko world but still euthanasia is 98% of the time (at least in the circles I frequent) only accepted when there are catastrophic birth defects/disorders. Personally I wouldn't do a euthanasia due to morphs but I also wouldn't call someone evil for doing just that. I would however heavily consider not purchasing from the person that practiced it with the "I dont want this morph, "smash"" mentality.

[Mike41793]

I'm half tempted to believe this.

Consider yourself fully tempted. I do.

[mojavereptiles]

Both to a local pet store and to locals who want a good, from-the-breeder normal but don't want to pay for shipping

[JeRMz]

Fort Dodge, huh? I'm originally from Waterloo. I read on here about Normals going for $5 to $15?! Sign me up!!!

[Dark Lady Kat]

I tend to agree with this, so long as it is used for "something" I don't really care if people euthanize so long as it is humane etc. I understand that people have an empathetic attachment to normal BPs because they have BPs as pets and thats completely fine and I totally respect that opinion. I dont get though how you guys can feed your animals euthanized rodents and not make the same connection?

If those of you that do produce normals as a "by-product" want to devote the time and effort to getting them homes and do not care about the economics thats awsome, thats your way of dealing with it. The way I prefer to deal with it is staying ahead of that price drop off so I know I have more time before I'm in the hole economically on that animal, which allows me to get it into the hands of someone who will treat it properly.

Ok I have been reading over all of your post and I am leaning to agree with the rest of the group I personally have never breed snakes however I have breed and raised show dogs, & Horses, also I have breed pigs cows chickens even helped with breeding bobcats, and no matter how great the quality of a background genetics is genetics and the potential to have a normal is always possible it is the base gene you can try and decrease your odds and even lessen it to the point that you rarely see a normal but what you are saying is that you want to breed just for the pure profit of it there are many herp enthusiast that would gladly take home that off morph that may or may not be a het or a normal just to simply add that type of animal to their hobby. I urge you to find an alternative method of breeding perhaps test tubes if you wish to ensure you never receive a normal, or at the very least develop a back up plan not everyone in the world can afford a 10k snake or even 5k does that mean their 50$ normal BP will be any less precious to them because they didn't spend thousands on it no it doesn't and much like many others here have shown someone that treats their animals as disposable in the first place is more likely to abuse them not necessarily the money minded and short cashed buyer that true you will need to educate on what all will be needed so that they understand their 50$ BP will cost them a minimum of at least cage set up and heating as well as a weekly meal. I work with many rescues here in my town and everywhere I have lived animal abuse happens rather the abuser is rich or poor that shouldn't be your basis for considering culling.

[Freakie_frog]

Quality CBB are fairly easy to sell. We sell our at shows and to pet stores. The stores are really good to work with because they want good quality products to offer their customers..

[Dark Lady Kat]

Ok I have been reading over all of your post and I am leaning to agree with the rest of the group I personally have never breed snakes however I have breed and raised show dogs, & Horses, also I have breed pigs cows chickens even helped with breeding bobcats, and no matter how great the quality of a background genetics is genetics and the potential to have a normal is always possible it is the base gene you can try and decrease your odds and even lessen it to the point that you rarely see a normal but what you are saying is that you want to breed just for the pure profit of it there are many herp enthusiast that would gladly take home that off morph that may or may not be a het or a normal just to simply add that type of animal to their hobby. I urge you to find an alternative method of breeding perhaps test tubes if you wish to ensure you never receive a normal, or at the very least develop a back up plan not everyone in the world can afford a 10k snake or even 5k does that mean their 50$ normal BP will be any less precious to them because they didn't spend thousands on it no it doesn't and much like many others here have shown someone that treats their animals as disposable in the first place is more likely to abuse them not necessarily the money minded and short cashed buyer that true you will need to educate on what all will be needed so that they understand their 50$ BP will cost them a minimum of at least cage set up and heating as well as a weekly meal. I work with many rescues here in my town and everywhere I have lived animal abuse happens rather the abuser is rich or poor that shouldn't be your basis for considering culling.

for clarification purposes this was not directed directly at you octagongecko just throwing my 2cents worth out there on how you (as in everyone) can not always judge a good home by their economic standing in life. Culling a low value animals is wrong, there are homes out there if we as a people are willing to take the time to find that home. Now there is a chain of life and a predatory chain we euthanize rats before feeding them to the snakes because it is safer it does not change that rodents are the snakes natural food source. euthanizing because its not a high profit margin is an entirely different issue. I however propose that we do get back on subject because if I do get into breeding my BP and RTB I would have use for the information provided on ideas of where to sell normals to and even morphs. Another subject to throw in for this topic is price what would be a good average price to sell normals at

[Pyroblast919]

Maybe its just me, But I am kinda new to the Ball Python world, But I think it was Brian Gundy who did a video on the importance of Normals. I may not understand the true maning of it myself, however Like someone above said If your going to breed snakes I would think you would have an idea of the chances of what you MAY get, and be prepared to care for them until you either sell or live out their lives in your collection. Seems rather simple to me

[Pyroblast919]

As for selling, craigslist, and there are a few local pet shops in the area that buy

[OctagonGecko729]

for clarification purposes this was not directed directly at you octagongecko just throwing my 2cents worth out there on how you (as in everyone) can not always judge a good home by their economic standing in life. Culling a low value animals is wrong, there are homes out there if we as a people are willing to take the time to find that home. Now there is a chain of life and a predatory chain we euthanize rats before feeding them to the snakes because it is safer it does not change that rodents are the snakes natural food source. euthanizing because its not a high profit margin is an entirely different issue. I however propose that we do get back on subject because if I do get into breeding my BP and RTB I would have use for the information provided on ideas of where to sell normals to and even morphs. Another subject to throw in for this topic is price what would be a good average price to sell normals at

Yeah, not sure if you saw all my other posts but just to clarify. I just use the higher end animals to ensure that I never get lower end animals which I will have trouble finding a good home for. Or if I gain enough money from the higher end stuff then I can afford to feed the lower end stuff for a lonnng time without going negative while I search for a good owner.

I am looking forward to the profit but profit is not what motivates me at all, I take a great deal of pleasure in caring for and breeding all the species I own, many of which are very un-economical and risky. There is very few people in this world that actually do things for profit, profit for most people is a means to an end (usually the end being happiness). In my case this would be the conservation of Uroplatus which is what makes me the most happy pursueing.

Oh also in regards to your above post, if you have either a visual recessive animal or a super form of a co-dom trait, it is 100% impossible to produce just a normal. So for instance in my case an Axanthic (visual recessive) Super Pastel (Super co-dom) Spider (dom) would produce at a bare minimum Pastel 100% het Axanthics.