Hello Everyone

[MJWilson]

Hey everyone, I just joined this forum last night and have been doing a bunch of reading. Lots of useful information on here and helpful. I've had a female normal Ball Python named Bertha since about mid-February. She is a really amazing animal. She feeds with no problems and is generally a very placid snake. I am looking to expand my collection and perhaps dabble into some breeding in the future. I'm thinking maybe a yellow-belly would be my choice as I love the Ivory's and want to take on the challenge of breeding to get one and raise it up to be another amazing snake. Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Mike

[Southern_Breeder]

You go for whatever your heart/mind is set on brotha.
WELCOME!

[CrystalRose]

Welcome! I'm slowly expanding my collection too.

[Bigfish1975]

Mike,

Welcome to the forum. There is a lot of resources here to help you along the way. The yellowbelly gene is a great one. it's the main one I focus on. There is truly limitless possibilities no matter which way you decide to go with building your collection. Good luck and always have fun with the hobby.

Mike

[LooptyLoo]

You go for whatever your heart/mind is set on brotha.

I saw this and thought, "Wait, what if the OP is female?" I should probably...you know...read.

Hi Mike! Welcome to the forums!

[Neal]

I'm the one that's notorious for calling girls man or bro, bad habbit actually..

Welcome to the forums and just do lots of reading and ask questions so you know what to expect ahead of time. YB would be a great choice as they're awesome snakes.

[rickm]

welcome mike! one thing I will offer, is if you decide to go the breeding route....work with what YOU like the looks of, and NOT what everyone tells you to get. I have been in this hobby for quite a while and know how it works, pretty much inside out. do NOT get into breeding for the money part of it! many people see how much some of these animals cost and think that they can 'get rich' from this. while there is money, and sometimes good money to be made...do not let that be your reason. realize that it takes a lot of money to get started. then you have to raise up your animals to breeding size. then once you successfully breed them, you have to get the eggs incubated, then get the babies feeding(which with the wrong technique, can be pretty difficult). then once you sell a few babies, the initial money will probably need to go back into the collection, for caging, food, supplies, or new animals and bloodlines or genetics. it may actually take you from three to five years(after you start producing) to see any real profit. then you have to realize that as a new breeder, you have to build your reputation, by offering quality animals and top notch customer service(and customers can be a real pain in the...), then you have to compete with people that have been doing this for a long time and have built their reputation...and those guys will usually get quicker sales. also be prepared to keep and raise EVERY baby you produce, incase you cant sell them. you produced them, so you are responsible for providing them with a life long home, if they don't sell. there is almost no feeling in the world(aside from seeing your children being born) like seeing babies pip eggs or be born...and realizing that they would not even exist if not for all of your dedication, hard work, preparation....and passion! it is the coolest thing you can do, in my opinion. and then raising those animals up to breed them, is almost as good. just keep the passion of the animals first, and you can do nothing but succeed. it is a great hobby, but if you lose sight of what is important, it can ruin you quite quickly....that is why so many people get into breeding, and fail miserably...because they are in it for the money. the money can be there, but it is only a bonus in my opinion. it is nice once your collection starts to pay for its self, and you can basically get any morphs you want, just by trading out your babies...it is really cool. then any profit is a pure bonus, and it is great. I got pretty heavy into the breeding a while back, and made some good money, I paid off the last thirty six grand of my house, used the money I made to buy a new grand Cherokee...but it quickly became like a job, and I was in my snake room more than I was at my job. I started hating cleaning and feeding. it got to the point where I hated going into my snake room....and that is no good. I go into my snake room, and work with my animals...and it is relaxing. it is an escape from the troubles of life and all of my problems...it is my 'drug', if you will. I love my animals and I am probably one of the most passionate people you will ever talk to about my animals, and snakes in general....but I let the money aspect of it take over, and it almost ruined me. I ended up selling my whole collection for about a quarter of what the animals were worth, not to mention all of my equipment and feeders I had in the freezers. I didn't care, I was happy to lose the burdon of it all. I kept a few 'pets' and sold the rest. since that happened, I got a few more animals, and even bred a few more species. I refueled my passion and now I am very careful to keep what is really important, in the front...and that is the passion of these wonderful animals. I cannot imagine my life with out my animals. I am starting to build a small breeding collection again, but I am being very selective and careful to get only what I want to work with...I don't care what others think, I like what I like...and it is so much easier to enjoy this, when you like what you work with. it sounds like you are going to breed for the right reasons, just keep that in focus. do tons of research, and have fun...that is the best advise I can give you....have fun, and keep the passion as number one, and you will do nothing but succeed! good luck, and there is a lot of great people on this forum that will help you every step of the way, welcome aboard! I am pretty new here myself and it seems to be a great forum!

[MJWilson]

thanks for all the welcomes. i would be lying if i said i hadn't thought about all the money to be made from breeding but honestly its not what i wanna do. i just wanna have me a nice collection of beautiful snakes. i will be trying to sell some of the offspring that i will eventually produce but even what i make will go towards making the quality of life better for the snakes that i dont sell and if anything is left over great lol. im just in it for the fun

[MJWilson]

Heres a couple of pics of my ball bertha


[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]

[Rawbbeh]

Good looking girl! I love normals with reduced patterns like hers. Simple and elegant!