Lesser vs Fire

[Slowcountry Balls]

Thank you guys for all your input. I decided to hold off on getting the males (unless I suddenly come into some money or something ). I am getting the cinnamon female. I'll be picking her up tomorrow, late morning or early afternoon.

I don't know what "goal" morph I have. Many are freaking awesome! At this point, I'm wanting to just play around with it and see what I get. I did find someone who has a supposed het ghost het atomic female for $100, but I don't know that I trust it, as it looks like a normal to me.

Even if you suddenly come into money, I think you'll be better off saving it and getting your double or triple gene male later. Your female will need time to grow and prices keep coming down. In the fall of 2008 I thought I just had to get a pair of Mojaves, so I bought my pair and my female just got up to weight for the 2011-2012 season. I could have bought only the female and saved a year and a half or even 2 years of feeding and cleaning for the male if I had only bought the female in 2008. I also made the mistake of buying a couple of normal females. I thought that the more females I could breed my male to, the better, and I could afford 3 normals or 1 or, maybe, 2 single gene females at the time. But I failed to consider that it cost the same to feed and house a morph girl as it does a normal and that there would be so many single gene animals on the market when mine would be ready. Unless you drop your prices, you'll be caring for a lot of single gene animals that don't fit your breeding plans until they sell. I believe that was Jon's point about not getting normal females. This is a real big issue to consider for any breeder/collector, but especially a real small scale one as rack space/rodents are at a premium (this can be different if you have a male with 3 genes or more). I think you'll be much better off going a little slower and being real selective about the genes you want to work with, build up your females first (single and double gene) and then go for a powerful male you really like.

[sho220]

I would get a male morph and a 1-2 normal females like that you can produce more animals(if you have the budget, space of course and are not over whelmed by the challenge

You're about 10 years too late with that advise...

[JMoriarty]

That's kind of what I was discussing with my boyfriend. At the moment, everyone is in their own glass tank. You really run out of tank space fast! I think I'm going to save the money I'd spend and get a good tub system going. I'll get my cinny girl tomorrow but the rest will wait. I will have three mouths to feed as of tomorrow, until I find a buyer for my chunker of a normal male. Rats aren't cheap and space is limited. I am going to keep looking for another female though. The boyfriend feeds my obsession with the snakes, so he's not a good voice of reasoning. Thank you all for talking me off my ledge.

[Manic Morphs]

Why suggest to get normal females? They're plenty of Lessers on the market...No need to breed normals anymore!!!


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True there are tons of lessers, It's just budget thing. 1 male lesser can breed to more normal females thus increasing the chance of getting more lesser. I only suggested it if he didn't have the money to spend on other morphs. It might only be in my area but norms go for $30 male or female that's way cheaper than getting a female of most morphs

[JMinILM]

Start off buying just single gene morph females. When a couple of them get over 1000g then you can start to think about getting a male. At that point buy the best male you can afford. Keep the best that you produce and sell the rest to feed the ones you keep. That way you are always improving your collection.

[JMoriarty]

I got my cinnamon girl. She's way prettier than I was expecting. The pictures don't do her justice. She's a lot "pinker" with a pink belly. She has a sweet, laid back personality so far too. Now, I'm looking at a '12 het red female. The madness never ends!

Here's my new girl!

[bcr229]

Start off buying just single gene morph females. When a couple of them get over 1000g then you can start to think about getting a male. At that point buy the best male you can afford. Keep the best that you produce and sell the rest to feed the ones you keep. That way you are always improving your collection.

And in the meantime keep some cash set aside for contingencies like vet visits, or a local deal on a used hatchling rack or incubator. The prices on those don't drop year-over-year, while the prices on BP's do.

[JMoriarty]

Good point. Thankfully, we have quite the selection of vets around here that will see reptiles. I'm looking at some DIY racks right now. I have an idea of what I want, but I like getting ideas.

[kylearmbar]

there the same price range 150-200 depending on quality .. as far as what to get I on u fire cleans patterns up a lot .. lesser kind of washes out .. lesser is good if u wanna make lucys
me id get a fire

Fires make black eyed Lucy's, lesser, butter, Russo, Mojave make blue