I want to start Ball Python project...I can't decide...wanna HELP?

[Ransack]

I'm new to Ball Pythons "morphs," I'm not new to snakes...I have about 25 years experience. With the prices for some of the morphs getting around hobbyist levels I thought I would dip my toes in the water.

I honestly can't decide after I have it narrowed down to two projects being either Albino Pewters or Super Emperor Pinstripes, either of those would obviously be my breeding goal.

It almost seems like "recessive people" are a breed apart. To be honest Albino Pewters seem like a no brainer to me, my only concern is do they really all look like this as adults?

http://www.worldofballpythons.com/fi...pewter/004.jpg

Because that I like. Also are they a very common Ball Python Mutation, would be another question that I would have?

As far as the Emperor Pinstripes go I honestly like all the Pastel/Butter/Pinstripe combos, and would for sure throw a Firefly into the mix as well at some point in the project. That option seems to be a very rewarding road to the goal animal, while the Albino Pewter project seems like I would get excited to just hit Pewter Het Albinos...Thoughts are welcome

[smalltimeballz]

I should be producing albino black pewters next year if everything goes right and falls perfectly into place this season. Then I'll be using that stock along with my super pewter goal to produce albino super pewters. It isn't actually a goal of mine... but they look nice and would be a fun project that would be easy to market. That being said, pin combos seem to sell well in some areas. Frankly, I don't care for too many pin combos. And honestly, since you're new, your mind might change as you start discovering what you like. I started out wanting to produce spinner blasts but now I don't really favor bumblebee morphs. I disliked yellow bellies but now my goal is to produce a black pewter super stripe (among other s/s and ivory/yb combos). I used to dislike black pastels until I discovered the right line and want to make super black pewters.

So my advice (and if I rambled too much, its because I'm sick) is to take it slowly and invest in females first so that you aren't stuck with a male that has genes that falls out of favor with you. Females are valuable even if their genes fall out of favor because their prices tend to raise as they age and can be bred to multiple males for surprises... which I plan on doing to my pinstripe for some excitement with a gene I don't really care for but is still marketable.

If I had to choose between the two projects, I would say to pick the albino one, but have several albino girls to produce morph hets so you can do other combos as well.

[MonkeyShuttle]

this snake looks like a sweet roll or something you could eat as a desert

[Pythonfriend]

with these two options, i would go for the emperor pin combos.


the thing is, of all the recessives out there, albino is rather limiting. only white and yellow. also there are other options that go in the direction of albino, but not quite. if i had to choose between albino, banana/coral glow, ultramel, lavender albino, and candy/toffee, my top choices would be, in the following order: banana/CG, ultramel, candy/toffee, lavender albino. regular albino being the last thing i would want.

then, when we are talking recessive, you need to consider other nice recessives like piebald and clown.