Holdbacks & Growing Your Collection

[kc261]

My question for you is when you made the move from virtual breeder to actual breeder, how did you choose what to sell and what to keep as holdbacks?

Did you tend to keep stunning examples of hatchlings, regardless of specific genes or sex? Or, did you set "holdback criteria" before a clutch hatches (morph, combo, sex, etc) and stick to that goal? Or, did you wait until everything was out and decide once you saw what you had? Or, did you sell everything no matter what? What would you recommend as initial plans for someone starting from the ground up? Personally, I've played through the entire spectrum of scenarios from "keep everything" to "sell everything" and can think of supporting arguments for both extremes and probably everything in between.

Similarly, for those of you that have been, or are currently, in my shoes: How do you balance growing your collection from the inside with realizing your dream of a small return on your large investment?

First, let me clarify that I haven't actually done this yet. I've got eggs in the oven though!

My plan (we'll see how well I end up sticking to it....) is to have a plan and *mostly* stick to it. But you have to be willing to be flexible if something unexpectedly wonderful pops up. If I unexpectedly hatch out (insert expensive recessive morph here) and it's a male in a clutch I said I was going to sell everything or hold back only a single female... well, guess what, I'm holding back that male and possibly some of the phets. If I unexpectedly hatch out what may be a new morph, I'm holding back everything. But, for the most part, I expect to hold back a limited number of females and sell everything else in the early years. If/when I get to the point I'm expecting hatchlings with lots of genes or things like double hets where I'd need a pair, then I'll plan on holding back some males. But mostly, you can get better selection of males (and thus get higher quality ones) for a lot cheaper than females, so I'd plan on buying the males I need rather than holding them back, and that will allow me to introduce new genes (both in terms of new morphs and for the sake of avoiding inbreeding), and possibly improve the quality of my stock or get combinations I don't have the right pieces to produce. If I happen to have both the pastel and spider genes only in females, and I really want a bumblebee. Well, maybe I should just buy one instead of holding back a male to produce one. Or buy something like a cinnabee which I could then pair with my pastel to get that bumblebee and the possibility of hitting a triple as well.

I think there are 3 big things to watch out for. Lots of people have already mentioned how easy it is to get male heavy, so keep that in mind when choosing what to hold back. If you want to hold back a male, maybe you should sell the father instead of the son. BTW, that's another reason I think I should mostly only hold back females. I KNOW I'll be more attached to ones I hatched out, and that'll make it easier to sell off extra males when I've got an upgrade to replace them.

Another thing is to make sure the overall number of animals you have doesn't grow too big. If you have too many, it'll become work to take care of them, and can kill your enjoyment. Don't let that happen.

And finally, this gets mentioned in lots of "what should I buy" threads, and I think it is worth a mention here too. Hold back what you like. What excites you. Don't worry so much about what has high value or will make a better return on your investment. Which morphs & combos are worth more than others can (and will) change, so you are aiming at a moving target. At least if you are working with what you like, you'll smile when you have to clean up their poop even if they aren't worth a dime.