I am indecisive

[Lizardlicks]

A GHI YB may be a good option.... possibly more versitale than a GHI Mojave. Just imagine putting him to a Pastel, Mojave, Fire and many other simple base morphs.

I personally picked up a GHI Mojave to put to a few YB girls, a Super Pastel and plan to use any males produced to up the ballgame down the road

Oh dang, I just checked that combo out. YB makes those colors pop; I may have to consider this more thoroughly!

[Bigfish1975]

The yellowbelly is my personal favorite codom gene. Its very versatile and really does make the colors pop like you said. There are so many directions to go with that gene alone.

[knowzbleed]

if i had to do it again i would pick up a couple females that i liked that were relatively inexpensive first. that way i would have a couple years to save and figure out what kind of multigene male i would want while i raise the females to breeding size.

[Lizardlicks]

if i had to do it again i would pick up a couple females that i liked that were relatively inexpensive first. that way i would have a couple years to save and figure out what kind of multigene male i would want while i raise the females to breeding size.

Oh yeah, gonna start with a female pinstripe and spider. Maybe a third girl depending on funds and if I find something I like. I just have a list of "Morphs I Want to Work With Someday Maybe" because I'm persnickety and like planning things out like that. My problem with the GHI's or Mojaves is that if I don't like the snake, do I really want to spend the money to add to my collection, even if I like the combos they can make with other morphs? I'm thinking though, that since I do like them in combos, when I'm ready to add them in I'll save up and drop the money on some already two gene animals; maybe a GHI YB as was previously mentioned, and a Pastave? That way I can still enjoy the snake, and I get awesome combos right off the bat with whoever I pair them up with.

[chrisv]

It seems that the tone of this thread is focused on starting with less expensive single gene morphs. I would actually discourage this for two reasons: 1) 2 gene animals can be had for less than you may think. 2) if you start with a 2015 single gene female, you will have a three year wait before you can breed to get a two gene--thats likely a 6 year wait until you have two gene animals. Think of how much it will cost to feed and house the animals for that long. My strong suggestion is that you start with 2+ gene animals that will get you what you want to breed in your first cross. 6 years is a long time. actually, 3 years is a long time. If this is your first foray into breeding, i suggest you save up your cash and buy into the hobby you want rather than produce from base morphs yourself. in 6 years, your priorities in life will likely have changed and you may never make what you hope to make.

[zachbinger]

I wasn't planning on breeding then I got a pair of mojo's and decided I want BEL's and now I'm buying a gravid female and a male both pastel het vpi axanthic bred to each other. So.my breeding plans just took a high speed turn lol

[knowzbleed]

i didnt mean to insinuate single gene females. when i said relatively inexpensive i meant in comparison to the multigene male as i consider a multigene to be really 3 or more. i went wrong in buying whichever snake i thought looked best regardles of sex and ended up with a yearling 1.0 butterbee, a yearling 0.1 kingpin, a hatchling 1.0 fire and a 3yr old 0.1 pastel hypo problem feeder :/ i love all of them but i bought one double and one single gene male so now ive got to play catch up with more expensive multigene females.

[chrisv]

gotcha. As long as you're having fun, the hobby will be rewarding. The most important bit of advice that i hear on the forum is just to enjoy what youre breeding and breed morphs you like. I haven't hatched out any of my own yet, but I get the impression that the experience of playing the "what morphs did we get" when cutting eggs is incredibly...fun.

[Lizardlicks]

Yeah man, however it's fun for you is how you gotta do it. It's the passion that keeps you going. I think for myself, part of the reason I want to go with specific single gene morphs is that... I like them! Simple as that. I like and want bumblebees and lemon blasts, so my first pairings will probably be that spider and pinstripe with some sort of pastel or pastel combo. I want a Calibee too, so whoever I hold back from that spider/pastel clutch will probably end up with the calico as one of their first mates. I know I want to go for dreamsicles and lightning pieds eventually, so when I have enough time/space/money those I will definitely invest in some 2 gene hets for. I love what Pastel does to almost everything, so I will likely have a couple super pastels of both sexes and in combos with other morphs by the end.

That's the other reason I'm sticking to only single or double gene animals right now; I have some very specific goals I want to work toward, and if I grab a girl or boy that's het for everything but the kitchen sink, or has a morph list that takes a day to say, that could actually set me back, rather than push forward to the goal I want. It's all about the love.

[Lizardlicks]

OH! I remembered the third reason, and that's quality control. If I have an animal with 2, 3, or 4 genes, I might not be able to learn anything about the quality of parents or grand parents or the line itself because it's coming through like half a dozen different snake on down the line. If I have a single gene animal, that's the gene that it's got. I can ask the breeder for pics of the parent or parents. How bad is that spider's wobble? Did that pastel's mom or dad brown out? What does that snake's parents look and behave like, what can I expect my snake to pass on to its offspring?

It's like, yeah I COULD use that box mix and get some pretty okay cookies way faster... but I LIKE baking from scratch, picking out the ingredients, customizing my recipe, and getting an exceptional end product that everybody can't get enough of.