Choosing a morph for future breeding?

[carolineleven]

I'm about to settle on my first snake, but have a hard time deciding to go for a female or male morph.

I don't know if I will like snakes, or breed them, but I want my options open. So, I will buy a cheap - but pretty - BP, probably pastel, and see if I like it. Since I live small I figured I should go with a male, since they generally get smaller, and are of course, cheaper. But what if I want to breed in the future? Bumblebees x pastels seem like a good choice according to the genetic wizard sites, with several good morphs coming out of the clutches, but should I

a) buy a male pastel and then a bumbleebee female

or b) buy a female and then a bumblebee male?

I'm thinking long term, for when I buy more snakes and want a variety of new morphs.

I only half understand the talk about one expensive morph male and several normal females being more "productive", since it seems to depend on the morphs in question.

I'd like to add that in Sweden, we have a small market for snakes, and inexpensive morphs from a inexperienced seller will not sell well.

Is there any general advice to give? Something specific about breeding pastels?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Always buy the female first raise her up for a year to a year and a half, at that time buy the most genes you can afford in a male.

Never waste a low end single gene male on a 2 gene female.

[carolineleven]

Thank you, that makes sense.

I was going to settle for a pastel female juvenil, but then I got a hold of a cheap lemon blast male just above what I'm able to afford, which is both pretty and has genes I'm interested in. If I could afford a female, I guess that would have been better, then buy a bumblebee male, but oh well. I don't have room to breed yet anyway.

EDIT - I just checked, and apparently I could make my own bumbleebee with a spider female. Not the best odds though.