Are normal females more desirable?

[silverbill]

I often see breeders use normal females in their stock. For example, normal female to some varied morph male, but I don't usually see pairings with normal males. In fact, I've been told normal males are better off as just pets.

What's the reason for this? Are males more likely to pass on their genes or something?

[mdb730]

Males or females pass on genes the same, it has more to do with value. Most morph males are cheaper than morph females and an adult normal female can be bred to a morph male and produce morph babies at a fraction of the cost.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Normal females are valuable because they produce eggs however not every breeders use them especially now that single gene mutations are so cheap.

You always want to breed to most gene you can afford to a female, not the opposite, if you have a $500 female you do not want to waste a $20 male on her you want to at least find a male of similar value to produce more valuable combos.

It's simple business 101

[Trisnake]

Normal females in a breeding project are a staple, at least for bigger breeders. Like everyone else said, they produce eggs and it's cheaper to buy a morph male to pair with a normal female than vice versa. Also, being able to produce lower end morphs from normal females means that whole clutches can be sold wholesale to pet stores or other distributors. Pet owners are more easily able and willing to buy a 125 dollar bumblebee or lemonblast than say, a 300 dollar killer queen bee or an emperor pin. Deborah said it, it really is business 101.

So I see a lot of breeders holding onto normal females simply for the purpose of producing more affordable clutches from which they are almost certain every baby will be sold. Once you get big it really does start to turn into a business.

[wolfy-hound]

Also, you should have far fewer males than females, since one male can be bred to many females. SO to maximize your gene potential, you want the male to have as many morph genes as possible, since he will be half of the genes for all the babies he sires(from multiple females). If he is a normal, then you only have the potential from the females.