Opinions On Breeding Male Normal BCI (Aberrant) From A Business Standpoint?

[Aedryan Methyus]

Breeding kills animals, so before breeding you need to be aware of that and be ready to lose any animals you breed. Even males can become injured or killed in any number of ways, but females are especially in danger of injury or death because they're gravid. Overfeeding can complicate things even further, so if you haven't been overly strict in your feeding regimen, the female could be put into danger when bred. Fatty liver disease is several times more likely in a gravid female, as the stress and time off of food can aggravate the condition.

Do you have money for vet bills in the case something goes wrong? Do you have the budget to spend potential thousands in vet costs on each individual snake in the case something goes wrong with the breeding, any of the babies need health care, etc.? Males can bust hemipenes, which will oftentimes leave them as useless breeders since their dominant side is usually the side affected. Males can become crushed or otherwise attacked by the female. Females can become eggbound, or otherwise become unhealthy from her gravidity. Babies can come out with conditions like hardened yolks, infected eyes (fairly common in albino boas), or other random ailments. These snakes will need veterinary care. The more animals you add to your collection, the higher the chances are that you'll encounter a health issue or a parasite infestation. Are you financially ready to deal with this?

I am quite aware of all this and I am just as horrified by the thought of all of these potential disasters (and others) as anyone. I also realize that Boas are especially at risk for breeding complications. I love and adore each and every one of my snakes dearly and they get just as good of care as anyone could possibly provide for them in captivity. I even hold and spend time with every one of them almost every day, so they can stretch out and get a little exercise and also to keep them used to being handled. They are first and foremost, my babies. But, secondly, they are investments. I didn't jump into this venture blindly...

Aberrant normals are quite common in boas, so you're not looking to make a lot of money from a normal breeding. Even if your female has a codom morph, your babies are still not going to be worth much. Unless they've been bred for quality over generations, the average hypo runs about $100-175 on average. These morphs are just so common, and most people aren't putting in the work to make the morph better, instead churning out low-quality ugly offspring (as ugly as a boa could ever be anyway).

If you plan on making breeding a full time venture of your's, then I'm sure you've already weighed these options

Exactly... That was the whole point of this post. I have been on the fence about whether to plan on ever breeding this boy or just coming to terms with the likelihood that he may just remain a beloved pet. The obvious answer to me was to only breed normals with Super gene animals. But, if I were to ever breed him to a non-super gene animal, I think a Hypo Motley would be an excellent choice. No, neither Hypos, Motleys or Hypo Motleys are worth all that much money, but they are indeed all very popular and affordable. And, as we have discussed, from a business standpoint, it is a wise idea to have lower end (cheaper) animals available for average everyday pet snake buyers. How many of those type of buyers are going to be willing to buy a $350.00 - $40,000.00 pet snake for their 12 year old children?

At this time, my goal is simply for this to become a sideline business that is as profitable as possible (obviously) without going too big. I very well may try to make breeding a full time venture in my elder years at some point if I ever get too old to perform professionally (at the level I do now, at least). That was very much part of my reason for pursuing all of this. I think this is something that I would be very happy and content doing when i'm old and decrepit someday (Aaargh! ) and I believe it could become at least somewhat lucrative. I am and always will be an entrepreneur and I have to be passionate about whatever I am doing. Hence; Why I haven't had a "JOB" job in over 17 years... At this point, I don't really want my personal collection to grow to more than maybe 20 - 30 snakes (including the foreseeable holdbacks I am shooting for in my distant and not so distant future). But, the further I get into this the more I realize how difficult it might become to keep my collection that small. That will depend on how well I am able to move snakes and whether or not I decide to take it to the next level, I guess. Right now, I sorta feel like I showed up late for the game and i'm sorta in a race against time to get some good projects moving along. I am 47 years old and due to the fact that the process takes so long to grow these animals up to sexual maturity (especially Boas) I am trying to get as many desirable pairs in my collection and growing as possible. I mean, I will already be 50 or 51 years old by the time I can even attempt to breed my little Ghost girl and at least one other pair of Boas I see myself acquiring soon...

As far as the rat breeding, I used to breed my rats outside in a lean-to shed without any sort of heating. They bred and survived just fine. I never lost a litter or a rat to the cold, and never had any illnesses. The key was offering plenty of bedding and keeping them out of the wind. I do also live in NC, so it's *usually* not any colder than 10-20F during the winter, but we did have one winter of at least -10F, and the rats powered right on through it. Not sure if that is average for rats or not, or how advisable it is just my experience with them. I'm not sure if rats kept in the stereotypical breeding racks will have the resources to allow them to survive that. I had 3 rats to a 6' enclosure with 8" of bedding, so that could have given them an advantage.

Wow... No kidding??? That is very interesting to hear! I live in Pittsburgh, PA and between November and April the average low temperatures range from 21 - 40 degrees. The high temperatures during those months range from 36 - 63 degrees. Judging by your experience, it sounds like perhaps the rats would probably do fine in one of my garages, yeah? I have read elsewhere on this forum that you will see a drop in production with temperatures below 55 and above 78 and that ideal temperatures are low to mid 70's. What has your experience been with that?

I also have 12 snakes, and their yearly cost isn't really very high for feeding. If I bought all of the year's food at once I'm looking at about $380 for everyone (or $31.67/month), but I normally buy 6-8 month's worth of food at a time for right around $300. This is ordering bulk on websites like Big Cheese or Perfect Prey. I do also keep my snakes' prey sizes small and space out feedings, so I'm not feeding as much food as most other keepers. I don't have a single snake eating weekly right now, most are eating every 2-3 weeks, and will be eating monthly as adults.

I haven't ever broken down and calculated my actual feeding costs as of yet. I would estimate it's somewhere between $40.00 and $60.00 every 2 months or something, though. At this point all of my snakes are feeding on "appropriate size" rats every 7 days. I am keeping a very close eye on them (especially my Bloods and Short Tails) and if the shape of their bodies start to look fatter than what that particular species ideal body shape should look like I will cut the feedings back as needed. Does that seem reasonable to you?

I'm not sure why you think substrate will impact a snake's ability to explore, unless you're housing your snakes in enclosures that are too short to be ethical. With 2'+ height enclosures a few inches of substrate isn't going to make a difference in the snake's available space. As far as cleaning, just pick up urates/feces and any surrounding bedding and that should get most or all of it, absorbent beddings should keep everything from spreading too much. With the moss, I doubt the humidity would last more than a day with a lot of airflow.

At this stage of growth, all of my snakes are still in 28 qt. - 41 qt. racks (my adult Ball Pythons will remain in 41 qt. racks). Each rack only has about 5 3/4" of headroom for the snakes. It doesn't take much calculating to see how little headroom "a few inches" of substrate is going to leave the snakes. As for the future, I will be building larger 4' - 6' individual enclosures as needed. Even then, I highly doubt that I will ever use substrate. I don't want to be pulling substrate out all over my floor every time I pull a snake out and I do feel that it is impossible to ever get all of the urine and bacteria out of the substrate without completely replacing it every time and that just isn't feasible. I have been considering the possibility of experimenting with artificial grass. I don't know how many cleanings it would stand up to, but otherwise, I think it would be ideal. Have any of you ever tried it?

Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of your knowledge and experience with me, Cloud. I really appreciate it! >8>)