Depending on how our females do this year we should be going into 2006/2007 with 3 to 4 females of appropriate size I think Ken. We'll have to see where we are come fall as far as what males we want to put with what females. I'm really looking forward to this fall!

Welcome to the site Jason, hope you enjoy it here and congratulations on your pastel purchase.

Here's the forum link about the breeding loan my husand and I and another forum member are doing right now involving our two largest normal females and his adult pastel male.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=27051

Another link of recent photo's taken by the gentleman who has our females in his collection for breeding to his male pastel.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=27876

Before we went into this, I spoke with a number of experienced people for advice and was told the harsh reality with breeding loans is the vast majority do not go well and end poorly. I think a large part of that though is poor planning, not having a detailed signed contract, the parties involved either not knowing each other well enough or not doing their "homework" regarding reputations and referrals, or just plain old rushing into it with stars in your eyes and not stopping to recognize the risks involved anytime you breed any creature or allow that animal to temporarily leave your own collection.

I'm not saying don't participate in a breeding loan/contract. I'm obviously very happy with how ours is going and trust the other party (Eugene) fully with the care of our precious females. I'm just saying be very careful with that nice pastel male of yours. There's no rush in my mind and had I felt at any time that this contract we're doing was not a good idea...it would have been immediately cancelled...no harm...no foul....our females are fine to be bred now but also could have just waited another season.

Remember too, the risk to the other party as well as the work involved. Euguene accepted our females into his care and even though my snakes are well cared for, he still had to do quarantine (which is only the smart thing) as well as all the normal things to ready snakes for breeding. He also carries the responsibility of caring for another person's snakes and ensuring their well being so they come back into our care in good post-breeding condition. That's a lot to take on.

Sorry for the really long post but as much as we are enjoying our first breeding contract I don't ever want to give the impression this is something that's done all the time or should ever be considered without some serious, long term planning and knowing the risks/benefits involved.


~~Joanna~~