Breeders or Hobbyist?

[Patrick Long]

im def a hobbiest. but like everyone said. we love the herps. we love the caring cleaning just like laooda said. breeding is the hobby. the hobby is keepin, enjoying, breeding more to enjoy.

[Ekama Exotics]

I actually got into ball pythons on accident four years ago... but fell hard and fast
It's turned from accident to conservation project to passion... along the way it gives me a hobby and a few eggs to incubate and hatch

[Alice]

Part of the hobby is breeding.

I agree . . . .

[SoundUnsleep]

I'm a keeper. I keep a total of <think quick> 49 snakes and I'm not breeding, although I'm tempted to perhaps do that someday (put a big question mark behind that!). I agree with those here that already made the comment that most breeders are in fact hobbyists that breed purely for the joy of putting a new life into this world. Sounds theatrical, but that would be the only logical reason, since it can't be the money ...
By the time you pay x-amount of dollar for a pair of quality moprhs to breed in order to produce a morph that brings the big bucks, you've spent money on rats and oodles of time cleaning and caring for the pair and the price for the big-buck-morph (in case the snake gods smile upon you and you are lucky enough to produce one!) will have already come down, because someone else is producing the morph already and sells at bottom price.

[mattciupak]

as soon as i move into a bigger house, i will be breeding. but for now, i'm just a hobbyist

[Ginevive]

Well said! I would (did) have snakes regardless of the breeding excitement, but after catching the BP bug, and seeing a tiny head pop out of an egg... well, it was all over for me. I've so enjoyed learning, and meeting, and getting, and feeding, and chatting, and CLEANING, and... well you get the idea!

Laura summed it up for my attitude towards it, too

[fishmommy]

no plans to breed here...neither humans nor snakes

I think it would be great fun to breed snakes, but its not for me.

[OhClueless1]

I do think it sounds like a lot of fun... not to mention frustrating, worrisome and something that requires patience which I don't have. LOL

Ok I have what is probably a really stupid question.. kind of like the one that started this thread.. haha..

When you breed morphs do you sometimes get normals? How do you know what kind of morphs to breed there are so many of them out there? Why are some morphs more expensive than others? I mean I saw a morph bp.. can't remember what it was but it was like 12.000 dollars.

ok.. so thats more than just one question. but I am really curious at this point.

[rabernet]

I do think it sounds like a lot of fun... not to mention frustrating, worrisome and something that requires patience which I don't have. LOL

Ok I have what is probably a really stupid question.. kind of like the one that started this thread.. haha..

When you breed morphs do you sometimes get normals? How do you know what kind of morphs to breed there are so many of them out there? Why are some morphs more expensive than others? I mean I saw a morph bp.. can't remember what it was but it was like 12.000 dollars.

ok.. so thats more than just one question. but I am really curious at this point.

Yes, you sometimes get normals, especially when breeding doms and co-doms. When you breed a visible recessive, all your babies look normal but are 100% het for that gene, so a little "more" than a normal.

You breed what YOU love - you don't breed what you don't like. Study the morphs, pick the ones that excite you and go from there!

Some morphs are more because they are more rare. It may be a new morph that's just been proven out, or it may be a combination of several morphs.

I have 18 ball pythons and 2 on the way (well, not counting the babies I hope to hatch). For me, it started off with one pet ball python and grew into a hobby. I love these animals. I would have many more if I had more space. For me, part of enjoying the hobby is breeding. For example - I want a clown ball python. I can't afford a clown ball python, so I'm doing the "some assembly required" route. I bought a 100% het clown male, I'm breeding him to a normal female, and plan to keep all the female offspring, raise them up and hope that some of them prove out to also be het for clown - so in three years - I hope to own my very own clown that I created with my own hard work - even though for me, this work is also pleasure!