What is the most cost effective start for breeding morphs?

[blackcrystal22]

You could do what I'm doing.

I'm shooting for all the basic morphs and some nice normals here and there. Pastels, Spiders, Mojaves, Cinnys, YBs, and hopefully a Lesser in my future.
If I'm looking for hets I'm going for Het Albino, Het Axanthic, or Het Gen. Stripe.

That's my basic starting strategies for like.. the first 10 years. Aha.

[Ecnal]

Smart money is on all females

Raise them up

Sell what you don't want

Use that money for some wicked breeder males

I'd do all females pastels----

get them 300 plus grams

Low Ball, it's your money

Those Big Girls you sell will pay off most of your start up costs

Save Re> Genes for later

Build Equity

Nothing expensive

Make your mice and rats make you money in weight

This Works-----

[jglass38]

Some good points here. My advice would be, don't expect to make any money. In fact, you will most likely spend more than you will ever recoup. If you eventually make a few bucks to cover your costs then you are ahead of the game! Good luck!

[JoMo]

Like you I also started with a normal (female) that was given to me.

After that, I opted for a female pastel (Nerd line) and I´m buying a male spider (will be arriving in 2 weeks!). As you may suspect, I´m a fan of bees...

This is my starting 1.2. Dom and co-dom only with a lot of future possibilities of very nice morphs and combos

[Emilio]

Some good points here. My advice would be, don't expect to make any money. In fact, you will most likely spend more than you will ever recoup. If you eventually make a few bucks to cover your costs then you are ahead of the game! Good luck!

Best post of the thread get in cause you love and want to produce your designers or crazy beautiful super Bp's. I have to say get what makes your toes tingle.LOL That's a quote from one of the 72 dolphins when he's excited about a new dolphins pick up. Out of everything mentioned a cinny male and pastel female make a lot of sense.

[anendeloflorien]

Like you I also started with a normal (female) that was given to me.

After that, I opted for a female pastel (Nerd line) and I´m buying a male spider (will be arriving in 2 weeks!). As you may suspect, I´m a fan of bees...

This is my starting 1.2. Dom and co-dom only with a lot of future possibilities of very nice morphs and combos

I'm actually doing just about the same thing . I started off with just a normal female, I just got a male spider from NERD and I just picked up a nice little pastel female plus (kind of a not really planned for bonus) I got a 1600g normal proven breeder female also. So, right now I only have the one male but he's a beauty and eating great so next year I can probably pair him up with the proven breeder to try for some spiders and then in a couple years once the pastel girly is growed up try for some bees .

But in answer to the OPs questions I say go with what makes you happy! If you want to try for the ivories get yourself a pair of YBs from a breeder you trust. I know NERD had an exceptional looking pair of YBs from a proven het ivory line for about $600 a couple weeks ago. Good luck to ya!

[ScottyDsntKnow]

Hmmm well I do eventually want to try and make money off this while doing whatever small part I can to better the herp world and these snakes in general. I'm fully prepared to put the time/effort in to do this right. I just need to get moved into a new house(december) and get settled before I pull the trigger on anything.

My goal is to get setup this winter/spring as far as a place, equipment etc... then get some snakes next spring/summer to breed for the 09 season. I'd like to grab a mojave, a cinny, a pastel some normal females and maybe something else if I can afford it. Probably 1 male for all that. How many females can 1 male reliably breed? I've heard of guys doing 11 females with 1 male!

[jonf]

listen to the previous posts..........there is some good info and advice. Raise up some normal females and maybe a pastel female or 2....or 3. I am partial to the simple recessive morphs like pieds,albinos,clowns,.......but its up to you! That is the fun part of this game. Spiders,Pastels,Cinny's, Mojos, are going to be your staple morphs so you can't miss with any of these paired up with a normal female.

But if I had a 1K to spend and I was just starting out.........I would get a few normal females, a spider male, and a pair of het somethings'.........either pieds or albinos. Basically though, like Raul said, at the end of the day you are cleaning the cages.........so you have to like what you choose........

[SnakeDoc]

I'm with everyone else...raise up or buy large normal females and get going with the codoms. Worry about the recessives later, they'll come in time. If anything raise up normal females to sell as breeder females there are always people looking for good solid adult females for their breeding projects. Most of all try to keep it fun!

[Rapture]

Get some normal females and possible hets close to breeding size, then get some males to go with them about a year before everyone is ready to breed. Then the next year you should be good to go.