I try not to go cheap or boring with breeding. If I'm going to do it, I usually go all out. I'm not buying anything super expensive, but I already have a female pinstripe on hold. I'm also thinking about getting a cinnamon female. Maybe a lesser, but I'm not sure. I love the bee combo morphs.
Kristi I think with the two snakes you have now will give you unbelievable hatchlings!
male Bee x female pastel=
1/8 normals(wild types) 1/8 spiders 1/8 super pastel 1/8 killer bees 2/8 bee 2/8 pastel.
male Bee x normal(wild type)=
1/4 normal(wild type) 1/4 spider 1/4 pastel 1/4 Bee
Breeding a normal to Bee in this case would, IMO, be a step back for a small hobbyist like ourselves. Compare the two possible outcomes from the two. Again IMO (don't want to step on toes here) there is no contest which one has better potential.
But, with that said, if all you have is a couple Co-doms or dominant morphs and Normals(wild types) those breeding's can't be seen as a bad thing or a step back because we all start somewhere, but in Kristi (The Eclipse Queen's) case she doesn't have this issue.
Bigger breeders need those lower end snakes to fill the request and demand for entry level snake owners who might not be able to afford a higher end multiple gene snake. Breeding co-dom or dominant snakes to normals makes more financial sense in their case. More morphs out of one breeding. Just makes more sense. Just my two cents!
picking up a couple of adult normal females could be a way to know if she wants to or can breed ball pythons, until her morph females grow up (generally three winters) or until she may have a grand or few to pick up an adult morph.
i know i love keeping ball pythons, i kept them for several years but i never bred them. now i want to see if i can breed them. i am starting out with good quality male morphs and a few female normals just to see if i can also later this year i plan on picking up some double and triple morph females to pair with my males in a few years. even if i can not breed balls i sure do appreciate a beautiful ball python and will continue to keep them normals and all
p.s. there is a reason why healthy adult normal female ball pythons are not real easy to find. no body wants to let go of them haha (well unless they are replacing normals with morphs). this isn't like leopard geckos.
). But then, I'm also looking to take a different approach and go for quantity base and two gene morphs first and then refine with holdback morph females later on. Either strategy works well I think, it's just a matter of personal preference and how many snakes you actually want to house and feed. If I were still breeding leopard geckos, I'd probably think differently due to space requirements. I didnt know you had Ball pythons for yrs. Cool
I agree with this 100%. Like Robin I've kept balls for years before(hell, I've kept all kinds a herps) but never bred them. Ball breeders will tell you that locks are easy to get, eggs not so much. My previous experience is with Burm and Retic breeding and those guys are considered easier to get clutches from than balls and I still had plenty of girls who wouldn't produce or were unable to breed a particular season for one reason or another. I agree that for those of us who don't necessarily care as much if we get a clutch or not every season have less of a reason to utilize normals than those of us who are looking for a larger clutch yield right off the bat. And I agree that breeding morph male A X morph female B is generally considered better than morph male A X normal female B. However, IMO, I'd rather cross a genetic powerhouse male with 5 normal girls and get a higher potential of actually getting eggs than that same male to a single genetically "superior" girl and put all my eggs in one basket(pun intended
Either way, I think the pairing is a good one and wish you luck with them! :main_thumbsup:
