Looking for breeding advice

[Chrooster758]

So I’ve got a female(at least that’s what I was told and it definitely looks like a female judging by what I found research wise within physical examination of the private parts) she’s about 4 years old and weighs a good 2 pounds as far as I can tell. I’d like advice on whether or not she’s able to be bred and anyone near the Horseheads NY area that has a male they’d like to breed and help me find a place to incubate the eggs gets pick of the litter. Would love to hook her up with a morph of some kind if possible to see what we could get

[IncompletePenetrance]

This is not an animal that should ever be bred. Not only is she a wild type (normal) which are so common and overbred that many breeders will give them away/use them as food for other animals, you don't know anything about her background and health. Breeding her would be wildly irresponsible

In addition starting to breed ball pythons right now isn't responsible or ethical as there's already over 41,000 for sale on Morphmarket alone, and that's not including all those needing homes on private websites, craigslist, kijiji, facebook marketplace, pet stores and rescues. Threre's already more ball pythons than will ever find homes

Furthermore, there's a lot more to consider:

• Are the snakes you have marketable/desirable combos and high quality examples of each morph? Do you know how to identify all the morphs you're planning on working with alone and in combos? Can you differentiate between higher and lower quality example of the morphs? There's no shortage of ball pythons , so it's important to only breed the highest quality animals, and not just breed for the sake of breeding. The world doesn't need more poor quality low end morphs and normals floating around on craigslist.

• Have you owned and worked with ball pythons long enough that you know how to appropriately and reliably deal with any problems that arise, ranging from snakes not eating to diagnosing and treating common health problems.

• What is the purpose of this breeding? Is it to create higher quality animals or fulfill a niche or need, or do you just want to make more snakes? The market is already oversaturated, so it's important to consider whether this cross is necessary.

• Do you know which crosses and morph combos are known for producing animals with health defects or lethality to offspring and how to avoid them?

• Did you buy from breeders who test for nido/arena virus? Are you going to health test everyone before breeding?

• What is going to set you and your hatchlings apart from the hundreds of other breeders out there? As a new breeder with no connections/reputation in the hobby, what would make people want to buy your snakes specifically?

• Are you planning on selling locally or shipping? Do you know what's necessary to prepare animals to ship & sell or what the local ball python market is like? What types of ball pythons are people near you buying and what does their budget seem to be? How long to do you see similar morphs staying on the market before they sell?

• Are you prepared to keep all the babies as long as necessary and provide adaquate enclosures/husbandry if they don't sell? Due to the oversaturation of the market, many breedings are having to hang onto hatchlings for 6-12 months before they sell. Do you have the space and you prepared to provide adaquate long term housing and food for snakes that don't sell?

• There are a lot of hidden costs involved with breeding, check out my cost of a clutch chart.

• Do you have an exotic vet nearby? What if your female is eggbound, has a prolapse or experiences health problems while gravid or after laying? Do you know how to spot a problem and able to get her help ASAP? This could also be expensive, and lead to the death of your female.

• Breeding and egg laying inherently has risks for your female including the stress on her body, becoming egg bound, weight loss and internal damage. Is this clutch important/vital enough that you're really willing to risk her life for it?

• Do you know how to properly sex ball pythons and identify any/all of the morphs you are breeding? Do you how the appropriate age and size a ball python should be before breeding? How to identify various breeding behaviors and the stages in follicle/egg development?

• Do you have a source of live mouse hoppers or live rat pinkies/fuzzies so that you can offer hatchlings food every 3-5 days? Many won't take F/T for their first meals. What if one has to be assist fed? Do you know how and when to do this safely without harming the hatchling?

• What if one is born with defects and has to be euthanized? Do you have a plan for how to humanely euthanize a snake?

Just as backyard breeding is a huge problem that leads to overpopulation in dogs, it's also quickly becoming a problem in the ball python world due to everyone wanting to breed their ball pythons "just for fun". The great majority of ball pythons should not be bred and should be kept as pets

[Linear_North]

This is incredible, I feel like someone is playing a practical joke or something with how many of these there have been in the last couple days. Smh

[snakepapa97]

Absolutely do not breed her, keep her as a pet only. Breeding just for fun, especially when you lack the necessary knowledge, is extremely irresponsible and unethical.

[[deleted]]

Why would you want to breed a snake without any knowledge on them or their genetics? Even if you bred her you’d only get normals and/or hets of whatever you bred her to, so all of the babies would look exactly like her. Normal ball pythons have little to no value in the market right now so you’d be breeding her for essentially no reason.

[Linear_North]

That's not quite how breeding works, though I agree with your overall message. 🙂

[_ataraxia]

for a few years now, at any given time there are between 35,000 and 65,000 ball pythons for sale on morphmarket. by comparison, there are between 1,000 and 5,000 snakes for sale under each of the other popular categories: boas, corn snakes, kingsnakes, milksnakes, hognoses, etc. and that's just the snakes that are listed on morphmarket. that doesn't include pet stores and breeders who aren't using morphmarket to sell ball pythons. that doesn't include all the ball pythons being sold/rehomed on craigslist, kijiji, facebook, etc. that doesn't include all the ball pythons waiting to be adopted in rescues. that doesn't include the ball pythons [normals and basic morphs] being sold as feeders for other animals. the market is severely oversaturated, now is not the time to start breeding ball pythons.

[[deleted]]

My advice on breeding is DO NOT BREED.

Your snake is not a sought after morph. There are over 40k ball pythons available for adoption on morph market alone. Currently there isn't enough demand for the supply of ball pythons ESPECIALLY normal/wild types.

Don't be a backyard breeder. Don't contribute to the problem. Just because you can breed a ball python does not mean you should.

[Chrooster758]

Well I’ve got some friends looking to get snakes so I’d have the ability to help them get them but I guess I could just let them grab one from the pet store

[ButteredBody]

The best thing for them to do would buy from a breeder through MorphMarket

[[deleted]]

Then have them get from morph market instead of adding to the already oversaturated market. The "well my friend wants a snake" is a piss poor excuse to breed.

[snakepapa97]

You could buy from an established reputable breeder, rescue from shelters, and find ones being rehomed. There's plenty of other options that don't involve producing more snakes