I got it in my head to breed them

[chrisb]

It's stuck. The idea to breed my ball pythons is stuck in my head ( not until this coming October of coarse) but I thought I should get the jump on it now. I've looked in my guide on pythons for a incubator and they have a plan in it that seems pretty simple and easy to do. I was wondering if any of you also have any simple and easy set ups. Any tips would also be great

[unluckyseventeen]

Uh, do you have money for both the electric bills and 30 rats per week to feed all of the babies? How about 30 separate enclosures to house all of the babies? How about hours of free time every day to make sure every baby is alright, and that every enclosure is spot cleaned? Do you have a market underneath you that will assuredly claim every baby you have, or do you plan on raising 30 babies by yourself? How about extra time and money if they get sick? Vet bills are about $75 bucks for an exam, fecal and treatment... for one visit. If all of the snakes get sick.. guess what, you're hosed! And I bet you'd feel pretty bad if all or most of them died because you didn't have time, money or experience, right?

If you like the animals, keep them. Care for them. Love them.

If you have enough know-how, spare time, extra money, customers, and extra space to breed them, then go nuts.

I'm not sure you know what you're getting yourself into, from the sounds of it.

[Rex322]

actually, a ball python clutch only gets around up to 12 eggs.

[brownsfan222]

Originally Posted by rex322

actually, a ball python clutch only gets around up to 12 eggs.

yea and that seems like a huge ball python clutch, most breeders i have talked to get clutches of 4-8 mostly 5 or 6 though

[Rex322]

yea, 12 is the largest i believe

[unluckyseventeen]

Oh, whoops. I thought he was saying he was breeding his boas...

I guess too much looking at Tom's site will do that to you.

Whatever.

[Rex322]

lol. its ok

[chrisb]

well to answer. Yes I have a few people lined up and a local pet store I trust to take a few, but I intend to keep some.

[brownsfan222]

how big is your male and female?

[chrisb]

during the year I am hopfully going to have my female up to size ( I wont overfeed, just normal feeding) but right now she is 21'' and my male is 32''. I dont know there weight I dont have a scale. I know that is what actually matters though

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

What do you currently know about breeding balls? Imagine being stuck with 6 or so balls that just won't eat, frustrating as can be. I would recomend you just keep them for a while and see how much the babies go for. C.B.B. babies go for like 30$ and maybe 35$. You will have to buy an incubator, a thermostat, 8 tub rack system plus all the water bowls, feeders, and lots of time. You will spend quite a bit of time with them and what if they get sick? Do you have a vet? Do you have 100$ laying around for emergency purposes? Most of us don't. I have 50$ laying around for what ever I need and thats it. I can't imagine feeding the balls. 1 mouse or rat every 5 days. so thats about 4-5$ a week for 4 weeks minimum is around 20$ for food. This doesn't include the food for the parents nor the food wasted when they refuse to eat.

[Pork Chops N' Corn Bread]

Originally Posted by chrisb

during the year I am hopfully going to have my female up to size ( I wont overfeed, just normal feeding) but right now she is 21'' and my male is 32''. I dont know there weight I dont have a scale. I know that is what actually matters though

A 21" female will not be able to breed safely by october. She will still be growing heavily and just starting to fill out in mass. The male is ok but I would give the female 2 years to wait. That ensures you will have a large(as large as a balls clutch can be) and large healthy babies