I appreciate this video because everyone is literally jumping into breeding like it’s easy to do. I know people on social media are making it look easy but the real deal is that it’s not as easy as it looks. Breeding is a marathon not a sprint.
Gosh. Lots of details here, thank you for sharing and being so open about struggles. There's so much more than I even thought, to the breeding game. The creatures certainly do make it worth it though, in some way. Simple moments looking at em and sharing time with em 🙂 God bless you and your snakeys business shenanigans
I'm no expert, nor am I a large scale operation. I worked with what I have as a Disabled Vet. All my snakes are either from a LPS that sold them at Special Mark Down prices, or rehomed snakes from Craigslist. I think I've saved more money on my snakes that way, regardless of morphology or hets. I've spent more on enclosures (glass tanks, then pvc enclosures, finally racks) in the last 3 yrs, followed by feeders (live and frozen). Had I known about pvc enclosures and racks early on, I'd have saved on money than take an "L". I'm learning now to navigate LPS for feeders and F/T for better quality and quantity to save money than take an "L". All I can say is keep on maintaining patience and good husbandry, and eventually results will prove.
appreciate the reply and the great info . I hope you are doing well and do very well in your future, as a fellow vet, Thank you for the service and I hope the VA is treating you well
One of the biggest reasons that I've seen and heard of people dropping out is that they are trying to get rich quick. Instead, start your goals smaller. Like aiming for your hobby to pay for itself then build from there. Also, learning and enjoying the experience is important.
My man you have a fantastic starter collection!!! I just found your channel & really enjoying your videos. My first clutches are due in 1-2 weeks. Wishing you the very best of luck with your pairings this year 👍👏👍. Unfortunately we will probably never be able to run with the big boys (probably run out of years!) but if we produce what we like & hopefully cover the bills in the meantime then all’s good. To catchup with the big names would take a HUGE investment I just couldn’t justify with having a family on a limited budget. All the best man 🤞
Thanks for comment ! Only a few can run with the big guys and I am not going a 200K in debt on trying lol. I am glad and happy with what i got and can open each tub and see them and be happy even if they never sell.
Ive been buying full grown het clowns, recently been saving up for a couple visuals. I also have a few multi codom genetics that i put a powerhouse recessive male to. A big tip i got from a few top dogs was to breed your own rats.
I'm just getting into this as well I will be getting my first tester clutch any day now...I didn't have the money to load up on recessives but I did get a couple hypos and a couple het ultramels then got 12 different co dom traits with a total of 9 females to start. My theory is that will get me started enough to get the funds to buy those higher end recessives even though it will take a little longer to get there and thats fine. I do breed my own rats and thats a big money saver i only spend roughly 30 a month into the rats...Keep your head up we are in a awesome hobby
Seems like you got a great plan going on and I hope you can make it and get everything you work for. Starting of smaller for the bigger picture is nice . Good luck on that clutch !, if I had an extra shed or something I would breed my rats but I’m very limited in my house 😂.
I would be careful mixing hets with visuals or you'll just end up with a bunch of hets with poss hets that can't be tested and not many will want to buy into. Breeding isn't an investment if you start on a lower end and are just putting random snakes together with no real plan. What you have is a gamble with no plan. Not many are going to buy into them with the same gamble. Make a long term goal and work towards it without thinking it'll pay for itself, it won't.
BlazedBlader…Sure but I got my hets from really reputable breeder I’m confident they are what he said they are… I’d rather breed and have fun with it than go broke trying to make it with all the high end stuff…nothing I have is low quality by any means there just not visual recessives
Bro your snake collection is sweet and I think as long as you keep grinding you’ll pull it off. Hopefully you’re able to support yourself comfortably one day off your snakes alone. I see no reason why you won’t. Breed your boas to I know you’re worried and you’ll have bad moments but you’ll have more better moments than bad with it.
I appreciate the kind the words , I try my best on keeping the snakes health and clean . The boas maybe something in the future , 20 plus babies is alot of room I don’t have right now and all those baby racks
I like your strategic approach of visual everything. It's an expensive start & you're not getting stuck with inexpensive snakes to feed. But without breeding your own rats or mice the less top dollar snakes you feed the better. I only have 18 mouths to feed & breed my own rodents. That way it's pennies on the dollar. I see it almost as free food for extra work. & I mean more work cleaning. I'm totally not cool with the rodent smell believe that!
Love to see your collection. I'm also new at this, but I went towards the hets. Don't get me wrong I have visual stuff too. But since I'm new at this I figure starting out with hets would help me learn the genes a little better. I'm sitting at 46 ball pytons right now. And probably everything I have has het something in them. I like the surprise of not knowing what im gonna get. Congratulations on your locks that you've gotten. Best of luck to ya buddy.
Nothing wrong with hets. I just think it’s not talked about enough on the future of breeding triple and quads , people will need ALOT of room and money on all the missed genes they want and selling them or keeping them. Most people can’t even keep what they have now . It’s one thing the big guys don’t talk about . ( it took 200 eggs hitting a quad , I had too wholesale everything and lost money doing it ) but I got finally got it lol . Just posting a picture of them with out the process can be misleading for new people
Learning how to map out your feeders to where you're feeding your collection. saving alot of money and selling enough feeders on the side to pay for expenses will save you 400$ a month. I at least hope that since you put alot of these purchases on Credit Cards that you atleast made sure those cards were fresh on a 0% interest rate for atleast 12 months. While you focused on buying adult animals with shortest time to produce instead of waiting 2 years on juvenile animals that may take another year after you think they should be ready. I can't wait to get back into this hobby. Keep doing what you're doing there are alot of people in the same situation that can benefit from you being transparent. Build your tribe in this hobby it's a good tool to have in rough times once you start producing babies. I'm rootin for you... DONT QUIT THE JOB.. Not yet..
Its been a year, hows it going? Follow your passion and dont give up! I would say marketing can be one of the biggest factors in business. If everything else is in place, its like how are people gonna know/hear about you? A lil tip but i hope it helps
You have solid visual stuff , multi gene pieds and clowns that people will always want , after you breed and get money invest in hypo or dg. Everyone is doing dg hets now and in 5 years they will be way more affordable and everywhere . I’ll definitely buy some stuff from you
you have all visual, if you are planning on producing a stable double recessive BP , you need to hold for like 6yrs for the double het hatchling to produce. 6yrs years and your good to go. i wish i can do that
Your starting out and learning. I myself wouldn’t go into debt to start; however, could of been the best thing you could have done. I’ve heard you don’t make the real money until after 5 years.
Things I’m seeing in the comments that i was seeing 10 years ago when I stopped having BPs (due to personal reasons, not because of the market.) “Market is over saturated” & “the BP market is gonna crash”…been hearing it forever, these are just things people that aren’t successful at breeding and selling snakes say. Breeding BPs is definitely super easy. Marketing yourself and moving those babies is a completely different thing.
I heard you say “its difficult to figure out how to invest”.. well, #1 buy what you like and focus on that. Chances are if you like it, someone else will too. #2 buy animals with a purpose and a vision, meaning don’t just buy random snakes without a plan on what they will be paired with (even though those plans might change over time, at least you’ll know what to do is nothing else changes). #3 Don’t go all in until you know that A you like doing it and B you actually can do it. Start small and simple, breed some and see if you can Indeed sell them. My first paring back many years ago was an albino male to a normal female. All I did that for was to see if I even could. Cheapest snake I ever sold was $10, most expensive I ever sold was $27,000. That was in the span of 5 years. I definitely would not recommend going into debt and full tilt right off the bat just because some people make millions (very few make that or close to it). I like that you are honest with yourself and with your audience, at the very least, you’ve gained a subscriber.
I appreciate the great advice and the tips . Never breeding before and jumping into some pricey snakes mean I either make it or fail really fast. Good thing they breed every year lol. I keep hearing that this is a crashing market and most people are dumping collections yet see people buying stuff every day . I will agree and see alot of people doing single gene stuff and struggling on selling but I think that’s just common right now with the great genes being out there . I don’t have the snakes on making it big time but hopefully adding some cool stuff into the collection is worth it . Thanks !
I’m a research scientist, & I used to work with rats & mice- (Toxicology lab work for Bayer CropScience) An unexpected perk was that I got to take home the (humanely euthanized) control rats that had no exposure/dose of whatever FDA/EPA chemical they were testing. The lab would donate all the extra rats to local wildlife rescues (like sometimes 500 from one study) & let me have some rat pups, etc,…. I used to breed leucistic Snow & Albino corn snakes. (Only 2-3 clutches a year, & I kept most of them for a long time.) I’m sure folks know this, but when breeding feeders, mice REEK & can easily stink up the lab/house if not ventilated well…..whereas RATS don’t smell near as bad (I don’t think rats smell at all, but a few folks think they do.) We changed the rat bedding out at least 2-3 times weekly. But mice have sharp ammonia-ish smell, even with daily bedding changes! Rats don’t have that, in my humble opinion. Rats are MUCH easier to work with & easier to handle (less skittish than mice, AND mice can easily double back & bite you!) & they don’t make as much noise. (&, not to be gross, but rats are much less likely to kill/eat their pups…. I’ve seen a lot of nasty $hit in my day….)🤨 But, with rats, it depends on species- (Wistar’s are the worst, meanest SOB’s in existence- Sprague’s are best) BUT you can also ‘breed out’ the mean ones pretty quickly. I don’t know where many research labs are located, but generally most med schools & research Tox labs use rats, & they have controls/extra/ quarantine rats available that otherwise they dispose of. In this environment of animal rights extremism, there is a lot of pressure on companies to use as few live animals as possible, & to not ‘waste animals’ if possible; meaning that companies ‘look good’ (& might get an tax write-off) if they document that they found a use for extra rats to feed other unreleasable owls, hawks, eagles, etc. Or they donate rats to high schools/college classes where they need to dissect real animals for a class. It might be worth checking around!🤔 Just something funny, we had to dye the albino rat’s fur brown or most of the critters wouldn’t EAT the white ones, since they didn’t recognize them as food!! 😂😊💙 Great video-I truly appreciate all the honest information & sharing! The snakes are gorgeous- & I LOVE their patterns/colors!! (Personally, my favorites are the pied ones, & the orange dream clown is amazing!!) I’m excited to see what animals you produce in the future- it’s obvious you will succeed, & are very passionate about breeding, & love your animals, & take good care of them! 🎉🙂😊
Breeding is tough. I think what I did was pretty ok, I acquired 6 pairs or so, medium end boas and ball pythons. I like them a lot, and it took about 3-4 years for them to be able to produce offspring, and this year I plan on doing that. If I need money I can always sell them or my rack. The only thing I will say is maybe not invest a lot in ball pythons, although breeders selling to breeders is pretty common lol
Looks like you have nice animals, you definitely went wrong by going into debt, slow down a bit and take your time! Especially if you are unsure of yourself. The feed bill is going to go through the roof once you start hatching clutches. You can do this! Anyone, can! But you have to stick with it because it's going to take a LOT of time to get to the point you can fill your bank account back up with money. Stay focused on projects and see it through 💪 PS... Do not buy another animal until your credit cards are paid off!!! This is exactly why you see collection sales!
That's the big problem I have . Either go in debt and start in the middlish range or start with what I can afford out of pocket and have limited genes and compete with so many more people . (not like pieds are at the top) . I wouldn't feel comfortable getting 1-3 codom genes and het hypo/clown/pied and being a nobody trying on selling all that i missed on what i was wanting. Thanks for awesome feedback and being honest . Yes no more...snakes haha
You have a very nice collection. As far as the subject of the video goes. Breed, what you like. Yes, the bigger breeders are selling some high-end stuff, but as a beginner, we have to sell our passion. Do I feel going into debt is the wrong way? Yes. But it's the pathetic you choose, and now you have to figure out how to navigate it. Personally, I would not go into debt for this. Now for the subject of value. You could buy a 3k snake today that in a year will be 2k. However, that 3 k snake will be ready to go a year earlier than the 2k. The market will rebound, and all these animals you have invested in will be breeding when it does. Breed what you like and sell your passion, and you'll do well. I've been following you on social media for a while. Don't give up, and don't listen to the na sayers.
Not wrong at all you are on the right track for sure. You are starting many steps ahead having visuals not hets. You are way ahead of where I started I have 12 one visual Clown make and one visual g stripe female . Definitely making visuals on the first clutch is better I am going to have to raise up baby's to breed back to make visuals. The most important thing I think is you love the ones you have its so much work and you have to stick with it like you are saying. With 12 I'm just in it for fun and am enjoying it . I have sold one baby of my first clutch for $200 . I spent $3k on Snakes and like $3k on racks and then there is 3 years worth of rats and electricity that's expensive. On line the big guys make it look very easy and you don't get a sense of the costs.
That’s so true , they make this looks easy and like you can make tons of money which I see a lot of people fall into that and they get 100 snakes up front and sell out in a year . Wish they would take more on the expense and stuff so people understand. Sounds like you set yourself up for years of good codoms and hets which is a great
Great video I understand the jumping in and wanting to quit your day job haha definitely my dream I went a different route I haven't even started breeding yet but what I did do is started a rat breeding business witch funnels money back into buy more and more snakes with no debt... that overhead cost of food is a killer but it's worth the time if your having alot of snakes
@Ben CincySnakes it isn't bad about $1000 a month profit with very little overhead . 5 hours of work a week of cleaning and my 25 snakes eat for free every week not to bad
Not alot of people spending thousands on them. Besides the people thinking there gonna compete with the top Dogg's. You'll never catch-up with them. Thousands of balls on morphmarket just sitting there, especially the ones over a grand. So best advice is make what ya love and don't expect to be making crazy dough. Unless your selling cheap,😀
But need to be smart on which animals you invest in… pieds for instance will always be in demand. People who go out and get a couple adult normal females and a pinstripe adult male and hope to make money are gonna fizzle out. Have to spend money to make money but smart. Hets are great inexpensive way.
honestly i think I think I am in a good spot with all multi gene visual pieds and clowns. I won't produce a single het. That sound pay off the debt pretty quickly . ... i hope
Recessive projects is where it’s at. Most recessive stuff holds its value and you can start stacking genes from the and do double and triple recessive projects. Yes it takes more time to turn it around and make money and that’s exactly why recessive projects hold their value. It’s all about stacking genes single and double gene stuff is already flooding the market unless it’s super high end.
Make your own hets. Your good def don't keep adding bills with interest payments but you gona be fine if u stick with it. Of you bail hmu I'll buy ur collection 😅. Na but seriously ur good I got my collection last August and am 6 clutches deep just cut the 2nd one today. Just keep moving forward. I do breed my own rats in a tough shed. They take more time then the snakes but they save me alot money so it's worth it to get a little less sleep every few days and spend couple hours cleaning tubs not bad once u get in the groove of it.
Hets and double hets is the way to go, buy all your females as het or double het unless you wanna do normal type projects, also some clutches I wouldn’t even mind not making much profit like lavender clown, just the xp would be awesome
I also think with everything it's a little slow right now but it'll pick back up. If you're diligent with pairing and don't just make snakes for the fact of making them you'll be OK. I'm not pairing my cinnamon pied girl at all bc IDK the babies will sell right now
I just am just an employee at Amazon on the ramp, driving tugs ., loading and unloading freight into the plane. I never was into Aviation but after being here it is amazing . I would love to work on the plane but a huge responsibly
I think that’s a problem a lot of people go into when thinking about breeding. Why quit your day job? Find the balance of work to hobby that is good for you. Your day job generally has benefits that you will have to pay for once you are a sole proprietor. Also quitting your day job will half your income. Use both revenue streams to invest more into the business, perhaps expand into real estate and get another revenue stream. You are already doing the hard work, why cut yourself off at the knees and cut off money you are already making.
Very few people can quit their day job. I think I saw a lot of males. I know people pairing 4 or 5 males to a collection of 120 females. The problem right now is single recessive snakes aren't moving too much. You will need to make some double hets with those nice codoms you have and price them properly. You will move those quick. Only way people are getting traction with single recessive is with "newer" codoms that kinova pushes like lace or stranger. Also, I hate to tell you to spend more money, but join a patron group. Bob Vu and Josh Jacki have a patron that whatever you pay into it becomes credit for you and you get access to a bunch of people who will help you out or buy snakes you produce before it even goes on the market.
Just watched you video and you mentioned Billy. I get what your saying and how Billy says you need to invest 90k on 3-4 animals and work a project or 2 or 3. But he also says to enjoy what you make whether it’s a hobby or a business. Don’t let it stress you out or worry about the money because then maybe your in too deep. You mentioned you have 40 animals, now add up the money you spent just buying those animals and divide that by 4 or 5. You could have spent the same money and had 4-5 multi codom animals and your food bill would be 1/8 what it is now. For your example of buying 3 snakes for 90k and breeding them for 100k and only being up 10k in your invest it’s wrong because you still have your 90k worth of animals so your up 100k, don’t forget that. Let everyone sell there collections off because we want to be the only ones left standing after they are gone. It sounds like to me that your doubting your choice in animals and maybe that is the first step to making a change to where you feel more comfortable. If you think you need to chase the hets then put a couple female multi codom pieds or whatever to the side and breed it to your visual codom clown. Just don’t chase to crowd and stay focused The first step tho is to admit you think your going the wrong way and make the change. Just enjoy the journey, trust me I’m looking at my collection too as I am new into this as well and need to trim some of the fat! But I still love it. Chin up your doing a good job.
You are correct , Buying 2-4 high dollar snakes instead of 40 would be a great move, less space, less food and prob a better risk for reward. I love seeing the snakes i have each time i open a tub but really think I would get burned out or not as happy getting 1-3 codoms and hets - breeding , missing, not being able too move them and having more racks, more money etc. It's a tough call and a tough choice on how this goes for being so new. it's just strange I am seeing everyone on my socials getting into hets and not buying visual recessives , maybe its the money or the long game they are trying. but even normal het pied x with a pastel pied just isn't for me on the years trying too hit . Thank you for feedback and the honesty
if you going to do this then you should start to breed your own rats and shop around and buy adult snakes and if I could make a suggestion and buy this book from Kevin McCurley called the ultimate Ball python a comprehensive Guide to care breeding and Genetic Mutations it help me a lot Good luck and hopes this help
As if now I have no place for breeding a good amount of normal rats in fear they will get out and they stink up a house fast , i have 4 asf colonies but not rats . I’ll check it out that book
I would say work and grow your snakes you own right now. Don't buy anymore. Breed the snakes that are going to breed. And then start the journey of eggs to selling hatchlings keep what your are going to grow out and sell pretty much all hatchlings to get some return on your investment. As of hets I would not go into it with your collection as you have many visuals. Plus the hets would be another expense and more work.
I appreciate the information and the feedback, i think I’ll see how year 1-2 goes and work from there . If nothing else I’ll enjoy the snakes as pets solely. I only really need 1 more for the enchi clown pied
to the point where everyone has single recessive gene stuff so everyone is making double or triple recessive so thats why double triple hets are the "thing" now
Expensive snakes are great but not everyone can afford them so it’s not a bad thing. Yes there’s way more less expensive snakes you’re competing with, but there’s also a much larger part of the market that can only afford that level of snake. That’s not true that the snake is going to depreciate either, a ready to breed snake will always be worth far more than a baby so that’s certainly not depreciation at least with females.
Yeah no spiders for me , I’m not dealing with the drama on that lol. ball pythons don’t burmate they can breed at regular temps. The rat bill isn’t the best so maybe breeding in the future will help
its better to have the visual than a het. hets are just a cheaper way to get a chance to make the visual and unless its a good bigger breeder i wouldnt take someones word that its a het. and most ppl want to breed a few snakes and be the next NERD or BHB or Kinova and you cant do that those guys have been in the game for YEARS so alot of people drop out
Great video and animals. I understand your concern, however I think you should definitely stop buying animals and breed what you have. Near the end you pulled out the spotnose vanilla clown (amazing animal) but I thought to myself why did you buy that when you have so many other amazing clowns to breed and make killer combos with. Pump the breaks on buying and breed. Amazing collection! You got this 💪🏼
What’s wrong with the spotnose vanilla clown ? I have a few females with leopard and easy way on making batman + other genes. Spotnose is a beautiful pattern added into anything. Vanilla just helps keep the colors bright which is alway a plus.
Nothing is wrong at all, it’s a great fit for your collection. My only concern is you are worried about making enough money to stay afloat and you should slow down your purchases and just hold back hatching a as needed. You have an amazing collection.
Yeah I should be done buying snakes .. I have a lot and gotta work with the combos I have and see how things work out. Could go bother ways - good or bad- . I appreciate the feedback ! Hopefully I can make a few batmans
I’d say you have the right approach in terms of the kind of snakes you purchased but the method you used is definitely risky. I really hope it works out for you. You did move up your timetable with the loans though. For the people who do not want to risk their house on this, you just move slow. Do not buy 100-500 dollar snakes, save and buy the right snakes. Of course your progress will be slower but you don’t have to worry about potential foreclosure. Remember people this is a marathon not a sprint.
So......wow......going into debt , major debt it sounds like into a business you don't understand. I don't mean that harshly, but you said it multiple times. There is always multiple ways to do something. But as I've grown and watched people succeed and fail in this business. I've noticed 2 successful paths. 1 drop a ton of money in and jump into the deep end, learn to swim or die. Or put the time in , learn and grow organically. Build the collection instead of buying the collection. The first plan has many failures and a few successes. So does the second plan. Thing is with the second plan you figure out you can't swim in the shallow end. I subscribed, I'd like to see how you do.
I think both sides can be dangerous. Be stuck with debt and expense snakes and hope for the best . But less expensive, learn , less risk but still in a pool of everyone else . I appreciate the input and insight on this . I’ll either fail or learn a lot .
Is this a hobby or something you want for a professon. If its a hobby, stop reading now and go enjoy your collection. If professon, continue. Find a project you're passionate about. Ex I want pied clowns, anaxanthics etc whatever. Breed those, make the cleanest pied clowns in the game, nicest axanthics etc. Jack of all trades or master of a few? Narrow the focus so you can put all the time, money into the perfection of the genes you like. I have buddies that keep only chain kingsnakes. He has the cleanest, most vibrant chain kings out there. He gets top dollar and years long waiting list because he narrowed his collection to focus only on a select few species. In your case, genes. My advice, sell the boas, sell the burm keep 1.1 anacondas. Pick a few bp genes you want to master. Sell everything else, focus on that. If you want say pied clowns buy pied clowns, selectively breed those until Ben Cincysnakes is who you think of first when you think pied clowns. If you want to just make money in snakes. Drop $10k on a pair of sanzinia. Or $20k on Bolens pythons. The babies will sell for $3000-$5000ea. You wont be able to keep up with demand. I breed dumerils, Russian rats and chain kings. In a few more years when you think of those species my name will be in the mix.
Great points and advice , the burm may go shortly and that will add more room for baby racks and holdbacks , I really think I’ll stick with od,yb,fire pieds and clowns . Thanks for the feedback and hopefully this helps others as well
No need for you to buy double hets when you can already make them. Breed some of your clowns with your pieds, keep all your females and over the next year of raising your females save some of your sales to invest in a double visual male clown/pied. In the next 3 years you will be hitting double recessives. Keep up the hard work.
Your approach is original and nobody needs or wants too listen too boring scripted content! You have a sweet congergation of snakes as well as equipment in my opinion! I'd just be content with what you have for now and and sell whatever you may not want and re-invest into the things you really need at the moment! Do your own thing and be different and unique then other breeders and or keepers! Build and construct and or buy yourself a rodent rack and get 2 male mice, 4 female mice, 2 male rats, 4 female rats and or ASF, Gerbil's, and or Hamster's whatever you prefer! I personally recommend mice and or rats for most people breeding them! ASF are overrated AF and BALL pythons don't eat them as much as some people think they do in the wild either! Don't believe that BS! Also ASF have small litters and they a NASTY DISPOSITION as well in most cases! Experienced mother Mice, Rats, Hamsters, have the largest litters typically! Gerbils and ASF have smaller litter's as well! With that being said I don't personally recommend most people breeding hamsters for food as they are highly nocturnal and prefer being alone! ASF and Gerbils can live together as long as they grew up together but if they didn't expect them too brutally kill the MISFIT outsiders! Adult Siberian Hamsters will fight too the BLOODY as death well! Regular Mice and Rats are the easiest way to go! Just take care of your primary breeders and SPOIL them and alternate the mother's occasionally so they get a break from breeding and feed them a high quality feed! Rodents eat anything but do your due research! I personally recommend a Freedom Breeder rodent rack but any brand will work! You can get a nice small FB rack one that will last forever or just build your own if want too as well and save more money!!!
The bp market is over saturated. Morphmarket alone is just shy of 50k bp for sale. I believe in late 2020, maybe early 21. Morph marker had nearly 70k bp listed. Then the worst part is people are just throwing genes together. Just in an attempt to be a world's first. Two things are easily going on there. Inbreeding and rushing the animal to breed early (power feeding). No one attempts to breed for quality either in the bp market. They're also renaming genes that are the same, but they "founded a new gene." No offense to anyone who likes bp. But it's a garbage ass market if you're trying to be a breeder. Also a large majority of the community of bp hobbyists are the most toxic, ignorant people I've met.
if you think it's oversaturated now wait till all these people thinking triple and quad hets are the future . thousands of missed morphs will be up for sale. People don't understand how much it takes on making triples and quad visuals. I agree there are thousands over basic morphs since people think breeding a banana x yellowbelly will get them rich.
@Ben CincySnakes I use to breed bp back in 2010. I sold everything in 2014 and went back to breeding boas. Was half the morphs and people didn't bother going for quad het projects. They assume they can id them properly but given they're rushing projects. It's just all guesses at this point. I'll stick to producing quality high end boas over the bp marker any day.
The snakes you have are killers. You need to slow down. I would cross your clowns with some of your pied stuff. Now you have you double het game going. You need to educate yourself on how this game works or you will be selling your snakes. If you write out your questions and then find the answers you will take some of this stress out of the game. You don’t even understand what you have right there in front of you. You could make good money with what you have trust me. You need a mentor you trust and fast my friend. Someone who knows how to take the animals you have and do something with them. From what I saw come out of your rack I would think you could do very well… but you need to slow down and educate your self and find someone willing to be a mentor. Just my thoughts.
I appreciate this video because everyone is literally jumping into breeding like it’s easy to do. I know people on social media are making it look easy but the real deal is that it’s not as easy as it looks. Breeding is a marathon not a sprint.
Yup , way more into it than just putting 2 snakes together. Time , space , money . Most breeders are still putting in 12-16 hour day
Gosh. Lots of details here, thank you for sharing and being so open about struggles. There's so much more than I even thought, to the breeding game. The creatures certainly do make it worth it though, in some way. Simple moments looking at em and sharing time with em 🙂 God bless you and your snakeys business shenanigans
I'm no expert, nor am I a large scale operation. I worked with what I have as a Disabled Vet. All my snakes are either from a LPS that sold them at Special Mark Down prices, or rehomed snakes from Craigslist. I think I've saved more money on my snakes that way, regardless of morphology or hets.
I've spent more on enclosures (glass tanks, then pvc enclosures, finally racks) in the last 3 yrs, followed by feeders (live and frozen). Had I known about pvc enclosures and racks early on, I'd have saved on money than take an "L". I'm learning now to navigate LPS for feeders and F/T for better quality and quantity to save money than take an "L".
All I can say is keep on maintaining patience and good husbandry, and eventually results will prove.
appreciate the reply and the great info . I hope you are doing well and do very well in your future, as a fellow vet, Thank you for the service and I hope the VA is treating you well
One of the biggest reasons that I've seen and heard of people dropping out is that they are trying to get rich quick. Instead, start your goals smaller. Like aiming for your hobby to pay for itself then build from there. Also, learning and enjoying the experience is important.
I agree , it’s definitely not some easy to get your money back on if you don’t buy into good projects
My man you have a fantastic starter collection!!! I just found your channel & really enjoying your videos. My first clutches are due in 1-2 weeks. Wishing you the very best of luck with your pairings this year 👍👏👍. Unfortunately we will probably never be able to run with the big boys (probably run out of years!) but if we produce what we like & hopefully cover the bills in the meantime then all’s good. To catchup with the big names would take a HUGE investment I just couldn’t justify with having a family on a limited budget. All the best man 🤞
Thanks for comment ! Only a few can run with the big guys and I am not going a 200K in debt on trying lol. I am glad and happy with what i got and can open each tub and see them and be happy even if they never sell.
Ive been buying full grown het clowns, recently been saving up for a couple visuals. I also have a few multi codom genetics that i put a powerhouse recessive male to.
A big tip i got from a few top dogs was to breed your own rats.
I'm just getting into this as well I will be getting my first tester clutch any day now...I didn't have the money to load up on recessives but I did get a couple hypos and a couple het ultramels then got 12 different co dom traits with a total of 9 females to start. My theory is that will get me started enough to get the funds to buy those higher end recessives even though it will take a little longer to get there and thats fine. I do breed my own rats and thats a big money saver i only spend roughly 30 a month into the rats...Keep your head up we are in a awesome hobby
Seems like you got a great plan going on and I hope you can make it and get everything you work for. Starting of smaller for the bigger picture is nice . Good luck on that clutch !, if I had an extra shed or something I would breed my rats but I’m very limited in my house 😂.
I would be careful mixing hets with visuals or you'll just end up with a bunch of hets with poss hets that can't be tested and not many will want to buy into. Breeding isn't an investment if you start on a lower end and are just putting random snakes together with no real plan. What you have is a gamble with no plan. Not many are going to buy into them with the same gamble. Make a long term goal and work towards it without thinking it'll pay for itself, it won't.
100% agree with this
BlazedBlader…Sure but I got my hets from really reputable breeder I’m confident they are what he said they are… I’d rather breed and have fun with it than go broke trying to make it with all the high end stuff…nothing I have is low quality by any means there just not visual recessives
Good luck man I'm sure you will be successful. I subed to the channel can't wait to follow you along the journey.
Thank you , I appreciate it
Bro your snake collection is sweet and I think as long as you keep grinding you’ll pull it off. Hopefully you’re able to support yourself comfortably one day off your snakes alone. I see no reason why you won’t. Breed your boas to I know you’re worried and you’ll have bad moments but you’ll have more better moments than bad with it.
You’re the kinda breeder though I wanna buy from a straight hustler and we see that in your videos.
I appreciate the kind the words , I try my best on keeping the snakes health and clean . The boas maybe something in the future , 20 plus babies is alot of room I don’t have right now and all those baby racks
I think you're doing it right. You have enough visuals that you can make your own triple hets if you really want lol but I'd sell some clutches 1st
Great video. I think you are doing it right. I wish I had started like you are.
nice quality, snakes and rack system my brother.
Thank you !
I like your strategic approach of visual everything. It's an expensive start & you're not getting stuck with inexpensive snakes to feed. But without breeding your own rats or mice the less top dollar snakes you feed the better. I only have 18 mouths to feed & breed my own rodents. That way it's pennies on the dollar. I see it almost as free food for extra work. & I mean more work cleaning. I'm totally not cool with the rodent smell believe that!
Love to see your collection. I'm also new at this, but I went towards the hets. Don't get me wrong I have visual stuff too. But since I'm new at this I figure starting out with hets would help me learn the genes a little better. I'm sitting at 46 ball pytons right now. And probably everything I have has het something in them. I like the surprise of not knowing what im gonna get. Congratulations on your locks that you've gotten. Best of luck to ya buddy.
Nothing wrong with hets. I just think it’s not talked about enough on the future of breeding triple and quads , people will need ALOT of room and money on all the missed genes they want and selling them or keeping them. Most people can’t even keep what they have now . It’s one thing the big guys don’t talk about . ( it took 200 eggs hitting a quad , I had too wholesale everything and lost money doing it ) but I got finally got it lol . Just posting a picture of them with out the process can be misleading for new people
Learning how to map out your feeders to where you're feeding your collection. saving alot of money and selling enough feeders on the side to pay for expenses will save you 400$ a month. I at least hope that since you put alot of these purchases on Credit Cards that you atleast made sure those cards were fresh on a 0% interest rate for atleast 12 months. While you focused on buying adult animals with shortest time to produce instead of waiting 2 years on juvenile animals that may take another year after you think they should be ready. I can't wait to get back into this hobby. Keep doing what you're doing there are alot of people in the same situation that can benefit from you being transparent. Build your tribe in this hobby it's a good tool to have in rough times once you start producing babies. I'm rootin for you... DONT QUIT THE JOB.. Not yet..
Beautiful animals stay your course bro things will work out your heart ❤️ is always right!!
Its been a year, hows it going? Follow your passion and dont give up! I would say marketing can be one of the biggest factors in business. If everything else is in place, its like how are people gonna know/hear about you? A lil tip but i hope it helps
Have 9 clutches this year and marketing is definitely the most difficult part . Learning how this all works is interesting and fun
nice video and great info! Thanks! Btw, what are the dimensions of these tubs that you keep your ball pythons in?
You have solid visual stuff , multi gene pieds and clowns that people will always want , after you breed and get money invest in hypo or dg. Everyone is doing dg hets now and in 5 years they will be way more affordable and everywhere . I’ll definitely buy some stuff from you
you have all visual, if you are planning on producing a stable double recessive BP , you need to hold for like 6yrs for the double het hatchling to produce. 6yrs years and your good to go. i wish i can do that
Your starting out and learning. I myself wouldn’t go into debt to start; however, could of been the best thing you could have done. I’ve heard you don’t make the real money until after 5 years.
I guess time will tell . Yeah 5-10yr for me 😂
Things I’m seeing in the comments that i was seeing 10 years ago when I stopped having BPs (due to personal reasons, not because of the market.) “Market is over saturated” & “the BP market is gonna crash”…been hearing it forever, these are just things people that aren’t successful at breeding and selling snakes say. Breeding BPs is definitely super easy. Marketing yourself and moving those babies is a completely different thing.
I heard you say “its difficult to figure out how to invest”.. well, #1 buy what you like and focus on that. Chances are if you like it, someone else will too. #2 buy animals with a purpose and a vision, meaning don’t just buy random snakes without a plan on what they will be paired with (even though those plans might change over time, at least you’ll know what to do is nothing else changes). #3 Don’t go all in until you know that A you like doing it and B you actually can do it. Start small and simple, breed some and see if you can Indeed sell them. My first paring back many years ago was an albino male to a normal female. All I did that for was to see if I even could. Cheapest snake I ever sold was $10, most expensive I ever sold was $27,000. That was in the span of 5 years. I definitely would not recommend going into debt and full tilt right off the bat just because some people make millions (very few make that or close to it). I like that you are honest with yourself and with your audience, at the very least, you’ve gained a subscriber.
I appreciate the great advice and the tips . Never breeding before and jumping into some pricey snakes mean I either make it or fail really fast. Good thing they breed every year lol. I keep hearing that this is a crashing market and most people are dumping collections yet see people buying stuff every day . I will agree and see alot of people doing single gene stuff and struggling on selling but I think that’s just common right now with the great genes being out there . I don’t have the snakes on making it big time but hopefully adding some cool stuff into the collection is worth it . Thanks !
I’m a research scientist, & I used to work with rats & mice- (Toxicology lab work for Bayer CropScience)
An unexpected perk was that I got to take home the (humanely euthanized) control rats that had no exposure/dose of whatever FDA/EPA chemical they were testing.
The lab would donate all the extra rats to local wildlife rescues (like sometimes 500 from one study) & let me have some rat pups, etc,…. I used to breed leucistic Snow & Albino corn snakes. (Only 2-3 clutches a year, & I kept most of them for a long time.)
I’m sure folks know this, but when breeding feeders, mice REEK & can easily stink up the lab/house if not ventilated well…..whereas RATS don’t smell near as bad (I don’t think rats smell at all, but a few folks think they do.)
We changed the rat bedding out at least 2-3 times weekly.
But mice have sharp ammonia-ish smell, even with daily bedding changes! Rats don’t have that, in my humble opinion.
Rats are MUCH easier to work with & easier to handle (less skittish than mice, AND mice can easily double back & bite you!) & they don’t make as much noise. (&, not to be gross, but rats are much less likely to kill/eat their pups…. I’ve seen a lot of nasty $hit in my day….)🤨
But, with rats, it depends on species- (Wistar’s are the worst, meanest SOB’s in existence- Sprague’s are best) BUT you can also ‘breed out’ the mean ones pretty quickly.
I don’t know where many research labs are located, but generally most med schools & research Tox labs use rats, & they have controls/extra/ quarantine rats available that otherwise they dispose of.
In this environment of animal rights extremism, there is a lot of pressure on companies to use as few live animals as possible, & to not ‘waste animals’ if possible; meaning that companies ‘look good’ (& might get an tax write-off) if they document that they found a use for extra rats to feed other unreleasable owls, hawks, eagles, etc. Or they donate rats to high schools/college classes where they need to dissect real animals for a class.
It might be worth checking around!🤔
Just something funny, we had to dye the albino rat’s fur brown or most of the critters wouldn’t EAT the white ones, since they didn’t recognize them as food!! 😂😊💙
Great video-I truly appreciate all the honest information & sharing! The snakes are gorgeous- & I LOVE their patterns/colors!!
(Personally, my favorites are the pied ones, & the orange dream clown is amazing!!)
I’m excited to see what animals you produce in the future- it’s obvious you will succeed, & are very passionate about breeding, & love your animals, & take good care of them! 🎉🙂😊
How can you tell if they've locked? Aside from actually watching for hours.
Only if you see them , they can lock up for 48 hours so always check your pairing daily
Really awesome collection bro 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
😊 good video I'll be back liked and subscribed. I just got into breeding havent had a clutch yet 😊
Thanks for the support!!Hope your breeding goes well
Breeding is tough. I think what I did was pretty ok, I acquired 6 pairs or so, medium end boas and ball pythons. I like them a lot, and it took about 3-4 years for them to be able to produce offspring, and this year I plan on doing that. If I need money I can always sell them or my rack. The only thing I will say is maybe not invest a lot in ball pythons, although breeders selling to breeders is pretty common lol
Looks like you have nice animals, you definitely went wrong by going into debt, slow down a bit and take your time! Especially if you are unsure of yourself.
The feed bill is going to go through the roof once you start hatching clutches.
You can do this! Anyone, can!
But you have to stick with it because it's going to take a LOT of time to get to the point you can fill your bank account back up with money.
Stay focused on projects and see it through 💪
PS... Do not buy another animal until your credit cards are paid off!!! This is exactly why you see collection sales!
That's the big problem I have . Either go in debt and start in the middlish range or start with what I can afford out of pocket and have limited genes and compete with so many more people . (not like pieds are at the top) . I wouldn't feel comfortable getting 1-3 codom genes and het hypo/clown/pied and being a nobody trying on selling all that i missed on what i was wanting. Thanks for awesome feedback and being honest . Yes no more...snakes haha
You have a very nice collection. As far as the subject of the video goes. Breed, what you like. Yes, the bigger breeders are selling some high-end stuff, but as a beginner, we have to sell our passion. Do I feel going into debt is the wrong way? Yes. But it's the pathetic you choose, and now you have to figure out how to navigate it. Personally, I would not go into debt for this. Now for the subject of value. You could buy a 3k snake today that in a year will be 2k. However, that 3 k snake will be ready to go a year earlier than the 2k. The market will rebound, and all these animals you have invested in will be breeding when it does. Breed what you like and sell your passion, and you'll do well. I've been following you on social media for a while. Don't give up, and don't listen to the na sayers.
triple recessive is in right now that why everyone wants double het
I don’t think most people understand how much room , money and time those take
@@Ben_CincySnakes it takes multiple tries a bunch of hold backs just to come out with one unless you get lucky
Not wrong at all you are on the right track for sure. You are starting many steps ahead having visuals not hets. You are way ahead of where I started I have 12 one visual Clown make and one visual g stripe female . Definitely making visuals on the first clutch is better I am going to have to raise up baby's to breed back to make visuals. The most important thing I think is you love the ones you have its so much work and you have to stick with it like you are saying. With 12 I'm just in it for fun and am enjoying it . I have sold one baby of my first clutch for $200 . I spent $3k on Snakes and like $3k on racks and then there is 3 years worth of rats and electricity that's expensive. On line the big guys make it look very easy and you don't get a sense of the costs.
That’s so true , they make this looks easy and like you can make tons of money which I see a lot of people fall into that and they get 100 snakes up front and sell out in a year . Wish they would take more on the expense and stuff so people understand. Sounds like you set yourself up for years of good codoms and hets which is a great
Great video I understand the jumping in and wanting to quit your day job haha definitely my dream I went a different route I haven't even started breeding yet but what I did do is started a rat breeding business witch funnels money back into buy more and more snakes with no debt... that overhead cost of food is a killer but it's worth the time if your having alot of snakes
I have heard breeding / selling rats is a better income than snakes 😂
@Ben CincySnakes it isn't bad about $1000 a month profit with very little overhead . 5 hours of work a week of cleaning and my 25 snakes eat for free every week not to bad
Not alot of people spending thousands on them. Besides the people thinking there gonna compete with the top Dogg's. You'll never catch-up with them. Thousands of balls on morphmarket just sitting there, especially the ones over a grand. So best advice is make what ya love and don't expect to be making crazy dough. Unless your selling cheap,😀
I agree
Billy is spot on man. If you want to make money you need to start with at least 50k.
You need that 50k first 😂
@@Ben_CincySnakes this is true, it can’t be for everyone. I’d cash out and pay off as much of your debt as you can before you get buried.
But need to be smart on which animals you invest in… pieds for instance will always be in demand. People who go out and get a couple adult normal females and a pinstripe adult male and hope to make money are gonna fizzle out. Have to spend money to make money but smart. Hets are great inexpensive way.
honestly i think I think I am in a good spot with all multi gene visual pieds and clowns. I won't produce a single het. That sound pay off the debt pretty quickly . ... i hope
Yup, that is true. 99% of my stuff is visual peds and clowns with multi co-dom genes. I still have the mystic potions i love
chausmer is a good dude!
He definitely is
I've invested around 40k in 3+ years and sold about 6k worth of babies. I feel your pain. The feeding bills are real. I have 60 I'm currently feeding.
It’s definitely a struggle 😂. Keep up on the grind though
Recessive projects is where it’s at. Most recessive stuff holds its value and you can start stacking genes from the and do double and triple recessive projects. Yes it takes more time to turn it around and make money and that’s exactly why recessive projects hold their value. It’s all about stacking genes single and double gene stuff is already flooding the market unless it’s super high end.
It's been 8 months. How's it going?
Got some amazing babies out of a few pairings, had one bad clutch but can’t complain. Selling isn’t not easy though
Those are beautiful snakes. I hope you can make it work out.@@Ben_CincySnakes
Thank you
Make your own hets. Your good def don't keep adding bills with interest payments but you gona be fine if u stick with it. Of you bail hmu I'll buy ur collection 😅. Na but seriously ur good I got my collection last August and am 6 clutches deep just cut the 2nd one today. Just keep moving forward. I do breed my own rats in a tough shed. They take more time then the snakes but they save me alot money so it's worth it to get a little less sleep every few days and spend couple hours cleaning tubs not bad once u get in the groove of it.
Hets and double hets is the way to go, buy all your females as het or double het unless you wanna do normal type projects, also some clutches I wouldn’t even mind not making much profit like lavender clown, just the xp would be awesome
I think either way works ! I hope you get some amazing babies
Your collection isn't cheap lol but keep it small and specialize. What type work you do? Every factory in our area paying quite well now.
I’m working at amazon air , I would like pieds and clowns mostly with a handful of different things like mystic potion and BELS
I also think with everything it's a little slow right now but it'll pick back up. If you're diligent with pairing and don't just make snakes for the fact of making them you'll be OK. I'm not pairing my cinnamon pied girl at all bc IDK the babies will sell right now
I also work in Aviation. What do you do for Amazon Air? There are other corporate/business jet jobs that pay quite a bit more.
I just am just an employee at Amazon on the ramp, driving tugs ., loading and unloading freight into the plane. I never was into Aviation but after being here it is amazing . I would love to work on the plane but a huge responsibly
Since you have experience driving a tug, there's always line service at the corporate/business FBO's. They pay well also. Just a thought.
Your all in kid look into indigos /Cribos and local boas
Indigos are awesome seems difficult on finding them
I think that’s a problem a lot of people go into when thinking about breeding. Why quit your day job? Find the balance of work to hobby that is good for you. Your day job generally has benefits that you will have to pay for once you are a sole proprietor. Also quitting your day job will half your income. Use both revenue streams to invest more into the business, perhaps expand into real estate and get another revenue stream. You are already doing the hard work, why cut yourself off at the knees and cut off money you are already making.
Very few people can quit their day job. I think I saw a lot of males. I know people pairing 4 or 5 males to a collection of 120 females. The problem right now is single recessive snakes aren't moving too much. You will need to make some double hets with those nice codoms you have and price them properly. You will move those quick. Only way people are getting traction with single recessive is with "newer" codoms that kinova pushes like lace or stranger. Also, I hate to tell you to spend more money, but join a patron group. Bob Vu and Josh Jacki have a patron that whatever you pay into it becomes credit for you and you get access to a bunch of people who will help you out or buy snakes you produce before it even goes on the market.
Just watched you video and you mentioned Billy. I get what your saying and how Billy says you need to invest 90k on 3-4 animals and work a project or 2 or 3. But he also says to enjoy what you make whether it’s a hobby or a business. Don’t let it stress you out or worry about the money because then maybe your in too deep. You mentioned you have 40 animals, now add up the money you spent just buying those animals and divide that by 4 or 5. You could have spent the same money and had 4-5 multi codom animals and your food bill would be 1/8 what it is now. For your example of buying 3 snakes for 90k and breeding them for 100k and only being up 10k in your invest it’s wrong because you still have your 90k worth of animals so your up 100k, don’t forget that. Let everyone sell there collections off because we want to be the only ones left standing after they are gone. It sounds like to me that your doubting your choice in animals and maybe that is the first step to making a change to where you feel more comfortable. If you think you need to chase the hets then put a couple female multi codom pieds or whatever to the side and breed it to your visual codom clown. Just don’t chase to crowd and stay focused The first step tho is to admit you think your going the wrong way and make the change. Just enjoy the journey, trust me I’m looking at my collection too as I am new into this as well and need to trim some of the fat! But I still love it. Chin up your doing a good job.
You are correct , Buying 2-4 high dollar snakes instead of 40 would be a great move, less space, less food and prob a better risk for reward. I love seeing the snakes i have each time i open a tub but really think I would get burned out or not as happy getting 1-3 codoms and hets - breeding , missing, not being able too move them and having more racks, more money etc. It's a tough call and a tough choice on how this goes for being so new. it's just strange I am seeing everyone on my socials getting into hets and not buying visual recessives , maybe its the money or the long game they are trying. but even normal het pied x with a pastel pied just isn't for me on the years trying too hit . Thank you for feedback and the honesty
@@Ben_CincySnakes I agree man. Breed what you love and would be happy keeping and breeding if it doesn’t sell. Cheers
if you going to do this then you should start to breed your own rats and shop around and buy adult snakes and if I could make a suggestion and buy this book from Kevin McCurley called the ultimate Ball python a comprehensive Guide to care breeding and Genetic Mutations it help me a lot Good luck and hopes this help
As if now I have no place for breeding a good amount of normal rats in fear they will get out and they stink up a house fast , i have 4 asf colonies but not rats . I’ll check it out that book
I would say work and grow your snakes you own right now. Don't buy anymore. Breed the snakes that are going to breed. And then start the journey of eggs to selling hatchlings keep what your are going to grow out and sell pretty much all hatchlings to get some return on your investment. As of hets I would not go into it with your collection as you have many visuals. Plus the hets would be another expense and more work.
I appreciate the information and the feedback, i think I’ll see how year 1-2 goes and work from there . If nothing else I’ll enjoy the snakes as pets solely. I only really need 1 more for the enchi clown pied
I totally agree.
to the point where everyone has single recessive gene stuff so everyone is making double or triple recessive so thats why double triple hets are the "thing" now
Expensive snakes are great but not everyone can afford them so it’s not a bad thing. Yes there’s way more less expensive snakes you’re competing with, but there’s also a much larger part of the market that can only afford that level of snake.
That’s not true that the snake is going to depreciate either, a ready to breed snake will always be worth far more than a baby so that’s certainly not depreciation at least with females.
Stay away from spider morphs. Ummm always do brumation for great breeding results and also saves money on food
Yeah no spiders for me , I’m not dealing with the drama on that lol. ball pythons don’t burmate they can breed at regular temps. The rat bill isn’t the best so maybe breeding in the future will help
@@Ben_CincySnakes but brumation saves on money cause there sleeping for the 6 months
No.. they don't burmate at all. You are starving them
@@Ben_CincySnakes lots of ppl cool down snakes into brumation all reptiles go through it
Ball pythons, boas, retics, burms, anacondas, DO NOT BURMATE . please do more research, you are wrong
its better to have the visual than a het. hets are just a cheaper way to get a chance to make the visual and unless its a good bigger breeder i wouldnt take someones word that its a het. and most ppl want to breed a few snakes and be the next NERD or BHB or Kinova and you cant do that those guys have been in the game for YEARS so alot of people drop out
Great video and animals. I understand your concern, however I think you should definitely stop buying animals and breed what you have. Near the end you pulled out the spotnose vanilla clown (amazing animal) but I thought to myself why did you buy that when you have so many other amazing clowns to breed and make killer combos with. Pump the breaks on buying and breed. Amazing collection! You got this 💪🏼
What’s wrong with the spotnose vanilla clown ? I have a few females with leopard and easy way on making batman + other genes. Spotnose is a beautiful pattern added into anything. Vanilla just helps keep the colors bright which is alway a plus.
Nothing is wrong at all, it’s a great fit for your collection. My only concern is you are worried about making enough money to stay afloat and you should slow down your purchases and just hold back hatching a as needed. You have an amazing collection.
Yeah I should be done buying snakes .. I have a lot and gotta work with the combos I have and see how things work out. Could go bother ways - good or bad- . I appreciate the feedback ! Hopefully I can make a few batmans
I’d say you have the right approach in terms of the kind of snakes you purchased but the method you used is definitely risky. I really hope it works out for you. You did move up your timetable with the loans though. For the people who do not want to risk their house on this, you just move slow. Do not buy 100-500 dollar snakes, save and buy the right snakes. Of course your progress will be slower but you don’t have to worry about potential foreclosure. Remember people this is a marathon not a sprint.
So......wow......going into debt , major debt it sounds like into a business you don't understand. I don't mean that harshly, but you said it multiple times. There is always multiple ways to do something. But as I've grown and watched people succeed and fail in this business. I've noticed 2 successful paths. 1 drop a ton of money in and jump into the deep end, learn to swim or die. Or put the time in , learn and grow organically. Build the collection instead of buying the collection. The first plan has many failures and a few successes. So does the second plan. Thing is with the second plan you figure out you can't swim in the shallow end.
I subscribed, I'd like to see how you do.
I think both sides can be dangerous. Be stuck with debt and expense snakes and hope for the best . But less expensive, learn , less risk but still in a pool of everyone else . I appreciate the input and insight on this . I’ll either fail or learn a lot .
You will learn a lot either way. I hope you do well.
Is this a hobby or something you want for a professon. If its a hobby, stop reading now and go enjoy your collection. If professon, continue.
Find a project you're passionate about. Ex I want pied clowns, anaxanthics etc whatever. Breed those, make the cleanest pied clowns in the game, nicest axanthics etc. Jack of all trades or master of a few? Narrow the focus so you can put all the time, money into the perfection of the genes you like. I have buddies that keep only chain kingsnakes. He has the cleanest, most vibrant chain kings out there. He gets top dollar and years long waiting list because he narrowed his collection to focus only on a select few species. In your case, genes.
My advice, sell the boas, sell the burm keep 1.1 anacondas.
Pick a few bp genes you want to master. Sell everything else, focus on that.
If you want say pied clowns buy pied clowns, selectively breed those until Ben Cincysnakes is who you think of first when you think pied clowns.
If you want to just make money in snakes. Drop $10k on a pair of sanzinia. Or $20k on Bolens pythons. The babies will sell for $3000-$5000ea. You wont be able to keep up with demand.
I breed dumerils, Russian rats and chain kings. In a few more years when you think of those species my name will be in the mix.
Great points and advice , the burm may go shortly and that will add more room for baby racks and holdbacks , I really think I’ll stick with od,yb,fire pieds and clowns . Thanks for the feedback and hopefully this helps others as well
@Ben CincySnakes yes sir! God bless
No need for you to buy double hets when you can already make them. Breed some of your clowns with your pieds, keep all your females and over the next year of raising your females save some of your sales to invest in a double visual male clown/pied. In the next 3 years you will be hitting double recessives. Keep up the hard work.
Your approach is original and nobody needs or wants too listen too boring scripted content! You have a sweet congergation of snakes as well as equipment in my opinion! I'd just be content with what you have for now and and sell whatever you may not want and re-invest into the things you really need at the moment! Do your own thing and be different and unique then other breeders and or keepers! Build and construct and or buy yourself a rodent rack and get 2 male mice, 4 female mice, 2 male rats, 4 female rats and or ASF, Gerbil's, and or Hamster's whatever you prefer! I personally recommend mice and or rats for most people breeding them! ASF are overrated AF and BALL pythons don't eat them as much as some people think they do in the wild either! Don't believe that BS! Also ASF have small litters and they a NASTY DISPOSITION as well in most cases! Experienced mother Mice, Rats, Hamsters, have the largest litters typically! Gerbils and ASF have smaller litter's as well! With that being said I don't personally recommend most people breeding hamsters for food as they are highly nocturnal and prefer being alone! ASF and Gerbils can live together as long as they grew up together but if they didn't expect them too brutally kill the MISFIT outsiders! Adult Siberian Hamsters will fight too the BLOODY as death well! Regular Mice and Rats are the easiest way to go! Just take care of your primary breeders and SPOIL them and alternate the mother's occasionally so they get a break from breeding and feed them a high quality feed! Rodents eat anything but do your due research! I personally recommend a Freedom Breeder rodent rack but any brand will work! You can get a nice small FB rack one that will last forever or just build your own if want too as well and save more money!!!
The bp market is over saturated. Morphmarket alone is just shy of 50k bp for sale. I believe in late 2020, maybe early 21. Morph marker had nearly 70k bp listed. Then the worst part is people are just throwing genes together. Just in an attempt to be a world's first. Two things are easily going on there. Inbreeding and rushing the animal to breed early (power feeding). No one attempts to breed for quality either in the bp market. They're also renaming genes that are the same, but they "founded a new gene."
No offense to anyone who likes bp. But it's a garbage ass market if you're trying to be a breeder. Also a large majority of the community of bp hobbyists are the most toxic, ignorant people I've met.
if you think it's oversaturated now wait till all these people thinking triple and quad hets are the future . thousands of missed morphs will be up for sale. People don't understand how much it takes on making triples and quad visuals. I agree there are thousands over basic morphs since people think breeding a banana x yellowbelly will get them rich.
@Ben CincySnakes I use to breed bp back in 2010. I sold everything in 2014 and went back to breeding boas. Was half the morphs and people didn't bother going for quad het projects. They assume they can id them properly but given they're rushing projects. It's just all guesses at this point. I'll stick to producing quality high end boas over the bp marker any day.
The snakes you have are killers. You need to slow down. I would cross your clowns with some of your pied stuff. Now you have you double het game going. You need to educate yourself on how this game works or you will be selling your snakes. If you write out your questions and then find the answers you will take some of this stress out of the game. You don’t even understand what you have right there in front of you. You could make good money with what you have trust me. You need a mentor you trust and fast my friend. Someone who knows how to take the animals you have and do something with them. From what I saw come out of your rack I would think you could do very well… but you need to slow down and educate your self and find someone willing to be a mentor. Just my thoughts.