I am a beginner in terms of breeding but have kept various BPs for many years. Ive never bred them but am really passionate about doing so. I adore BPs, their temperament, visual appearance and overall personality.
I have a beautiful female who’s subadult so not ready to go yet but she is smashing food and poops and sheds healthily. Shes gaining weight steadily and needs another 8-12 months possibly to reach appropriate breeding weight.
I’d like some advice on what pairing I’d do best with with her in terms of genetics. She is a Super enchi leopard poss orange dream 50% dhet axanthic desert ghost.
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I’m going to give you the same answer I give every single person who asks about ball python breeding. Some questions to consider before you ever even think about breeding:
How old is your female? How big is she? Do you know what a breeding-safe age, weight, and body condition look like? What morph is she? What morph is your male, and how big is he? What genetic combinations could they create? Are their genetics incompatible in any way? Are they good quality examples of their genes? Are their genes incomplete dominant or recessive? Are you prepared to seek vet care for the female if she becomes egg bound, which could be hundreds of dollars? Are you prepared to seek vet care for the male if he gets a hemipene injury, prolapse, or stops eating due to breeding and goes quickly downhill? In that same vein, are you prepared to potentially lose mom or dad? Do you have an incubator or know how to build one? Are you prepared to potentially lose babies if they have deformities or don’t thrive? Are you prepared to house every baby you hatch separately in an appropriately-sized enclosure and with proper lighting, heating, and humidity? Are you prepared to have to feed live mice or rats to babies just starting off, as they often don’t start well on frozen thawed? Do you have access to the correct size rodents for babies? Do you know how you’re going to try and sell them, on what platforms, and what information people will want about them? Are you knowledgeable enough on husbandry and care that you can correctly answer any questions a potential customer might have about how to care for one? Will you be able to properly identify babies genetics on your own? Are you prepared to keep babies for potentially a year plus, in appropriate housing, when they don’t sell quickly? Do you understand that it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll make any kind of profit and that most likely you’ll lose money in this endeavor? Why should someone buy your babies instead of babies from the thousands of other breeders out there?
If the answer to any of the above questions involves “no” or any hesitation, I would seriously reconsider breeding. Consider volunteering with a rescue instead, finding a local breeder to apprentice with and see what the market is like, or just enjoy your snakes as pets.
Breeding is not something that should be taken on lightly. It is doable, but too many people start breeding with no clue about what it really entails or what they’re doing genetics-wise, health wise, etc. and as many other people will say, the ball python “market” is incredibly saturated.
As for genetics - if you DO decide to breed, the best possible thing you can do choosing genetics is choose something that you like. Everyone has a different opinion, so asking others what the “best” pairing might be will give you a ton of mixed results. Look into ball python genetics, learn what YOU like, and choose a genetic project you are passionate about.
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Agree with everything mentioned above. Do consider it all. We want people to succeed, but it is much more than just hoping to put two together. Accidents can happen with healthy animals as well.
To save yourself the headache as well…
Have your female shed tested for axanthic and desert ghost.
If you don’t know what line of axanthic she is, that is very important to know. There are a few different lines and there are a couple that are not compatible. If they are indeed het then that would be a gene to make sure your male has.
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Thank you for your reply. I will consider the points you made. I certainly DO NOT want her to have any health implications or suffer needlessly she is like a dog is to a dog person to me. 
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Thank you for your reply. Am reconsidering now lol. I love her as a pet shes so docile and helps me with my anxiety. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to her. 
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I get it. I do still breed, but I lost one of my favorite boys almost 2 years ago now. I have a couple of his offspring still. I still don’t know what caused it, but he had an infection that could have become more of an issue because of breeding stress.
A few of the other members here have seen egg binding in their females. So it’s definitely something we try to keep people aware of.
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Im so sorry for your loss. Yes I will consider this over time. I was gifted a brand new incubator a few years back and have never used it. But I defo don’t want poppy (my girl) to suffer.
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