Breeding

[Burgo89]

Would like to get people's opinions and experiences with breeding? With all the breeding and clutch posts that are coming through at the moment has me keen to experience it for myself.

I have a pair of stimmies that I would like to breed next season. Don't wanna do it to for the money, purely for the experience and pleasure of the whole process. In saying that I don't want to raise a clutch and not be able to find good homes for them and be left with a dozen extra mouths to feed for the next 15-20yrs.

like I said experiences, opinions any advice would be great.

cheers

 

[Smurf]

G'day Burgo89. I'm just starting to get into breeding this season as my pythons get to age, so I don't have a lot of feedback in the way of experience as yet.
But, the reason I want to breed, its the challenge of having those individuals happy enough in the environment I'm providing, ie, temperature, humidity, enrichment, lighting. My partner and I have got an array of species now each with its own requirements for us to try meet. It pushes me to learn everything I can about the animals in my care and try give them the best possible life I can. When I get a hobby I don't do it in halves, it's a curse and blessing of being a woman with autism, cling to something, and learn the **** out of it. Just happened to be reptiles for me.
Having had my first clutch laid just a couple days ago, the excitement was beyond belief.

 

[ronhalling]

[MENTION=40472]Burgo89[/MENTION], Personally i have never been bitten by the bug to breed my Reptiles, but from reading all the experiences seen within the tombs of this great forum it seems to be an exhilarating experience for the owners, the only problem i have with newbie breeders is their reasons for doing so, and IMO just because i can or just because i want to just does not cut it, most first time breeders do not take into consideration the costs involved in a clutch of 5-20 eggs, unless you are going to let the female incubate the eggs herself you are going to need an incubator which can run as cheap as $50 for a foam box incubator or up to $500 for a good quality store bought 1, then after they hatch you will be looking at up to 20 plastic boxes about 4-5lts each and a heated thermostatically controlled rack to keep them in (or a bunch of heat mats and thermostats) then up to 20 water bowls and hides (granted dunny roll tubes are fine for hides) once you have that set up the fun part (i say that tongue in cheek) starts....you have to try and get them to eat and many people will tell you all the Antaresia sp are hard to get eating, if you are lucky and get them all to eat you are going to need a constant supply of pinky mice... the amount will vary but 1 friend of mine who breeds spotties reckons that can be up to 20 every 3-7 days (if the clutch is up to 20) so unless you are breeding the mice yourself or buying them in bulk from someone like [MENTION=41835]Wokka[/MENTION] then it will cost you an arm and a leg, and will continue to do so for the next 1-6 months depending on how long it takes to get rid of them, getting rid of them in today's Antaresia market is going to be hard unless they are something special or you just give them away or just charge a pittance.

Do not get me wrong, i am not trying to change your mind about breeding your Stimmies just pointing out the snakes and ladders as i see them, If you really want to have a go at breeding some reptiles why don't you try Gecko's... there are plenty of people here who keep and breed Gecko's and they only lay about 2 eggs at a time and from what i have read the costs are nowhere near what it is going to be for your Stimmies.

The above was just my 75 cents worth, but in the end it is up to you. .....................Ron