Question regarding Queen Bee Pythons

Discussion in 'Ball Pythons' started by BPelizabeth, Sep 12, 2009.

  1. BPelizabeth

    BPelizabeth Embryo

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    Ok in looking at this site, which I am now clearly addicted to, I noticed the Queen Bee Pythons. OMG.....they are so beautiful!!!! I am thinking maybe Elizabeth needs a friend....(maybe a boyfriend later).

    Do they have the same tempermant?
    How much are they?

    I tried to research on the internet and have had no luck. We have a reptile convention coming next weekend in AZ and I am just thinking about it. Not even sure if they will have any, and I know that i have to keep them seperated for a few weeks just in case the new one has issues.
     
  2. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  3. ssscales

    ssscales Member

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    QueenBees are one of my favorites and I hope to produce 1-2 in 1-2yrs! I love almost anything Bee...LOL

    As for temperament, all Ball pythons are the same, all the colors and pattern is to the snake regardless of Ball pythons, or Boas or Cornsnakes, regardless of Albino, Pied, QueenBee, Glow in the dark, Purple, Black, is a different paint job. It's like if you bought a 2009 Honda Accord in Blue, Red, Silver and/or White, they are all still 2009 Honda Accords and drive the same. Temperament is rarely effected by the morph and is an individual thing, some snakes take to human interactions better than others, most snakes can become accustom to handling with regular interaction.

    I'm not 100% up on QueenBee price tags, but I believe they range between $1500-$2000, maybe $2500.
     
  4. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  5. bruno

    bruno Moderator

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    Hi,
    Apart from the price tag and ssscales description of temperment there are many other things to consider.
    The female needs to be a good size and age before attempting to breed. Personally I have never bred any female under the age of 3 yrs, this gives them time to mature and develop the body weight to cope with egg laying.
    Reptiles are solitary creatures and only get together for breeding so a "friend" in strictly not needed, they are happy on their own. Breeders only put them together for mating.
    If you do decide to breed, are you prepared to setup incubators etc and all the associated work involved. You also really need an outlet available for the offspring as there are so many people breeding BP's, otherwise you are stuck with them till sold and have to feed them etc.
    Not trying to put you off, just making you aware of what it involves.
     
  6. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  7. ssscales

    ssscales Member

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    I didn't even notice that, good catch, of course you should ALWAYS keep snakes seperate unless they are going to breed and as Bruno stated you want to be 100% sure they are old/large enough to breed and you are prepared to the afterward, eggs, babies, etc, etc.
     
  8. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  9. BPelizabeth

    BPelizabeth Embryo

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    I knew that you had to wait until at least 3 to breed but what I did not know is that they are happy alone! Thank you for telling me that. I just thought perhaps she was lonely in that big cage all alone.

    As far as the Bee....egads...I had no idea they were so expensive. But one never knows....maybe eventually I can talk my husband into it. They are so beautiful!!!
     
  10. JEFFREH

    JEFFREH Administrator

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  11. ssscales

    ssscales Member

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    Snakes prefer to be alone and should never be housed with any other snake, each snake should have it's own enclosure appropriate to it's size. Not too large and not too small, too large is just as bad as too small of an enclosure, especially with Ball pythons.

    As far as prices, yup, QueenBees are still upward of $1500+, Bees are in the $500-$800 range, Spiders in the $200-$250 range. You can always make your own QueenBee, just buy the ingredients you need which is a Spider and Pastel, or Bee, and Lesser, but it takes more time, plus they have to breed and produce.
     
  12. Gloryhound

    Gloryhound Embryo

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    Queen bees are pretty cool animals and if our Female Lemon Bee makes weight this year are actually hoping to breed her with our lesser. This will give us a chance at the Queen bee, but the odds will be stacked against us with that pairing. Hopefully we get a lesser pastel or something along that line to breed to her later and increase our chances.

    Breeding ball pythons can really take the energy out of a person. Generally it isn't a bad idea to breed a male Co-dom morph to a normal female your first season just to get a little taste for what all is involved and make sure you have everything set up. It would really suck to loose a really high end clutch because your incubating medium is too dry or too wet (not that it wouldn't suck to loose any clutch that way, but it doesn't devistate if it is a Pastel to Normal clutch). Ball pythons and anthill pythons lay probably the smallest clutches of all the pythons with a 3 to 8 egg average. Even Childrens pythons generally lay 10 to 15 eggs in a clutch. Yes you will have to consider room for an incubator and everything else. Ball python morphs are addictive though. You may think you only want 3 or 4 to breed and the next thing that happens is you have 20 or more. We haven't had any issues selling our babies, but you have to be realistic when pricing. We had 5 clutches this year and next year we are looking at doubling that and adding 1 blood python clutch, 1 childrens python clutch, and a litter of Kenyan sand boas. With all that said though we will be lucky if the hobby pays for itself next year. Housing and feeding 70 snakes or so gets expensive even if you are breeding your own rodents like we do. Also I work a regular job anywhere from 8 to 10 hours a day then go home and spend another 3 or 4 taking care of snakes and rodents. My wife even spends more time taking care of them.

    Granted of course some of this was brought on by branching out into all the different snakes we keep, but working in the snake room is therapy for me!
     
  13. ssscales

    ssscales Member

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    Some people like fishing, some like golf, guys like us like cleaning snake poop.... :(
    Good luck with those pojects!
     
  14. BPelizabeth

    BPelizabeth Embryo

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    The selling and making money is not really the reason for me. Although I am sure the set up will be fairly extensive. I just have fallen in love with these snakes. The have such a great temperment and they truly are fun to take care of. I think having the experience even if it is one time would be so interesting and fun. In fact my son recently told me it would be really mean if I sold her "children". LOL!!
    I can certainly attest to the addiction.....we are looking up all sorts of morphs lately!! My husband keeps reminding me that we are new to this and I should get use to taking care of this one first before I start getting more. I also think he mentioned something along the lines of "get off the crack pipe" when I told him how much the Queen Bee's were.
     

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