Pair or Trio?

[hhw]

For a casual herper new at breeding, would a 1.1 pair or a 1.2 trio be better for breeding stock?

On the one hand, an extra female would mean an increase in chances for success, and for 50% increase in stock you get 100% more offspring, which seems like a pretty good yield.

On the other hand, you'd have twice as many babies to deal with: to house, feed, and sell. This results in more time and resources for the babies itself, and also just in raising the extra female, which may increase the difficult of the project.

So, what would everyone suggest for a first breeding attempt: a pair or a trio?

[Jeff_Favelle]

2.1 would be ideal. I've had some males do nothing for 2 years, but after combat, they turned out to be my best breeders. Australian pythons may require male combat much like South American boas. I've noticed it helps IMMENSLEY.

[smeagel]

if you have 2.1 ball pythons should the males be the same size? I have a male that is about 600 grams bigger than the other male. Would the smaller one get hurt during combat?

[crocdoc]

I presume you are talking about breeding snakes, hhw, for you hadn't mentioned what you intended to breed in your post. Some snakes have male combat (in which case having an extra male helps, as Jeff pointed out), others don't (in which case having two females and one male may increase the number of eggs you get). With lizards, some species do well with trios, others don't.

[hhw]

Sorry, I probably should've made myself a bit more clear... the reason I was vague on what to breed because I was looking more for answers about the logistics rather than species specific information.

Basically, am I putting too much on my plate by trying to produce multiple clutches my first time breeding something? i.e. the time it will take to care for the babies, sell them etc...

Meanwhile, balance that against being able to produce any eggs at all... since there's the risk that a given pair would be incompatible so having an extra breeder in the equation would help the odds of success.

Basically, which of those two problems would you be more concerned with? I guess the latter would be affected by the species after all...

I am currently looking at two potential breeding projects... I would like to work with house snakes, but I'm having difficulty finding a mate of the right morph for the female I have, so I may postpone this for now. I was also considering acquiring either a pair or trio of JCP's, since someone is selling them for a good price right now (I'll wait until I confirm my order to tell who it is, so nobody buys the ones I want, LOL).

Now, until this summer, I hadn't kept any herps for about 10 years, and I was pretty young at the time (though I did have quite a collection). However, I learn quickly and I am good at making the most of the information available on the web, so I have confidence that I am pretty well informed. Of course, it doesn't prepare me for the many potential nuances that only practical experience can overcome and for this reason I also have my concerns.

[crocdoc]

Sounds like you are thinking about step 8 while standing on step 2.

Start with a pair of a species you really like. There's no sense breeding things you aren't interested in, for then your hobby will seem more like work. If you succeed in breeding your pair, then start considering adding an extra female for more eggs. If they don't breed and are a species in which male combat may improve your success, then get another male.

[hhw]

Well, I am interested in both those species and many others as well, but you're right... it does sound like I might be trying to bite off more than I can chew. I think I'll just pick up the pair of JCP's for now, and take things a step at a time from there. Thanks for the reality check!

[VooDooMafia]

I would like to add if its teh African House snake you are thinking of breeding then just a pair will be fine.

I know when I had mine teh females would lay eggs about 4 times per year and after only one breeding. Some snakes (like the house snake) will store sperm.

IMO teh house snake is the pictus of snakes but they are great and will eat anything and everything you toss in the cage so you never have to worry what you will do with that mouse/rat you just warmed up and the other snakes wont eat.

Also if they are animals you are interested in anyway then 2.1, 1.1, 1.2 it all doesn't matter cause you can always (and prolly will) get more :)

[CHRISANDBOIDS14]

Just on the topic:

If you need an extra male for combat, and having an extra male would improve chances of sucessful fertilization instead of just sitting around not mating, and an extra female for a possibility of upping your group by 50% while upping the offspring by 100%, wouldn't it be logical to get a 2.2 group?

I must agree with all the ^above^ posts.

Cheers!

C.