Pro/Con Carpet vs GTP

Madness420 · 08-18-14, 05:49 PM

looking for input on carpets and green tree pythons. how do they compare on levels such as, cost, upkeep difficulty, temperment, feeding difficulty, breeding difficulty, market demand, and morph options.

Mikoh4792 · 08-18-14, 06:01 PM

Your average green tree will cost more than your average carpet python.

Lowest I've seen carpets go for(at retail stores with no lineage information) was about $75.
Lowest I've seen gtp babies go for was about $165(farm imports). Usually the cbb ones go for a few hundred.

Green trees should not be handled for their first year and after that are still not a snake you want to handle often. They like to be left alone on their perch. Watch out at night, they become heat seeking missiles. Temperament varies by the individual(both gtps and carpets). Most cbb animals should be fine to work with and not overly defensive.

There are more morphs for carpet pythons than there are for gtp's. With carpets you have zebras, caramels, axanthic, albino, granite...etc.

Could I just ask why you are interested in market demand?

Madness420 · 08-18-14, 06:04 PM

i am trying to get into breeding. ball pythons first, but once i get the hang of it i want to branch out to things that there are not already millions of.

Madness420 · 08-18-14, 06:10 PM

btw i am not branching out any time soon. my plan is to get 2 female ball pythons in november at a show, a mojave and a pastel, to breed my pinstripe male to. if that goes well i would like to get a couple more females and another male for year 2. if things continue to go well by year 3 or 4 i may consider breeding something like the carpets or the gtp's. i have also thought about the possibility of brazilian rainbows. i love the animals and i veiw them as pets but from a business standpoint i want the pets i keep to benefit my desire to be a sucessful breeder.

Mikoh4792 · 08-18-14, 06:11 PM

Well I can recommend two books. The Complete Carpet Python by Nick Mutton and Justin Julander, and The More Complete Chondro by Greg Maxwell. And if you have facebook you can join carpet python and green tree python groups and kind of see where the hobby is at for those particular groups of snakes.

Madness420 · 08-18-14, 06:20 PM

thanks for the advice. i will check out the facebook groups. chances are i will one day own and breed both, its just a matter of when and which comes first. i think i may have to give the carpets a slight advantage just becsuse i am a very hands on snake guy. i like to interact with them a lot. i purposely feed the 4 i have now on different days so i allways have at least 2 i can hold.

shaunyboy · 08-19-14, 04:33 PM

carpet pythons are a much hardier species than GTP's mate

cheers shaun

Madness420 · 08-19-14, 06:12 PM

yea i am really leaning that way. i think gtps will be a good addition when i start to reach expert with lots of snakes status. cuz then i will be better at it, and also wont be as eager to hold ALL of my snakes every day. eager is a bad choice of words. i'll allways be eagery to interact with my babies, but if all goes well, one day i wont be physically capable of spending 10min with every snake every day. at that point a snake that needs to be left alone would be perfect.

David VB · 08-20-14, 05:28 AM

They're both awesome animals that do good if you know your stuff. As for breeding, i have no personal experience but i think gyp's are more difficult, especially getting the babies to eat. On the other hand, less are offered for sale so might be better if you do it for earning money. My final solution : get both

MDT · 08-20-14, 06:03 AM

Mad....just curious....are you wanting to breed the balls because you would like to gain the husbandry experience, or, because you see somewhat of an entrepreneurial possibility there? I ask because if you check out Kingsnake, there are over 20 pages of balls for sale and Fauna looks to be very similar. Go to any herp show, and table after table of balls seems to be the norm. You gotta admit, there is a glut of ball pythons out there, and without a "compelling product", it may be tough to sell your offspring. If it's for the latter reason, you've got a ton of competition. If it's the former reason, then consider breeding a different, maybe a little more obscure species. Maybe just gradually get a trio of desirable carpet morphs and begin your husbandry trials there? Just consider how you will ultimately "move" your product (baby snakes), your overall investment and return, and if you can't sell them, what are you willing (able) to do to house/care for them for (potentially) a very long time.

Not trying to bust your chops, just stuff to think about.....

Mikoh4792 · 08-20-14, 09:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDT

Mad....just curious....are you wanting to breed the balls because you would like to gain the husbandry experience, or, because you see somewhat of an entrepreneurial possibility there? I ask because if you check out Kingsnake, there are over 20 pages of balls for sale and Fauna looks to be very similar. Go to any herp show, and table after table of balls seems to be the norm. You gotta admit, there is a glut of ball pythons out there, and without a "compelling product", it may be tough to sell your offspring. If it's for the latter reason, you've got a ton of competition. If it's the former reason, then consider breeding a different, maybe a little more obscure species. Maybe just gradually get a trio of desirable carpet morphs and begin your husbandry trials there? Just consider how you will ultimately "move" your product (baby snakes), your overall investment and return, and if you can't sell them, what are you willing (able) to do to house/care for them for (potentially) a very long time.

Not trying to bust your chops, just stuff to think about.....

I agree with MDT's advice, however I will note though not as competitive as ball pythons(because of the sheer number of babies being produced) carpets can also be tough to sell if they aren't as refined as the rest. I think most of the people who buy carpets are looking for animals from bright, clean, and refined blood lines(since naturally, some of them can be muddy or not bright) so you also need to be a bit picky about what to breed with them. I've seen some of the more well known breeders not be able to sell an entire clutch for a year or more(for a number of reasons).

In the end, I think it should come down to breeding an animal that you have a passion for and are willing to work with when the going gets tough, instead of just looking at it from a "I just want to breed snakes" standpoint.

Sublimeballs · 08-20-14, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MDT

Mad....just curious....are you wanting to breed the balls because you would like to gain the husbandry experience, or, because you see somewhat of an entrepreneurial possibility there? I ask because if you check out Kingsnake, there are over 20 pages of balls for sale and Fauna looks to be very similar. Go to any herp show, and table after table of balls seems to be the norm. You gotta admit, there is a glut of ball pythons out there, and without a "compelling product", it may be tough to sell your offspring. If it's for the latter reason, you've got a ton of competition. If it's the former reason, then consider breeding a different, maybe a little more obscure species. Maybe just gradually get a trio of desirable carpet morphs and begin your husbandry trials there? Just consider how you will ultimately "move" your product (baby snakes), your overall investment and return, and if you can't sell them, what are you willing (able) to do to house/care for them for (potentially) a very long time.

Not trying to bust your chops, just stuff to think about.....

This^^^.

Ive got some balls i breed for fun. I don't expect to make any actual money, and the harsh truth is you will not either. Over just the last year everything's prices(balls) have dropped by half or more; with a few exceptions. I fully expect for them to keep dropping while the number produced continuing to increase. Any money made is spent on supplies/feeders/cages or I trade babies for supplies/feeders/cages/other animals. And I by no means break even, I spend money to breed balls.

Now...if you just wanna give balls a go just for fun/enjoyment of the animal I say go for it. You will not be disappointed getting into them without expectations of fast cash, but a love for the animals.

I'd go with a carpet project right off the bat.

Madness420 · 08-20-14, 08:41 PM

i love ball pythons. allways have. i do have the corn snakes too but that'll be a 2017 project. i understand ball pythons are not going to become a full time bread winner, thats why i asked about these 2 other species. i understand from a business standpoint i need a "product" that is high in demand and low in supply. but corns and balls are a good way for me to learn the ins and outs of care, handling, and breeding. i have a job with my family's sewing company making $10/hr. i am not passionate about it, and i dont enjoy going to work. i want to eventually work my way up to the point where i do profit from snake breeding, enough at least to support a simple life, work from home, snd enjoy every second. if i could make $20,000-$30,000 a year one day only breeding snakes i would be stupid happy with that. i understand i need to get to where i am selling snakes worth over $1,000 each, weather its ball pythons or something else. and hey worst case scenario i become a shareholder in the family business and breed snakes on the side. thats not bad but i am willing to work my *** off with the snakes to get out of the sewing business.

Mikoh4792 · 08-20-14, 09:03 PM

If you want to make a living breeding snakes maybe you should look into more than one type, or atleast more than one species of snake. There's all different types of boas(not just boa constrictors) and pythons(anteresia, morelia..etc). You can do asian ratsnakes, locale kingsnakes...etc.

MDT · 08-20-14, 09:05 PM

You need to buy into desirable lineage for that kind of $$. Gamma line jags, pure diamonds, very high end balls, etc. Best of luck to you.

Buy into the family business and hire someone to work it. The really smart guys are the ones that make money when they're sleeping.....I haven't figured that one out yet.
I swear, I think I became a physician to support my snake hobby.