Awesome video! In our experience, we sell almost all of our BELs/Mystic potions as soon as we post a picture of them hatching on IG or do a YT video on the clutch. At local shows, if we have one or two left, it is usually sold during the first day. I agree on not trying to flood the market with them, but I don’t think someone breeding five clutches of BELs/season is gonna do much to flood the market especially if someone has proven to themselves that they can reliably sell them. Personally, we have 4 clutches of BEL stuff every year to serve the pet market with no intention of holding back any of the babies and it has done really well for us so far, but that is super anecdotal and doesn’t mean everyone has the same experience.
In your experience do the Mystic Potions gather the same attention as the traditional all white BELs? My thoughts on someone making 4 or 5 clutches of them flooding the market was with the thought process of it being something that a majority of breeders doing at the same time could do to a local market not nessisatally the market as a whole.
@@straightblastpythonsthat makes total sense and I agree with that! In our experience mystic potions are even more popular than traditional BELs which is why all our BELs clutches use Mystic or Super Mystic females
I have 2 male and female BELs … I own 15 BP morphs on total and I have raised most all since their 2 feedings… and IDK if it’s just my personal experience, but I do believe they are more intellectual than other morphs. I’ve seen mine, be playful and diving water and do little twirls, and tricks in their water bowls and they always know how to get my attention.
Thanks for the feedback on the audio. BELs were one of the things that made me want to get into breeding as well and we hit three on our first clutch ever. They will always hold a special spot with me because of that.
BEL is the reason I started my ball python keeping hobby. Cant stop staring at her. Pure white snakes are purely majestic and gorgeous! Not to mention, they are gene bombs. Got mine with possible 5-7 genes 😊
Agreed, not many other combos can match the timeless look of a BEL and the fact that they are potentially carrying all those other genes makes them a fun gamble for those of us who like the surprise of the unknown.
This season I'll have one Bel clutch from a pair of super Mojave Lessers. I believe this combo produces the whitest snake in the industry. Another good thing about this combo is that it does not produce babies with deformities such as bulging eyes or no eyes at all. Great video!
Great video to start a discussion. Sound is good. My son and I decided to try breeding as a hobby/side in 2022 and have purchased animals that have potential to produce the combos we would personally like. Every animal we have is a pet first and “project” second. I agree with a lot of your points. I think the “mass exodus” happening is because a lot of people who got in on a whim thinking they’d make quick money and realize the work/time to go in. Or, there are other, personal reasons. People coming in and out of the “industry” is not really a bad thing, in my opinion. The good ones will stick and the “quick buck” people won’t when they realize the work and passion that needs to go into starting up. Maybe I’m just an optimist. Lol As far as the BEL, I have a beautiful male produced by George Vesper and he’s one of my favorites. I’m not sure I’ll produce BELs, but I think people should work with what they’re passionate about.
100% agree with all of your points. People leaving isn't bad. We don't need the people just here for a quick buck. Personally I'm not looking to get rich off of this. I am retired military and to me it's a fun hobby that can bring in some extra income on the side. I will do exactly as you suggested and breed the projects I am passionate about and think everyone should do just that. The community we have in this hobby will grow stronger by people chasing what they personally enjoy. I think you can easily tell when talking to someone at a show if they truly enjoy what they work with or if they just have it for financial reasons. The BEL was what first pulled me into ball pythons and I wanted to make one. I made three in my first ever clutch. We held back the only girl and named her Independence (Indy for short) marking the start of our breeding journey. I don't think I will ever do BEL to BEL clutches moving forward but you never know what the future will bring.
@@straightblastpythons I think, besides your breeding projects, you're also positively contributing to the community by sharing your journey here with us all, and I greatly appreciate that. You're right about the expo conversations! I went to one in Feb and spent over an hour talking to one of the breeders there about his projects and my plans. I came home with a new snake and covid, but also feeling really encouraged. lol. The reason I decided to start breeding was because I have my all white BEL boy and I wanted a Suma. The light side and dark side. I now have a 2 yr old female cinny leo mahogany and a male mahogany HRA. I also have a few clowns with the ingredients hoping to make a pompeii some day. Thanks for your thoughtful response!
Omg u just described me. I’m binge watching videos about ball pythons because I’m thinking about getting into the hobby and breed. And my mind immediately went to for snakes I want to own and produce are mainly white ones like the BEL. And idc what anyone thinks tbh, i think it looks awesome and I want that 😂.
Recently got a BEL as my first ball and my friend and I have already invested into 2 pairs of albino and pied. We’re looking at breeding our first clutches this fall !
Nice video, good quality! Personally BELs are what drew me into breeding! I haven't produced any yet, as I wanted to focus more on recessives with my limited space, but this year I produced my first clutch and I owe it to that lovely white snake. Hoping to get a bamboo male soon since there seems to be alot less of them than other genes in the complex. In terms of market....theyre a solid win as a low priced item (under 500) since they throw no normals....especially with the more visual complex genes like lesser and bamboo, but they are a bit of a dead end, even IF they can be shed tested, visually that clown pied albino BEL is just...a white snake. So I can see why higher end breeders refrain from producing alot of them
Space is always an issue and I am of the same mindset focusing in on the recessive projects. I agree they are visually a dead end, and fully understand why they are not pushed on the high end. In my mind it just makes for such a powerful breeder to have in a rotation if you did have a BEL that was also for say Clown or Puzzle for example.
Unfortunately, I have limited space so I’ve always been of the mindset that I should avoid producing bels. Lately, however, I have been thinking about getting a few entry level animals to help fund my personal projects and fill tables once I start vending shows.
I have the same issue with space, and that is largely one of the main reasons I don't have any "sustainability" projects like BELs. I don't necessarily think it's a bad idea to have them though. As many have said the sell well and would easily be able to fund other projects or at least help cover feeding costs for the collection.
What video editing software do you use? If you use Davinci Resolve, there are a bunch of tools for cleaning up audio. That said, your audio is fine. I am jealous, because when I record, it takes conscious effort to avoid pops and clicks but you make this seem easy.
Audio is good 👍. Good video I love BEL complex i have too much of it making pairing difficult at times but i dont mind rolling the dice lol kept back 2 BELS last year super mojave Orange Ghost pos BP. I approach it the same way not avoiding the pairing not with testing Im also not intentionally shooting for them either.
Thanks for the audio feedback. I have a ton of BEL complex as well. I'm a huge fan of what many of them do in combos but I agree it makes pairings annoying in some cases. I only have one actual BEL but she's het clown so no plans on BEL to BEL pairings there.
BEL's are amazing as a display\pet snake. They are stunning to look at, easy to find and honestly not that expensive. It would be a great snake for your daughter!
We are planning to do a BEL to BEL clutch in the future (Mojave, Butter x Special, Bamboo, Spotnose, poss Enchi, Ultramel). We figure we can make various types of BEL’s but everything will also be Het Ultramel and possible spotnose or Enchi.
They make for awesome Hets as I mentioned. The Supers or in this case Act Like Supers are so under rated as a whole in the industry as they are no different than producing a recessive but have the ability to produce a more dynamic number of appearances in their offspring. Great Pairing!
I hope to breed my mojave male to my bamboo female later this year if all goes well. It will be my first attempt at breeding. My goal is to hopefully produce a BEL to told back. If I get 2 all the better. They are going to be 3 years old later this year.
I love the BEL, I do have people ask me for them. I only breed BEL one or two clutches a year at the most, sometimes I skip a year. I do Mojave to lesser, and I do bamboo calico yb fire to an enchi yb fire bamboo. This will be the 2nd pairing of the bamboo pairing in three years. I did hit a super bamboo super yb male and held him back for future breeding.. this boy is amazing and has such a beautiful bright head and design on him which only shows up has super white on light yellow white. I’ve had people ask me to make more. But limit what I produce with my BELs.
That seems to be the trend from people i've talked to since making this video is targeting one or two clutches with them a year. I think if vending smaller shows are a primary part of your overall plan then a few targeted clutches is likely a good idea. If you have people asking for more an additional clutch couldn't hurt.
I'll be avoiding BEL's in my Hypo Pied project because I do have Mojave and something else in that project, but I do plan to make BEL's intentionally. I have a 1.3 group of BELs and one of them is a mystery BEL who popped out of a GHI Mojave to Hypo Pied pairing, so she'll be in my BEL and Hypo Pied Projects. I also have an Ivory who is definitely het clown, possibly a visual, and an Ivory Pied. I think both are powerful girls, and while I'm not looking to make more of them intentionally, they are definitely assets because while it may be hard to ID them, it actually makes ID easier on their babies because I know for a fact that all the babies are Yellowbelly.
I would avoid most BEL complex in Pied projects maybe with the exception of Mojave. Ivory's are another one that I feel meet the same description as BELs. I have a Cypress Pinstripe Enchi Ivory female at the moment and plan to add two or three more Ivory combos to work some Freeway and Super Stripe stuff in the next few years.
It will drive their price down too … now some bills, depending on which parent bread will be worth more money. I think it’s the bamboo that make the bills those are worth like the most money I could be wrong. I’m not it could be Russo or something but it’s like one of the ones that you mentioned.
I 100% agree what genetics are in the pairing will change the value of the animal from a financial standpoint to an extent. If you are selling to a breeder or someone who is more involved in the hobby, yes. If you are just selling to a pet keeper one white snake is the same as another in terms of a BEL. Most won't pay extra based on that in my experiences.
@@straightblastpythons agreed! From what I understand, breeders are often involved in certain breeding projects that is either just a goal of theirs or to gain notoriety as They have to keep up with the current trending content… I only mentioned that because it is a future goal once I’m educated and experienced enough to try and breed All the types of BEL’s there are… specially the very expensive and high-end ones … it’s just a goal I’ve set for myself even if it’s been done already… that doesn’t matter to me. It’s the experience AND the snakes that matter. Probably doesn’t help that my two BEL’s out of my 20 BP morphs are my absolute most treasured babies even though they’re not babies anymore. Thank you for responding and I hope your channel continues to grow and prosper! And I plan on making content That will grow as I continue to grow. To show through future content a slightly different journey, that no one starts at the Super Bowl… and that as long as I stay humble and dedicated on my path along with the extremely hard work it takes that I WILL oneday be the person I was created to be. A positive example of an unsuspecting chick that had the balls to back up her brains. (Balls meaning the bps lol) especially in times of criticism and judgment, which is basically part of any one who has a social media platform of any kind.
Sound is good, thanks for the video. Just a bit confused on the issues of using BEL genes, is there an issue like with spiders? Besides panda I think BELs are the nicest morphs!
No there is no genetic issue, but there is a trend that a lot of breeders avoid pairing animals that both have a BEL complex gene in them to avoid making white snakes since it makes the genetics of the offspring difficult to identify. Similar issues are had with Ivory's and Super Fires. I've just noticed that there are people who either make a ton of them or people that avoid them all together.
Still an all white snake but what’s your opinion on black eyed leucistics and cherry bombs? Been wanting to do small breeding for fun and love my superfire but not sure what the market is like compared to BELs
I have similar thoughts on the black eyed leucistics, however I do feel there is a lot more room to work them as an actual project. You can bring pattern back into both the Ivory and the Super Fire. There are some breeders out there actually working Ivory as a project, it's the Silky Way project if memory serves me correctly. I think the Ivory would be the best all white snake to shoot for if looking to have one project of that type since I think YB works great in just about everything and it opens up the option for Freeways and the other YB complex combos if you wanted. Honestly you could probably build a whole collection around that complex.
I may not have done a good job at representing my thoughts there. What i mean is that there are tons of different paths to go in the hobby. We have so many different morphs to work with but so many people are just chasing the same few projects. How many people are chasing Batmans still? Pompeii? People are just chasing the projects that the industry leaders are already generations ahead on. There is nothing wrong with that and people should breed what they like, however we have so many other possible routes to go that don't get worked nearly as much as they deserve. To me it kinda makes the it feel the same, just about every clown breeder is doing Spotnose YB as the core for much of their projects, OD YB or the never ending quest for a better black and white pied. DG everything... It just seems like most people aren't trying to think outside the box and I feel there is so much left on the table. So what I should have said is that the variety exists but it's not being used to any potential by the majority of the industry. Just the other day I had a bigger name in the hobby tell me If I'm not chasing what Justin is making I'm wasting my time... It's that mindset why I say we lack variety. Maybe I should have said we have fallen victim to groupthink and need to start looking at pairing possibilities more independently.
