Considering buying this beautiful one

[Mybright1]

Hey all, I plan on making my first purchase! I was at a place and this guy screamed my name.

http://i.imgur.com/VFNd1eF.jpg

I was wondering what the going rate is for this blue eyed leucistic. One thing not shown in the photo--it has very faint yellow lines along its back...I did not even see them at first.
I don't know its morph or if it's male or female, and to be honest I don't care which I get. I don't have much information other than this photo, and the store said the breeder information is confidential.
It was really docile and we were instant friends.

Any ideas or estimates would be appreciated. I may have to rescue him.

- Mybright1

[Morris Reese]

Hey all, I plan on making my first purchase! I was at a place and this guy screamed my name.

http://i.imgur.com/VFNd1eF.jpg

I was wondering what the going rate is for this blue eyed leucistic. One thing not shown in the photo--it has very faint yellow lines along its back...I did not even see them at first.
I don't know its morph or if it's male or female, and to be honest I don't care which I get. I don't have much information other than this photo, and the store said the breeder information is confidential.
It was really docile and we were instant friends.

Any ideas or estimates would be appreciated. I may have to rescue him.

- Mybright1

No!! Don't buy it!!!!
Can you tell me where it's at? LOL
JUST KIDDING.

[bumblebee1028]

Price depends on the morph and if it's male or female. I would check the Kingsnake.com classifieds, Fauna Classifieds, and the Reptile Report Marketplace to get an idea.

[grcforce327]

I was at a place and this guy screamed my name.

You stand to make a bunch of money if his vocal chords prove genetic!

[Pythonfriend]

yeah, its pretty.

but, as others said, it depends on the gender and the genetics and the weight.

i think its most likely to be a super lesser/butter or a lesser/butter + mojave, but there are many other possibilities.

its quite a deal-breaker when the store says that breeder information is confidential. thats weird. it could mean anything, best case scenario is that they buy from BHB or something and re-sell at greatly increased prices and dont want to tell you because a 5-minute search would reveal how much they marked up the price. or they just picked it up at a reptile show.

its better to cut out the middle-man, unless the price is right and/or you like your local pet store so much that you want to support them with some serious amount of cash. the owner of my favorite pet store was honest to me: he just knows a lot about reptiles and spiders and says he picks most of what he sells at reptile shows but also occasionally buys from smaller local breeders. what he didnt say, but it was easy enough for me to figure out, is that he multiplies the prices by a factor of between 2 and 3, in some cases even more. thats quite normal.

[Mybright1]

Just found out it is a male. There are two there, this is the slightly larger male.

[Michelle1221]

Ah a bel-one of my favorites. Could be a white diamond?

Honestly I'm not comfortable with the whole breeder is confidential thing.
i would do a search on fauna, kingsnake, & reptile report marketplace. I have had nothing but good experiences going though the actual breeder for the snake.

[kc261]

I wouldn't buy from a pet store. The "breeder is confidential" nonsense is one of the reasons. There is just no good reason (good for the customer or the snake at least) to do that. There are 2 reasons I can think of that are good for the store. If they don't give away the source, then you might be forced to buy from them (at the marked up price). Also, they don't have to bother to keep track of which snake came from where.

I couldn't see the photo, so I can't comment on that.

[yzguy]

I know a lot can be, but not all pet stores are evil. Yes it is true that they probably don't want you going directly to the breeder and cutting them out (or maybe the breeder does not want 1000 phone calls about stuff they don't even have anymore, I know some like this), but they are trying to make a living, it does not mean anything is wrong with the snake. I did see one just posted on facebook for $500 (plus shipping, generally around $50), a male lesser/mojo BEL. Not sure on the weight of either snake (larger is typically more $$)

if you like the snake and the price is not horrible and you don't want to wait or mess with other sources, why not?
I'd just make SURE that it is eating, and what it is eating, and when it last ate. (and get the enclosure set up first, they will generally hold it if you pay for it, so you can get everything setup first)

they do look cool. I just got some eggs from my Mojave female, hopefully I'll have some baby BEL's in about 50 days!

[Mybright1]

It isn't a 'mom and pop' store per say, its a chain. And yes I imagine they are keeping the details of the breeder out so I'll have to pay them directly, and/or so I won't harass the breeder (probably the first). They are asking $1000 for it. I can afford it, but I also do not wanna get ripped off, ya know?

I am starting to get my set up going, if I'm not lazy about it I can have it done in a week. I guess it will give me time to sleep on it. Also, I did check on all those sites listed...I did not see too many blue eyed leucistics there, which was kind of disheartening.

- Mybright1