Okay, I've been thinking about it for a while and I know for sure I want to breed my pastel male to a morph female sometime in the future, and although I know I won't have the money to buy a morph female for a few years, I've been thinking about it anyways.

I've settled on either a mojave or a spider--my dillema is this: I love the way mojaves look, but I also like spiders. I cannot afford both, and I also cannot keep all of the offspring I may produce; at most one per clutch (which will not be any more than 2-4 in the next 4-5 years depending on how fast my animals grow and how many I buy) but that still leaves the rest. I love how Pastaves look, and would love to produce them, but I've only ever seen a few for sale (two this year for $3500.) as compared to bumblebees (which I also like quite a lot) which sell far more frequently and seem to be much more popular.

I'm fairly sure I won't have a lot of problem selling the mojaves, pastels, spiders, or normals, but it's the bumbles and/or pastaves I'm worried about, because of price. For you breeders, how quickly do bumblebees sell? Pastaves? What do you anticipate as far as price drops go in the next several years? I saw bumblebees going for something like $6000 a few years back, and have seen them go down to $2100 this year (possibly lower), but as I've said, I've never seen any pastaves up for sale before this year. At $3500 I think that's really very expensive, and might be hard to sell an animal at that price, especially if it's not a very visually striking morph the way bumblebees are. I want to produce pastaves but worry about not being able to sell the ones I produce. I do of course plan on keeping one of what I produce but--I can't keep everything.

I'm not going to be buying for a while yet, and breeding is still a year or more off for me (I don't want to push my pastel boy; the longer I wait with him the better, and the more size and weight my female will have, so it'll be safer for her--I'm in no hurry) but I feel it is a valid concern. Of course I don't expect to get rich or anything, but I'm sort of hoping prices don't bottom out on the bumblebees the way it has on pastels (I remember when I first found out about morphs, the pastel males cost three to four times more than what I just paid for mine!) although some drop in the pastave price might make it be easier to sell, I think.

As far as the immediate future goes, I know I can sell/give away my normals to friends who've been wanting a BP (My fault, much to the displeasure of their families!) and I know a few people looking for a pastel, so that's not a problem. I just like to think of potential problems well in advance.

Oh, one last thought--bumblebees seem to be flooding the market lately, as do spiders: do you think that soon a bumblebee will be as easy to come by as a pastel or spider? I mean, I'd like to produce something there's a market for (and I know lots of people love bumblebees) but I don't want to be making the same thing as everyone else, do you know what I mean?

What are your thoughts? I'm not asking "what should I buy", I'm asking your opinions and observations on the current and future markets regarding the two morphs, that's all. I think it might be easier to make my decision with your input, that's all.

Thanks!
Brandi