Can Someone Explain This To Me?

Why do normal Balls cost less than normal Boas but morph Balls cost more than their Boa morph counterparts?

For example (based on what I have seen in various spots including web sites and conventions):

Normal Ball - Avg $15-20 for baby
Normal Boa - Avg $40-50 for baby

Albino Ball - Avg $350-400 for baby
Albino Boa - Avg $225-275 for baby

Just curious.

Seems strange to me as well, I know notting about boa breeding but I would guess that they have more babies at a time or something like that to shift the supply and demand curve enough that prices go down.

I suspect it has to do with feeder costs for the low end. I haven't bred boas but I'm going to guess they cost more to feed as babies and $40 is the bottom line that a baby can be sold for in order to recup the higher food costs. Ball pythons are cheaper to feed so the normal morph can be sold for less.

Regarding higher prices, I think Aaron was dead on with supply and demand. There is a greater demand for ball python morphs so they have a higher value. Of course supply and demand play into the normals too but there is a very strong market disincentive to sell for less than your cost so I suspect feeders' costs set that bar.

I figure because normal balls are smaller, easier and more popular as pets, but ball morphs are a bigger industry than boa morphs. Plus there are more ball morphs. I dunno, just a thought.

Supply and Demand, and theres also more regulations in states on larger constrictors reaching over a certain size.

And boas prices dropped a lot with legislation that keeps popping up,

Boa = more offspring. Higher return on normal animals.
Albino boa = more offspring. Market saturated easier. Prices more competitive.


Sent from my phone, to the Internet, to your screen.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Supply and Demand, and theres also more regulations in states on larger constrictors reaching over a certain size.

And boas prices dropped a lot with legislation that keeps popping up,

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Well, none of that explains the disparity between normals and morphs. I would just think that if a normal boa cost more, a morph boa would cost more.

There are ball python morphs that are only $75. It depends on the morph, as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

There are ball python morphs that are only $75. It depends on the morph, as well.

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This. A leuci ball is what, $2,000? But the leuci boa cost Jeremy Stone $50,000. But the ball has been around longer, so it's cheaper. Balls in general have been a more popular snake for longer, so there are more morphs for a greater range of prices.

As a Boa guy the answer is simple, many of the morphs are so common place now that the market is saturated and everyone that wants a specific morph, especially the low end ones have one. The market is much smaller than Balls, and where as Balls are seen as an intro Snake and continue to grown in popularity, boa popularity has basically leveled out which means that the market for Boas tends to stagnate.