How much money will I be able to sell these BPs for?

For starters, I'm not breeding Ball Pythons just for the money. I've been keeping snakes for 11 years and I just wanted to see what kind of cool stuff I can create.

So what I'm doing is just mixing a huge amount of co-dominants together. About 6 or 7 at a time. I was going to just see what comes out, try to figure out what they are, and see if I can make some money.

I have two males, a super pastel fire pinstripe and a yellow belly soul sucker. Two females, a bumblebee mystic, and a mojave enchi pastel.

I'm looking at the prices on morph market and cannot figure out why some snakes with 5 or 6 genes go for so much more than others.

I know about the rare morph thing and playing the market. I didn't want to do that. That's why I got what I got.

So, as far as turning a profit, did I do anything at all correctly? Or am I just going to be making cool snakes to give to my friends?

Let's say 6 of these morphs show up in one snake. How would I be able to tell how much it's worth?

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/...47a947b5_b.jpg

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Originally Posted by stickyalvinroll

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/...47a947b5_b.jpg

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Sweet! So even if I only hatch 4 snakes, I'm still a millionaire.

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Originally Posted by Zeusophobia

Let's say 6 of these morphs show up in one snake. How would I be able to tell how much it's worth?

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Depends what they look like, UGLY isn't worth much. ;)

Prices will be based on

supply and demand

Quality especially when it comes to some animals listed

Current market prices, it's YOUR job to research the prices of the morph you are currently producing by checking various breeder's site, and classifieds site, no one will do it for you, when people are already gauging their own animal,

Reputation, people might be wary about dropping any kind of cash with someone popping out of nowhere.

Marketing skills

As far as turning a profit only YOU can tell, obviously I don't have YOUR numbers, and profit does not mean whatever your animals sell for is profit,

So you need to do some research and understand the market that's part of becoming a breeder and having business skills.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeusophobia

So what I'm doing is just mixing a huge amount of co-dominants together. About 6 or 7 at a time. I was going to just see what comes out, try to figure out what they are, and see if I can make some money.

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Sums up everythingI hate about hobby breeding.

How about trying to produce quality animals that other people might actually want in their collections?

I'll give you $25.00 each for them.

I agree with Deborah!

Instead of focusing on "how much can I sell", why not ask "will I produce the highest quality"? In today's market, where there are literally hundreds if not thousands of hobbyists producing ball pythons. What makes you stand out? I'ld rather use careful selectively breeding to produce a single clutch of high quality offspring than 10 clutches of average looking combos. I promise you high quality offspring will demand higher prices and sell faster! Produce average, dime a dozen babies and you will be stuck with them and complain about the "dead market".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Zeusophobia

For starters, I'm not breeding Ball Pythons just for the money. I've been keeping snakes for 11 years and I just wanted to see what kind of cool stuff I can create.

So what I'm doing is just mixing a huge amount of co-dominants together. About 6 or 7 at a time. I was going to just see what comes out, try to figure out what they are, and see if I can make some money.

I have two males, a super pastel fire pinstripe and a yellow belly soul sucker. Two females, a bumblebee mystic, and a mojave enchi pastel.

I'm looking at the prices on morph market and cannot figure out why some snakes with 5 or 6 genes go for so much more than others.

I know about the rare morph thing and playing the market. I didn't want to do that. That's why I got what I got.

So, as far as turning a profit, did I do anything at all correctly? Or am I just going to be making cool snakes to give to my friends?

Let's say 6 of these morphs show up in one snake. How would I be able to tell how much it's worth?

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As a beginner in the breeding world, dont expect to compete directly with the big breeders. Until people know you, really the only draw is a cheaper price. What I did years ago was just to find an average price for a given morph after consulting kingsnake.com and faunaclassifieds, and just undercut it by 20%. I know that doesnt sound like a sustainable business practice, but it will help sell your first clutches faster and get you integrated into the market. Once you make some connections and figure out your niche, you can start getting competitive.

There is nothing worse than overpricing your first clutches, selling none or a few, and ending up having to pay to feed and take care of the hatchlings a lot longer than you expected to.

Don't sell your hatchlings before they've pipped.

Also figure that prices this year are higher than they will be next year.