Buying Wild caught Balls

Does anyone know how to buy wild caught import ball pythons? Just wondering. It seems like the only people who ever get them and get anything new (morphs) are the big time breeders. Any info would be great.

You have to be in the "know". The collectors over there are not just going to through morphs and crazy looking balls into bags of normals.

I see. Do The big timers pay the 5-10k for a WC morph new or whatnot that they charge here. I mean does it pan out or what?

Other than the "lottery" which is unopened bags(not likely to contain anything better than dinkers, maybe a YB), you'd have to be in contact with the exporters in africa.
The exporters are not idiots either. They don't hand over a new morph for nothing. They probably tend to favor whoever it is that gives them the most business. So people who import a lot of stuff fromt hem are more likely to get offered something new and special.
If you just want some nice normals, or poss dinkers, you can buy from people who import. Yes, there is a mark up, and yes they can choose to keep anything that looks exciting to them, but you can always spot something that YOU think looks exciting.
I'm pretty sure a lot of the subtle morphs were just dinkers when they first showed up. The breeders that got the first yellowbellies probably were told "Nice dinker.. probably nothing" more than once, for instance.
Just my opinion.

Added:
I'd bet for every project that pans out into something cool, there's ten that turns out to be non-genetic. Just guessing though.

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

Added:
I'd bet for every project that pans out into something cool, there's ten that turns out to be non-genetic. Just guessing though.

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Id say 1 out of every 1000! We would have sooooo many normal looking morphs right now if every head spot dinker proved out:oops: ( there I said it!)

MY question is why are we still getting them from the wild? We have more then enough breeders. If your just doing it to find a morph leave it to the big breeders.

There is a HUGE market for hatchling ball pythons in the United States. Captive bred hatchlings doesn't cover the numbers, and that's why all the imports. One day we will be breeding enough to cover the wants of the US, but until then, imports are a reality. I usually prefer to get CBB of anything.

One nice thing I can say about some of thease WC morphs, is if you are looking for a pet you can have a unique morph that noone else has. Even if they snake wont prove out it doesnt mean that its not a great animal...

What is a dinker?

A dinker is a project snake that you just "dink" around with to see if it proves out and has any cool quilities. The odds are not good.