What really is the drive as a "python breeder" today

I have decided that I do plan to breed. I doubt that I will breed very many, however. I would love to produce a killer pied, just because I want to - not the best of reasons, but there it is. However, the main reason that I want to breed is a cooperative effort with local schools, to provide classroom pets on a contract - namely, that I have the right to come in and inspect the conditions they are kept in, and that if the snake is ever gotten rid of, it comes back to me. There is way too much unreasoning prejudice against snakes in this area. People go out of their way to kill the highly beneficial native bullsnakes, let alone rattle snakes. I've never even seen a rattler here. If I can promote a little education from the bottom up, I'm all for it.

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Originally Posted by Warren_Booth

I would argue that the puppy mill mindset is out. At the recent Arlington NARBC show, I saw one table with 15 scalelesshead animals. None sold. The year previous, a friend told me they saw a different breeder do the same thing. Not two or three clutches from a male, but 7 or 8 clultches from that male. Breed it to death to recoup their investment. Not considering that by flooding the market the value of your animal just dropped over 1000% in one year. Again, I saw it just yesterday with another animal. While we all want this not to be the case, I think many are blinkered to the actual truth that is out there. It does not bother me as I am not in this for any financial gain. If I can cover my animals costs, then I am more than happy. Heck, I often trade everything I produce.

Warren

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Sure, you're going to see some of that with ANY animal that is bred for profit, but you see a LOT less of it then you used to simply BECAUSE the price can drop so quickly. I also know people who spent a lot of money on the scaleless head morph because 'it was going to make them rich'. Personally I wouldn't touch one at any price simply because I think they're ugly, however I can also see where some people would find them to be interesting to work with but can't because of the price. Fortunately for those people, they won't have long to wait. They should be easily affordable for anyone interested in another couple of years.

Five years ago banana balls were still going for 10 grand in some places, I told myself that while they would be interesting to work with, I wouldn't touch one for more then $500.00 It certainly didn't take long. I didn't even get a chance to spend THAT much, two years ago I picked one up for $300.00. While you STILL hear people bemoaning the rapid price drop of the bananas, I personally wondered why a single gene animal that can reproduce itself in the 1st generation stayed as high as it did for as long as it did.

Maybe a little avarice is not necessarily a bad thing. Whereas a few people will always see this as a get rich quick pyramid scheme, that also means that the rest us that do this as a fun hobby (which I believe is the majority) won't have to wait as long for those pretty new morphs that we find so mouth watering.

I personally started breeding because ball pythons are my passion. I have owned a few of my females for 3 years and never attempted to breed them to make money. I decided to breed them for love of the hobby. I'm not breeding to get rich. I am only breeding one or two clutches a year. And giving my females a break every other season. All of the money I've invested in my collection was money well spent, and I'm not looking to get it back. I've saw those ppl who are money hungry and look at a clutch that didn't make it as money lost. I look at it as life lost. If I make money doing what I love great. If I not make money doing what I love that's fine. I have a job to support me I don't depend on my ball pythons to. I guess for me it's pure passion and excitement!