How much would you pay for a ball python morph?

Well I can post here again. I have a budget of around 5000.00 something I can pay off in a year or less

I look at this whole subject as i work hard for my money and will spend what i can on something i want. I look at the fact in the last year i have spent well over a thousand on my gf and could anyday just be out and about 2 on my snakes that will give me at least fifteen twenty or maybe thirty years of joy. Its one of those things i get pleasure out of and in two years if i can produce great morphs, then i will officially have more money to spend on the next snake or snakes that get me to the point i cant sleep the night before they are delivered and that excitement is what its all about. :taz:

Havnt spent any money on snakes yet... but when I do, there wont be a limit, because if I want one that much, then it doesnt really matter about the amount of money you spend on it.

The price doesnt matter, I would never spend above a few thousand fora designer morph, I'd rather spend less on the hets and produce many of them myself :) Or instead of buying that bumblebee for 4k buy a nice pastel and spider for less than half the price and start poppin them out, its much more fun that way. Not all of us want to breed but if your willing to pay big bucks for a morph then you probably dont have a problem with breeding.

Well, seeing as I only have one BP (who is a pet)--I don't know if this thread really applies to me :)

Would I have liked to get a BEL or a Honey Bee (Ghost Spider...YUM) or something like that as my first BP? Probably...they're visually very attractive to me. But as a student with 1.5 years of college left, and graduate school likely after that--it's just not feasable to spend so much money on morphs.

Originally, I was going to buy a male normal. Then, I got involved in the forum and discovered that there were different morphs...and that Pastels weren't too pricey. I had thought I was going to spend about $100 on a male normal, but I ended up deciding to spend quite a bit more than that on a male Pastel. I had a limit set for myself when I walked into NERD, and I stuck to that limit :)

I don't know if I'll ever breed BPs...I'm sure I might have a few more when I've graduated and have my own place. But for now, it's just Auryn and myself. :)

How much would you pay for a ball python morph?

I would pay whatever it takes to buy the snake I want. I may not be able to spend thousands right know, but when I get the chance, you bet your horse I will!

Trying to raise the cash to make that first Ball Python morph purchase is very hard if you were not born Rich! :P I can remember trying to come up with the money to buy a Pastel and a Black Pastel in the early 90's when the prices were sky high. I ended up selling my truck and had to use a family vehicle for awhile, but it was something I wanted to do more than anything! breeding ball pythons for a hobby and possibly make enought money to buy a new morph every year. it can be very frustrating making that first morph purchase. its a great hobby with alot of good people, if its something you want, buy that morph you dream about, breed it, sell the babies, buy another morph and on and on................I would find a way to buy that new morph and am not concerned about finding a cheap price. I want the absolute best looking snake I can find and will find a way to pay whatever it will cost. :sunny:

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

I thought this might be an interesting question to ask everyone here since we get such high poll participation.

With ball python prices getting lower a little bit lower these days, is there a certain price range that you are waiting for ball python morphs(in general) to get to before you will consider purchasing them? or do you really not care what the prices are?

Personally, I don't care how much they cost. If I have $2000 and want a spider, I will buy one. I just think the animals are cool and will pay what I have to(only when I have it ;)) to get them :D

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for us, my hubby and i have set a limit of $1500 per female - once we breed the morphs of the ones we are getting, then we'll see about doing some trading or selling the babies to pay for other new morphs which may hold a higher price tag.

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Originally Posted by recycling goddess

for us, my hubby and i have set a limit of $1500 per female - once we breed the morphs of the ones we are getting, then we'll see about doing some trading or selling the babies to pay for other new morphs which may hold a higher price tag.

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That's what I'd do...start out with pastels, then other co-doms and doms, then recessives.

It all depends on monthly income. When I had previous months in which I brought home a hefty bonus check, I bought my spider and pastel. I do plan on buying one female in the near future, then nothing until I successfully breed, hatch and sell some babies.

I've been thinking of this and i guess what ever I can afford to lose. Alot of people buy snakes and speculate what they will make off of them. If this is an investment or hobby, it doesnt matter you have to put in cash that you will not mind losing in the long run. Sometimes you get lucky and can help make some of the initial costs back.. but you always have to plan for that never happening.

Im about to buy some 100% Piebald hets for $700.. To bad for all the breeders that never answered me back. they missed out $2,000 I was willing to pay

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Originally Posted by crisstyle21

Im about to buy some 100% Piebald hets for $700.. To bad for all the breeders that never answered me back. they missed out $2,000 I was willing to pay

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and again poor customer service hurts the breeder

I have purchased two morphs already at $500 and $1200 and plan on spending between $3500-4500 for a good Pied and at the time that is all that really struck my eye. I have no intentions of breeding or being a breeder.

But when and if something else comes along and that I really fancy then I guess I would spend up to the 5k mark ( since it would be for a pet/collection w/ no breeding behind it )

But if I really wanted it and had the funds to purchase it w/o being uncomfortable then I would. I get bonuses and then I get a rather large one for Christmas so I would have no issues with spending part or all on a morph if I really wanted it.
Guess I am like some who stated if I have it and want it then I would spend it.:)

i'm a beginner with snakes and I am in love with the 2 i'm taking care of, the longer I have em the more I think i'd spend on a new one, I wanna eventually become a breeder someday, so who knows how much i'd spend then for some crazy mixes ha

So far I have spent as little as $400 for a morph all the way up to $3000 for one.

I but 1,000 - 1,500 down. I bought one in that range and all other snakes I will probably not pay as much. I am planning on producing most of the special ones I keep. I will have to work my breeding plans from a few basics and go from there.

I don't think an amount is good to ask for. A percentage of your income, maybe? I would never take out a line of credit to buy a snake, or get behind in my bills to buy one. I actually am "cutting myself off" from spending any more on new snakes until I make that money by selling the ones I eventually hatch out. The most that I have spent was $1k for my '05 Spider. I had to have that particular snake; you know how it is when this happens.

A friend of mine who has been importing and exporting herps since 1990 said that the days of selling snakes for 15-20000 are over.

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Originally Posted by djansen

A friend of mine who has been importing and exporting herps since 1990 said that the days of selling snakes for 15-20000 are over.

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I dunno. I offered more than that amount recently for a single snake and was turned down. The desire and money is there :gj:

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

...If you could just go to the pet store and pick up a 10lb bag of dog food and a pair of Pied's then wheres the fun in that. Like Gin knows with her hot Pastel she is getting the chase is half the fun.

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When i find a morph that i really like and then decide i want to purchase, finding the snake and actually getting it is definitly half the fun!!! :carrot:

Sometimes the longer it takes, the better it is when i find it.

But in the end (no matter how long it takes me to find 'the snake') i still love them all the same! :sunny:

And after a rough day when you get home to your collection (whether its normals, pieds, spiders or whatever) and pick up one of your babies and just relax on the couch petting it and looking at it, all the days' worries just kind of melt away.

Thats what matters. How you feel when you're around them whether you spent $10 or $10 000.

Just my opinion. Sorry for being longwinded.

1 to 1.5k for me. For now, even if i had big money to spend on X morph or X morph i dont think i would right now. Look at how the ball market is. I talked to the guy i bought a few snakes from this year. He bought his spider 4.5 years ago for 17,500.00. Now looking at what they are selling for now 500 to 600.00. It will take him forever to just make his money back, Even to cover the cost of the snake.

I just made my first "serious" investment in a morph, paid $550 for something that was "overstock" for a local breeder that hasn't been seen before. It's a bit of a gamble because the "something different" I got has not been proven... If it works out, though, it'll be worth it 100x over

Well there are still a lot of people making a living on BPs. It depends on what you want to invest I guess, and how ahead of the game you want to be. I am sure that the bigtime breeders with the awesome collections can attest to that!

Just bought my first proven morph. At $100 for a male pastel het ghost I couldn't resist. Paid $2,000 for an as yet unproven one once though.

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Originally Posted by ama1997

He bought his spider 4.5 years ago for 17,500.00. Now looking at what they are selling for now 500 to 600.00. It will take him forever to just make his money back, Even to cover the cost of the snake.

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For whatever it's worth, I paid in that ball park for my first spider about that long ago and I've made my money back several times over.

-adam

so far i've spent $500 on morphs, $250 per pastel female. But i would spend up to $500 on a morph.

Hello

I have 1000-1500euros.. on Ball morphs and Morelias..

Gr stijn

I posted the 5,000 + because I can.:banana:

The reality is not morphs have made me want to pay that much outright, because regardless of the market...there are no certainities in the breeding game. The snake can have liver damage (all of this inbreeding has produced some genetic traits). SO...with no guarantees that the animal is free from genetic defects, I would rather make my own, hence while I have the Bumblebee,Spider, Super Pastel, Ghost, Mojave and other Morphs, I also have het Red Ax, het clowns and het pieds (not siblings).

The morphs are gorgeous, but my PET is a Normal.:rofl: go figure.

Well, up until very recently, my opinion was pretty simple... "I won't buy a morph royal until they aren't silly money, and I'll wait until they're not to buy one."

But my partner and I very much want to acquire a couple of "White Snake Complex" animals (We're leaning towards Butter or Lesser and a Mojave) ... and over here in the UK, we're looking at between £500 and £1500 for those particular morphs. I'm seriously considering an '07 Butter male I've just learned about; he would be the single most expensive animal in my collection at £1000+ and he'd increase the total value of my collection by between a third and half while adding less than 1/50th in animal numbers. Yeah, I've got a bunch of relatively low-end critters :)

So realistically, I don't think I could justify spending more than £1000 or so on a single animal; I'm hoping to buy three founding morph breeders (two males and a female) for less than £2000 if I can do it, and for certainly less than £2500 (about $5000).

I just wish I could get American prices on morphs - I envy you lot the $400 Mojave males when we're lucky to find Mojaves for £600 - almost triple the price - over here!

$100 or less. I haven't been in this long enough for the pricey varieties to be appealing yet :)

I might pay up to 1000.00 but beyond that I couldn't ever justify paying simply because of how their colorations and patterns have come out. In reality $1k is pretty pricey in my mind too

I'd go $1-$2K on a really nice base morph like a lav albino - maybe up to $4-6 to get in early on a cool designer like the Crystal.

Ok this is how I see it!
I have spent the last three years building my collection with quality Hets from top breeders, thats right the working mans het:D
At some point I would like to take this to another level. I have held back all my offspring to produce morphs. I have found alot can happen.......Bad eggs , incubator issues, unwilling females...
I would be lying if I said I didnt want to someday be able to bat with the big boys . I would love to have a huge collection and spend everyday working with my animals and make a living at it. I would have a collection weather there was a market or not. I love my animals but I would also love to spend everyday getting paid to do what I love. So after spending the last 3 years learning and experimenting I will need to spend more for upper level morphs . The amount one is willing to spend will be determined by the purpose and there available excess income. I think the average hobbyist would be comfortable with the under $500.00 mark. The average breeder will likely spend $1000.00 and the serious breeder will be willing to spend in the $5000.00 - $15000.00 range. The big boys because of there capitol and experience in the biz if aproached with that special animal would lay down $100,000.00 I will be spending the next two years building capitol and taking business classes. One more baby step!
Just remember theres lots of levels of this business, Someone has to produce hets ,morphs, combos, double hets , tripple hets etc.
I believe the days of the $25000.00 animals are over unless its something new. I also believe the market is strong and will only get stronger . Hang on to your hats boys and girls this industry is about to explode!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :gj:

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Originally Posted by bsd13

I might pay up to 1000.00 but beyond that I couldn't ever justify paying simply because of how their colorations and patterns have come out. In reality $1k is pretty pricey in my mind too

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But it is not just about appearance. It is about future profit off of the snake's offspring. If it were based merely on appearance, I would not justify spending high $$ on snakes either! But think of what you could produce by breeding morphs.. they likely will pay for themselves through the years if you do it right.

What would I pay? Hard to say it matters on what it is and when.

what have I paid. Shoot I have no clue but some of the animals I have I am not allowed to say what I paid lol.

Gotta keep the friends happy too.

the most I would pay would be $5000 and that is for an adult that I knew I could breed back that same year and if I could double my money on the offspring. If you spend any amount of money on a morph it seems that with in 2-3 years that animal will have gone done by at least half with in reason. Obviously recessive genes hold there price better and dominate genes usually drop quicker so that also play a factor if I was deciding to drop some scratch like that. :D

I would pay whatever it takes as long as I am happy in the end. I always regret big purchases I make, if I don't need it, simply because I am on a low income until I get out of school. Now, if I had a sugar daddy, or a wealthy husband, or won the lottery I might consider being a little less cautious.

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Originally Posted by FL0OD

If you spend any amount of money on a morph it seems that with in 2-3 years that animal will have gone done by at least half with in reason.

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This is a self-solving problem in the BP industry though, since there are two points where a morph can be priced excessively high; when it is first discovered (early adopters) and when it is mixed with two or more other morphs (extreme designers). By buying in early, you have a choice of using that animal to produce large numbers of identical offspring, effectively driving your own market downward, or you can start the mixing process, and have killer designers that hold their value due to being available in extremely limited numbers.

Right now I can only imagine paying up to about 2000, but that's because I specifically want a pewter :D

It really depends... right now we can't afford to go crazy as we just bought a het piebald male and are buying a het albino tomorrow. Neither one cost a fortune, but even so. We also just bought some normal females. PLUS we are big into dogs and dogs cost a fortune even if the initial purchase price is minimal, as it was with most of mine.

PS I am starting with hets, too, as at least one here has said... I have patience to produce my own pieds and albinos and my real dream- an albino pied. If I can't do it, at least I can say I tried at the end of the day.

Depends on how badly I want the morph for my collection or project. I have spent as much as 3,000 for one morph. I sort of draw the line at 5 and love it when it's 2k or even better 1k.

I would never have spent 30K on one animal, I would have brought a new house!:D

p.s my het pieds dropped some eggs last week or so...so I am hoping!

I am just out of college. currently i am dead broke and would have a hard time raising $100 + shipping for a Yellow belly on sale!
XD it sucks! But it keeps my boyfriend and parents from breathing down my neck about all the snakes. I also just adopted a kingsnake and a lucy texas ratsanke, so for now, the buying stops.

I like the look of many designer morphs but can't justify dropping the money on them. I want to prove out my het pieds and pastel female before I bother with any more animals. I plan on getting a spider and a yellowbelly, probably males as breeders for my pastel. I chose $100-$500 because that is usually the amount of money I have available to me at any given time. I spent $700 on a female het pied (who is a little %$#@ and barely eats, lol) and that is pretty much my maximum unless i win the lotto. I just don';t make enough money. If i could, I would so spend tons of money on snakes, but I have to be able to afford food for all of us!

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Hi and welcome to the panties for pythons program. LOL

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That's GREAT! I can't stop laughing!!! LOVE IT:rofl:

This summer, I plan on workin my butt off to be able to afford a few morphs.
As long as my bills are paid and foor is in my fridge, I plan on splurging on my newly found hobby!

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Originally Posted by Papa Burgundy

This summer, I plan on workin my butt off to be able to afford a few morphs.
As long as my bills are paid and foor is in my fridge, I plan on splurging on my newly found hobby!

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good of you! get some nice ones!!! XD wait until the big clutches hatch, should be some great sales going on around june-august!!!

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Originally Posted by broadude

Depends on how badly I want the morph for my collection or project. I have spent as much as 3,000 for one morph. I sort of draw the line at 5 and love it when it's 2k or even better 1k.

I would never have spent 30K on one animal, I would have brought a new house!:D

p.s my het pieds dropped some eggs last week or so...so I am hoping!

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I love your website. Did you have someone make it or is a do it yourself job?

I hope in the next 3-4 years to be able to drop 30+K on one animal. :D

Well, since I just shelled out $400 for a female spider and she's my most expensive snake... :D And that's a LOT of money for me.

If I had the means, however, I would spend whatever I needed to (within reason of course, no wool-pulling here) for a morph I really loved and wanted. First thing is if you Have the money. If you do, then spend it. If you don't... save. ;)