Ball pythons destroying the hobby?

First snake was a rat. Second was a rosy boa. Third was a BP. Fourth was a king. Fifth was a BRB. Sixth was a corn. Seventh was a JCP. This was over the course of 15+ years. Every snake beyond those has been a BP. I enjoy keeping a variety of species, but prefer to work with BPs.

Keeping a diverse collection has enabled me to decide where my passion is. I appreciate every animal I keep and look forward to exploring other species. Will I ever breed burms? No. Will I ever own one? I hope so. But that's why there are burm breeders; they found where their passion is...

I don't think BPs are killing the hobby. As many people have stated, balls and corns are the gateway snake. The money they bring multi-species breeders helps those breeders breed, care for, and advertise the other species. They do a wonder as PR agents. They make wonderful singular pets. They're more easily affordable than higher-end reptiles.

My philosophy is as follows: if people want another species, they will get another species. There are plenty of people that exclusively breed BCIs, or sand boas, or GTPs, or carpets, or ETPs, or kings, or milks, or just about any other species you can think of. If people really want one of those species, they will go to those breeders and get one for a price they are comfortable with. The day I find a pied ball python more easily and for less than an albino BCI will be the day I think they're killing the hobby.

Ball Pythons are what helped get me into Carpet Pythons, Short-Tail Pythons & Dwarf Boas...

I've got two ball pythons, and a few breeding projects planned, but they're a small part of the wishlist of 200+ species I want to keep someday. Simply started with balls because they seemed easy to take care of and get used to as far as reptiles go. I don't plan to breed mass for profit, but whatever animals I may produce in excess will probably end up on a smaller table at one of the local reptile shows. They aren't destroying the hobby, but they're a very common part of it and with more people being introduced to snakes as pets (got a few of my friends addicted :D ) they'll continue to grow as a large presence

I don't think they hurt the industry. My first snake at 16 was a ball pythons. I really like them. I like their size and temperament. I also Love the morphs. However I have had other snakes. Burms, BCI, BRB, MBK, Corn snakes, pine snakes, JCP, xenopeltus, liasis fuscus and bloods. I still have the BCI, pine snake, MBK Balls and bloods. I will be branching out and picking up some angolians and olive pythons in the next few years.

I also have other non snake herps and ball pythons are what made it possible.

I'm pretty sure that if you could go back in time, you'd see the same sort of commentary about corn snakes. Before people were finding how to keep BPs to counter the "picky eater" issues and all the colorful morphs, BPs were not in demand because they were plain Janes next to all the easily kept morph cornsnakes.

So corns are still all over, including at shows. Leopard geckos have recently had a hey-day as well, with many tables of leos at shows. BPs are extremely popular right now, same as corns in their day, same as leos recently.

Just because corns aren't the biggest thing right now doesn't mean there aren't tons and tons of them around, being bred, combined, sold. Same with leos.

The snakes mentioned haven't ever seemed to be very prevalent on the tables to me. Boas are popular, and at shows I see a lot of boas, BPs, leos, corns, and then in lesser amounts, various colubrids, tree pythons and boas and then scattered about, the rarer kept species. (Keep in mind, shows I attend are in Florida, so no burms or retics, although those were popular before the ban)

Most people that I know who have BPs end up branching out to other species and in some cases they switch entirely. BPs are a great gateway animal, same as corns were/are.

So no, BPs aren't harming the hobby. They're taking their place in the line-up. Something else will take their place in a few years. It could be something like ringed pythons, or maybe blackheaded pythons, or some of those rare locality boas. There's no way to tell.

It's a cycle, and it's natural in every aspect of human history. Just like baseball was the most popular sport, then football, then basketball... none of the previous sports died. None of the less popular sports(golf? cricket? soccer? bowling?) died out just because America suddenly jumped onto a major bandwagon(Nascar?) and the sport grew suddenly in great leaps of popularity.

Keeping reptiles will always involve some species being more popular than others. If I couldn't keep BPs, it doesn't neccasarily mean I'd start keeping some Central American boa species. I don't care for boas. I don't care for corns. But I do keep 3 other species of reptile with my BP collection. The people who love the lesser-kept species won't stop keeping them just because the latest purple spotted shark finned BP morph has appeared. There's plenty of room for all the various species in the hobby. And BPs draw in even more keepers.