Piebald Thoughts?

Good post...interesting POV's :)

Is there also a supply side to this equation? Even just as simple as piebald not being around as long to build up as big a supply as albino which could explain why albino is much less expensive than piebald.

Or have piebalds been harder to produce for some reason? I remember asking about why caramels seemed much rarer than other morphs of the same age back before finding out about the kinking. Now I wonder if some breeders where avoiding caramels or working with hets only trying to work around the kinking and this caused a lower supply.

pieds are not harder to reproduce than albinos
most breeders are using pieds for dh projects to make new morphs
piebalds were like $15,000 a couple years ago
so i would have no problem spending $1,500 for one i liked
and will hopefuly get one in the summer
i think anyone that has ever seen a piebald in person wants atleast one

What about Clowns? Clowns have been around only 2 years longer than Pied Balds and they're holding their value. Recessives will always be more expensive, and as long as people are willing to pay $1300-2000 for a pied bald, people are going to sell them for that much. It's only been in the past couple years that the BP market took a serious nose dive.

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Originally Posted by nova2door

pieds are not harder to reproduce than albinos
most breeders are using pieds for dh projects to make new morphs
piebalds were like $15,000 a couple years ago
so i would have no problem spending $1,500 for one i liked
and will hopefuly get one in the summer
i think anyone that has ever seen a piebald in person wants atleast one

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Not necessarily true, Pieds and het pieds generally aren't the best eaters. Slow eating girls = slow production.

just cuz I haven't done this in a while...



piedspiedspiedspiedspiedspiedspiedspiedspiedspiedspieds! :banana:

I remember being at Pete Kahl's place in 2001 and people were calling and buying pied males for $20,000-$22,500. I bought a female pied from him then for $14,500 with about 35% white.

I think that its also such a dramatic mutation. So many reptiles have albinos, so many have hypos, so an albino ball or hypo ball isn't that big of a deal when you think about how those mutations are found throughout the reptile kingdom. But a pied ball python is so stark with the normal color and snow white that it stands out.

I can't think of much else that is that dramatic. So even to people who aren't into bps or even reptiles, are still impressed by pieds. I think they'll continue to hold their prices for that very reason.

Just another angle... from a young breeders point of view... It costs about $3500 DOLLARS and two years time to produce a clutch full of PIEDS... To someone like me, that is a pretty hard sale to make to the wifey pooh.... :)

This stops a lot of small time breeders like myself from throwing their hats in the ring..... That keeps the supply down.

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Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

Just another angle... from a young breeders point of view... It costs about $3500 DOLLARS and two years time to produce a clutch full of PIEDS... To someone like me, that is a pretty hard sale to make to the wifey pooh.... :)

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Right but if you are going to sell let's say 1/2 that clutch for say $1500 a peice and let's just say you get a clutch of 6 then that's $4500, so you've made back your initial investment and you now have 5 pieds.

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Originally Posted by AaronP

Right but if you are going to sell let's say 1/2 that clutch for say $1500 a peice and let's just say you get a clutch of 6 then that's $4500, so you've made back your initial investment and you now have 5 pieds.

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Oh, I understand the basic math... But when you consider the intial cost, the waiting period, and the diving prices of morphs lately, it really isn't that simple of a decision! This time last year it was a no-brainer to buy a female albino for $1100!