Are BP morphs the next "dot.bombs"?

Maybe just a little tale from a nobody who hasn't bred her first snake yet but faced a decision about making a major profit percentage.


This past year my husband and I came upon two large ball pythons at a pet store - surrendered pets. Had them sexed and vetted - $34.00 total. Both females were in decent condition and either of or close to breeding weight. Total purchase cost - $135.00 for both. That's a total out-of-pocket of $169.00

Within a very few short months of feeding, female #1 was 2200 grams, female #2 was 1700 grams. Right in time for breeding season. Now I've posted pics of those big girls here, and Adam please chime in if you don't mind, but even I know with my limited knowledge of the ball python market that Mike and I could have sold those females for a very very tidy and reasonably quick profit. Heck I doubt I'd have even had to take an ad out at kingsnake since I know a few folks here that would have happily lined up for Brannagh and Orlah.

Now, why didn't we sell the females in question. We had very little actual cash invested in them as far as purchase price and housing/feeding costs to that point. Because we are NOT in it for the short haul and we've come to realize that short-term thinking in the snake business (and heck in most businesses) is exactly what contributes to failure. We could have sold the two snakes and pocketed that quick profit happily but come the next breeding season we'd be the ones ohhhhing, ahhhhing and kicking our butts over the clutches those females produced.

So I can't speak to the morph market issues but I can speak to the value of normal females that one either raises or acquires as sub-adult/adult. Their value is high, and it only gets higher every week that female eats, gains weight and approaches her breeding years (which are longer than pretty much any other bred for profit animal I can think of).

I'm no economy major (heck balancing a check book scares the willies out of me LOL) but if breeding stock values strongly, then common sense tells me it indicates a strong market for their resultant offspring which are equal to or "better" than the female in look or genetic make-up (in the case of hets). Make sense or am I just a lil dillusional chick in northern MI with illusions of snakey grandeur? LOL


~~Jo~~

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

As someone that breeds and sells ball pythons, I would say the exact opposite. Morphs are my profit. I don't breed to produce normals, the margins are too low and they take up valuable room that I need to house morphs. The lower end animals that I produce as a result of co-dominate morph breeding are a hassle to try and sell because my entire business is geared towards selling investment animals, not pets ...and you know what? Business is GOOD! ;)

Use your chevy analogy and imagine that everyone that visits that car lot is begging to buy a corvette ... how long do you think it will be before the dealer starts looking for ways to get rid of the cheaper cars quickly so that he/she can start filling the lot with corvettes?



$10 to breed? LMAO! Do you have any idea what it takes to feed a ball python 52 weeks a year? How about rent for a commercial breeding facility because 500 ball pythons won't fit anywhere inside your house? Then there's payroll, utilitiy bills, vet bills, and then TAXES!!!!! Not to mention that selling normal ball pythons for $40 each when the CH imports are coming in for $7 - $10 each isn't a whole lot of fun! Sorry, but I don't know anyone that wants to work as hard as it takes to maintain a ball python colony (we're talking hundreds and hundreds of animals) just to produce normals.

The demand for MORPHS is strong!

-adam

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i was throwin in random numbers.

however, in theory, if you were given a B&M shop (not sure if you have one or not) you could have a beautiful Morph on display, and not want to sell it, however if you put a price of 100K on it, im sure people wouldnt want to buy it, but it would increase foot traffic, this is something that my Z06 post was referring too.

increased foot traffic typically gets more business "hey honey, while were here, we may as well pick up..."

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Originally Posted by Nourdmrolnmt1

i was throwin in random numbers.

however, in theory, if you were given a B&M shop (not sure if you have one or not) you could have a beautiful Morph on display, and not want to sell it, however if you put a price of 100K on it, im sure people wouldnt want to buy it, but it would increase foot traffic, this is something that my Z06 post was referring too.

increased foot traffic typically gets more business "hey honey, while were here, we may as well pick up..."

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Running a ball python morph breeding business is not in any way like running a retail store. You are selling a very specific product to very educated buyers. People don't just decide to spend 15k on a snake because you have a 100k leucistic on your website ... that's just not how it works.

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Running a ball python morph breeding business is not in any way like running a retail store. You are selling a very specific product to very educated buyers. People don't just decide to spend 15k on a snake because you have a 100k leucistic on your website ... that's just not how it works.

-adam

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im not saying that.

if you have a pet shop, that specializes in BP's, but has other animal things in it... dog food, cat food, mice, etc. there is the walk in ability of that.

B&M also refers to brick and motar.. so i was assuming you have a shop other than internet.

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Originally Posted by Nourdmrolnmt1

im not saying that.

if you have a pet shop, that specializes in BP's, but has other animal things in it... dog food, cat food, mice, etc. there is the walk in ability of that.

B&M also refers to brick and motar.. so i was assuming you have a shop other than internet.

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I don't think we're quite at that stage in the game yet...ball python morphs haven't hit "impulse buy" status with the general public that is unfamiliar with them. The morph "impulse buyers" have typically done a decent amount of research & choose to strike while the iron is hot if the deal appeals to them.

We do have a store, and in my experience thus far the only folks who inquire about morphs either A) know what they're after, or B) ask about albino ball pythons & are then shocked at the sticker price, since they're accustomed to seeing $150 albino Burmese at every Joe Blow pet depot.

Just my $.02

K~

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Originally Posted by Nourdmrolnmt1

B&M also refers to brick and motar.. so i was assuming you have a shop other than internet.

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You seem to be making a lot of assumptions. Have you done any actual research into whats going on in the ball python morph market?

-adam

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

You seem to be making a lot of assumptions. Have you done any actual research into whats going on in the ball python morph market?

-adam

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it seems to be largely internet based currently.