How much would you pay for a ball python morph?

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

Right now, with starting the semester at VCU, paying for an apartment, books, and taking care of my current kids, I'd prefer to stay in the range of $100-$500. That, however; will change in the near to sometime future.

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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 me, its strictly about waiting until I can start collecting snakes at will. Which means waiting for hubby to retire from the AF and settle into a more permanent home. If I have the money, I'll spend what I need to to get my breeding projects off the ground. I won't borrow money to do it...but I won't fret about spending thousands of dollars for the morphs I want, if I have it to spend.

Ya....I kinda have a price range due to finances right now. LOL....as long as the purchase would not put me in a financial hardship, I really don't care how much I spend on a single reptile.

so I voted for the last option....with this addendum:

"Who cares what the price is? I will buy one if I want it(only if this purchase will not kill my bank account, max out credit cards and cause my wife to kill me)"

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

Ya....I kinda have a price range due to finances right now. LOL....as long as the purchase would not put me in a financial hardship, I really don't care how much I spend on a single reptile.

so I voted for the last option....with this addendum:

"Who cares what the price is? I will buy one if I want it(if this purchase will not kill my bank account, max out credit cards and cause my wife to kill me)"

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Or in my case, "As long as the purchase will not kill my bank account, max out...wait, I don't think I can buy a bumblebee with a Victoria's Secret card...
and cause my parents, sister and boyfriend kill me." ^_^

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Originally Posted by Melicious

I don't think I can buy a bumblebee with a Victoria's Secret card...

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You can make this happen, in a round about way :headbang:

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Originally Posted by cueball

You can make this happen, in a round about way :headbang:

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huh...I need to get me a VS card! :)

O_o Uhm. Hn.

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Originally Posted by Melicious

I don't think I can buy a bumblebee with a Victoria's Secret card...

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Hi and welcome to the panties for pythons program. LOL

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Hi and welcome to the panties for pythons program. LOL

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Hn. I knew that lacy one would come in handy!

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Originally Posted by Melicious

Hn. I knew that lacy one would come in handy!

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:tongue2: :fest: :rofl:

I marked $500 to $1000.I had a hard enough time realizing i paid $600 for my pastel last year.I only paid $800 for my pair of 100% het albinos and thats with a partner.Maybe someday i might hit the lottery :rolleyes: and buy everything at a who cares price lol.

I answered this question from the "pet" perspective. IOW, a ball you didn't intend to breed and generate of return other than just pure enjoyment. My spider, to me, was an investment, but I probably would have bought one relatively soon anyway- spiders are one of my favorite morphs.

If I were to invest in morphs for breeding, the amount of money I'd spend on an individual morph would increase proportionally with the amount of capital I had to start with, so technically, the sky would be the limit.

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Originally Posted by joepythons

I marked $500 to $1000.I had a hard enough time realizing i paid $600 for my pastel last year.I only paid $800 for my pair of 100% het albinos and thats with a partner.Maybe someday i might hit the lottery :rolleyes: and buy everything at a who cares price lol.

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Yeah...the "who cares what price it is" is a somewhat misleading option. Because that would be my choice....and yet money IS an object. :2cent: I am a patient sort and am quite willing to start with hets and work my way up to more and more expensive morphs. When I say "who cares what price it is" I only mean I'd be WILLING to pay the money if I had it....not that I currently do. :P

I would be willing to pay as much as $5000 for a BP morph I really liked. We've paid that much for some Boas and have no regrets whatsoever. We love our snakes and hope to continue to add to our collection.

My problem is the BP morphs I liked at $4500-$5000 early this year are now $1500-$2000. Meaning by stalling 6 months we've saved $3000-$3500. Sounds great huh? But, what if we had paid the $5000?

Maybe it's a girl thing, for example: About 6-7 weeks ago I bought a DVD player for $150.00 on a Wednesday. On Friday within my junk mail I saw the same exact DVD player on sale that weekend for 20% off from the same store! I took the DVD player with the receipt in hand back to the store and was able to get that 20% credited to my credit card. :mad:

We're just talking $30.00 and I was somewhat pissed no one bothered to tell me "this weekend we're going to have a 20% sale on these DVD's in case you want to come back this weekend". Again...we're just talking about $30.00!!

Can you imagine if you bought a new 06 Honda Accord today at $25,000 and in December that same exact new 06 Honda Accord would cost you $8500?:tricho:

Forget breeding, sales, profits or the market! I would simply feel like a fool or as if I just got taken for a sucker if I bought something today at $5000 and saw it for sale all over the place in 3-6 months for $1500!

Again, maybe a girl thing..;)

I could have worded the question "How much could you afford to pay for a ball python morph?"....but that is a bit invasive into everyones personal finances. I could have said also said "How much would you pay for a ball python morph as an investment?" or "How much would you pay for a ball python as a pet?" ;)

I figured the broader question would spark some good discussion at the least :D

Personally, I would not be bothered dropping $2000 or even more on an animal with no potential return on that money...actually, I plan on getting a spider this year if finances allow. Will I breed her?...sure. Will I be looking for a return on the money I put into her?...nope. I look at breeding snakes as fun hobby....actually, if I was producing animals...I would be just as likely to give them away to a friend or family member as I would be to sell them....hell, i have even sold some reptiles this year for less than I paid for them just because I knew they were going to a good home and the people seemed nice.

After all, people spend thousands of dollars on just about any other kinda pet out there. My brother bought a $1300 bulldog the other day...if some people like an animal, they will pay. On the other hand, I have talked to people that would never pay over $1000 for a reptile even if they had the cash sitting around.

Just looking for everyone's opinions on spending money on reptiles and such :D

I think Wysocki says it best when he talks about not getting in over your head and not being financially ruined if something goes wrong. I have taken this advice and feel more comfortable spending money on ball python morphs. For me personally this is a professional hobby. Professional in the literal sense that I need/want for it to have a return. If it where not for the return aspect of the hobby I would probably keep "normal" wild type ball pythons as I think they are just as beautiful. However I am in 10k+ per animal category because I'm interested in both facets of the hobby. I have a small collection though that does not put me out of control physically or financially. This is a dangerous line that is drawn though and I can see where that line can/could be easily crossed. I wish everybody the best of luck and truly enjoy being part of this group :grouphug:

i think reptiles being a minority in the pet world has alot to do with it. people spend alot of money on dogs,birds, and horses. reptiles aren't mainstream, i kind of like it that way. a specialty niche if you will. personlly i'd spend up to around a 1k for a pet reptile, maybe a little more. higher than that i consider it an investment. to me it's cool that i can have snakes as a hobby and also the chance to make a little money too! i can't do that with cars or fishing! lol



vaughn

Let me start off by saying if I had more money to invest I would have bought a Pied by now.So in my case I would buy the morph's I really like knowing I could afford them responsibly. I'll admit when friend's and family ask how much I paid for my morph's I don't tell them and the one's that know , already know I'll at least try to make my money back. I've already got half of what I really want with my albino and pastel now I'm looking forward to getting a pied and a spider don't know in which order if i had to guess I'd say spider first.Purchasing a Homo pied would be a little bit of a stretch for my wallet at least right now.

I picked the 10000+ catagory, as we have already spent more than that on some animals, and I would do it again if it is an animal that I really like and want. Bananna for instance, would definitely have me opening up my checkbook. The people who are really worried about losing money on an investment animal are crazy. Everybody is so focused on the short term, that they think they are losing money just because a morph drops 50% in one season. The morph you buy, can potentially breed for you for 15+ years, and if you can not recover that money over that time period, I think, you are doing something wrong. i.e. If you spent $4000 dollars on a Spider male last year, and bred it to five females each year, starting at year two for the male, and three of your females laid clutches of five eggs each, you would have 15 eggs. Lets say you have bad odds, and only hatch out 2 Spiders per clutch for a total of six Spiders. Lets say that you could sell the Spiders for $500 each. Thats $3000 dollars total. After two years, you are only at a loss for $1000. After fifteen years of producing 6 Spiders per year, that would be 95 Spiders, lets say at an average of $250 dollars apiece, you made a grand total of $23750 dollars, minus your $4000 dollar initial investment, you made $19750 dollars in fifteen years, with only six snakes.
I would say the investment potential is definitely there.
Sorry for the long windedness(I don't know if that is a word),

I agree 100%, if you can't make your money back breeding any snake period something is wrong. Even selling wholesale you'll make your investment, cover expenses and then some. Again, if you look at breeding snakes for a living or as an investment or just to expand your collection and have it pay for itself...don't worry! You will make your money back and then some even if the price drops 90% in one season! Whether it takes 2 eggs or 1-2-5 or 10 clutches you'll make your money back and then some. Some may take longer to return than others, but you will make your ROI at some point.

But, what about those who just want to buy a pet Spider BP for example? What do we tell those buyers? What do we tell those buyers that paid $3000 for a baby Spider and 30-45 days later see the same Spider (possibly from the same seller) for $1500?

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Originally Posted by ssscales

But, what about those who just want to buy a pet Spider BP for example? What do we tell those buyers? What do we tell those buyers that paid $3000 for a baby Spider and 30-45 days later see the same Spider (possibly from the same seller) for $1500?

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Why should you have to tell them anything? If I make a deal that I'm happy with...then I'm happy with it. It shouldn't matter what kind of deal someone else gets.

I would be SO psyched if I had $3000 to spend on a spider...and I shopped around carefully and found the snake that just "spoke" to me and said "Take me home with you!!!" And spent my $3000. If, somewhere else along the road of life someone else gets to buy a spider for $1500...why is that skin off my nose? I'd be happy for them.

Personally it would drive me nuts inside (a feeling as if I got taken) if I paid $3000 for a snake or TV or anything and found that same snake or item a week later at 1/2 price.

I know most would probably feel the same way. I would feel pretty bad if I sold someone a Spider BP or Salmon Boa for example at $3000 and then a week later announced a 1/2 price sale. How would that customer who paid $3000 feel when he/she checked KS and saw me selling the same snake he/she bought from me a week ago for 50% off?

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem wrong?

It would bother me , but it would bother me more if it were a tv or a car. My reason for this is car's tv's furniture they'll all be worth less later on. Now a spider will probably go down in value but as it goes down more people can afford them and want them. So it will alway's be thought of as money well spent. Especialy when you have at least two of your own for the $3,000 you spent.

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Originally Posted by emilio

It would bother me , but it would bother me more if it were a tv or a car. My reason for this is car's tv's furniture they'll all be worth less later on. Now a spider will probably go down in value but as it goes down more people can afford them and want them. So it will alway's be thought of as money well spent. Especialy when you have at least two of your own for the $3,000 you spent.

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Which is why I wrote that if your buying to breed don't worry so much about prices and declines...you'll make the money back. Even if you paid $5000 for a morph that is now selling for $500..you'll make your money back many times over.

For some people its the newest cars, jewlery, cell phone, big screen, or boat. People have one or two things that they spend their money one of most of us that is morphs or hets or new species. What someone is will to pay is what they are comfortable with. And people have goals just like with cars or boats or whatever. For me its a Spider or pied homo. People would tout to for spending 10 grand on a snake but not flench to drop 65 on a car or 500 on a house.

Morphs are our candy. We save and budget and work extra to get them and then we are proud of our acheivment. What I would pay for a morph might not be the same as what Adam or Cue would pay. But they might freak to know what I spend on ink pens (fountain pens). Set your limit and stick to if it takes not buying a snake for a year or two or five to afford that Pastel or Platty then thats the real price we pay for our obsession. In the end its not the price tag but the satisfaction of getting that box from Adam or Bob Clark that is the pay back. Being able to enjoy keeping such rare and outstanding animals for 15 to 20 years is its own reward. Making life long friends and the knowledge we aquire is like gray, not need to go forward but that little bit extra that keeps us working for the next step.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

. What I would pay for a morph might not be the same as what Adam or Cue would pay. .

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EDIT by JLC -- Let's keep it clean, please! We have a number of children who enjoy and participate in this forum.

To me I don't think that any snake is worth more than $200 and I love me some snakes, maybe I am just too reallistic.

realistically, at this point, my limit is under $500. I need to pay off my ATV, as well as my Citi card; then we can talk bigger dollar amounts!

$100 or less

Normals are fine with me.

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Originally Posted by FPaul702

To me I don't think that any snake is worth more than $200 and I love me some snakes, maybe I am just too reallistic.

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So you're telling me that a snake that can produce a number of viable offspring that can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars each is not worth $200 to you? Thats OK, because you probably don't have any intention of breeding it to generate a return. So don't knock the high prices just because its not worth it from your perspective.

As a matter of fact, it will be people like you who will eventually support the market when supply increases enough to bring the price point of some morphs down into the pet range. Would you buy a pied to $500? A spider for $250? I know I would!

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Originally Posted by FPaul702

To me I don't think that any snake is worth more than $200 and I love me some snakes, maybe I am just too reallistic.

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That doesn't sound realistic to me. So if there are only a handful of a certain morph out there they should only be worth $200????????????????? Its called supply and demand, I suppose you think all cars should sell for the same price etc.

Hmm...maybe the car salesman that owns MKR will sell me a new BMW for 75% below retail.

...that's what he's doing with Lessers and mojavies!

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Hmm...maybe the car salesman that owns MKR will sell me a new BMW for 75% below retail.

...that's what he's doing with Lessers and mojavies!

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Wonder how many friends he has at Daytona?

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Originally Posted by Wild Bill

Wonder how many friends he has at Daytona?

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No friends that are worth counting.....but they do have each other :hug:

My opinion is that it depends on how much money you have and what you plan on doing with it. If you plan on breeding and selling the offspring, then it should make no difference what you pay for it because it will eventually pay for itself. A high morph that produces high priced babies should be worth alot of money. On the other hand, those that buy snakes just to have them with no plans on breeding will see the high price tags as unreasonable. It all depends on which side you are viewing from.

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Originally Posted by brainman1000

My opinion is that it depends on how much money you have and what you plan on doing with it. If you plan on breeding and selling the offspring, then it should make no difference what you pay for it because it will eventually pay for itself. A high morph that produces high priced babies should be worth alot of money. On the other hand, those that buy snakes just to have them with no plans on breeding will see the high price tags as unreasonable. It all depends on which side you are viewing from.

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Also lets face it in the herp world they are statis symbols. The guy with 2 normals doesn't get looked at like the guy with a breeding pair of every morph Adam, Bob, or Ralph can pump out. We still drool over "platties", pieds, albinos, and even pastels. Would we still drool if they were like 200 across the board. :colbert: NO!

Its the need of the average guy to save and budget that makes them so wanted. 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.

A status symbol? I really doubt those people with those snakes would agree. A status symbol is something you parade around for all to see...some of the largest players in the ball python world don't post on message boards, have tables at shows, etc...

I would still drool over pied, platties, and albinos even if they were $2 across the board! I think you are way too wrapped up in the $$$ involved in all of this. Are you drooling over the snake or it's price tag?

The reason there is so much money involved is simply because they are RARE and desirable.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Also lets face it in the herp world they are statis symbols. The guy with 2 normals doesn't get looked at like the guy with a breeding pair of every morph Adam, Bob, or Ralph can pump out. We still drool over "platties", pieds, albinos, and even pastels. Would we still drool if they were like 200 across the board. :colbert: NO!

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Ummmm, YESSS

For me it isn't the price tag attached to it that gets me into a certain morph.... it is its LOOK!

I love pastels, I have a few females that are normal, but I wouldn't part with them any sooner then my nicest pastel because of how nice they look. I would love pieds at some point, but there are other co-dom morphs that I want before pieds. I consider, spiders, mojaves and albinos nicer then pieds.... but that this is just my opinion. We all see certain morphs that appeal to us more so then others.

But to suggest no snake is worth more then $200 is just plain funny, but hey, it's an opinion and you know what they say about opinions.... They are like....A (I'm sure you can figure out the rest) lol

...I would have to disagree also. There are many reptiles under $200 that I drool over and will probably keep in my collection once I get a chance....why?...because reptiles kick it!

The price is just an obstacle that prevents me from obtaining some reptiles....and it is nothing else to me but an obstacle.

Statis symbol is the sence of the guy that dreams of a Clown and he works and save and somewhere down the road he pulls out his check book and writes that check for the clown, or pied or even lesser (ever thought a resent turn of events has put them with inreach of most folks) and then its a personal statis symbol. They are goals. Thats all I ment.

I own some $30 dollar King snakes because I like the black and white and the snake in general. Speaking of how many people are still buying and breeding corn snakes?

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Originally Posted by Otter_23

I own some $30 dollar King snakes because I like the black and white and the snake in general. Speaking of how many people are still buying and breeding corn snakes?

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I don't think my king is even worth $30, but I have them and some corns, nothing fancy.... but I like em! :)

Not that I really want to chime in on this topic, but I think a hand full of you are missing the point. Only so many folks are going to pay thousands of dollars or tens of thousands of dollars for a snake. Once this market has been filled, breeders need to find NEW customers. The easiest way is to change your price into another market, aka, lower your prices. Simple laws of supply and demand. If anyone here is in this hobby to make money I suggest you start reading or learning simple retail/wholesale business. What do the car manufactures do when they have too many cars............. (example: we bought a NEW 2004 F150 in January of 2005, sticker price $37,000, after all the Ford rebates and stuff we paid $22,000 without a trade-in. They had too many old models....)

I would rather see this hobby survive than be choked out due to high prices that the common hobbiest can't afford.

Myself, having a young family cannot justify putting $10,000 into a snake and hoping to make 4 fold that in a few years. But $500, I can justify as a hobbiest. $10,000 pays for a lot of college.........

As for corn snakes, I do fine with them, I make fair money off them and I can always sell my extras to the pet trade for a fair price. I know of 3 different breeders that make a living at just selling corns. The corns have settled in and prices are fairly stable.

In reality, my budget, income and bills play the biggest part in how much I would spend on a snake. Right now, I can't go beyond 500.00; I won't let myself put any reptiles on credit (thouhg it is VERY tempting.)
I see no problem with people spending massive amounts on herps; look at the wasteful, and unproductive ways people waste money (drugs, etc.) As long as you're responsible with your budget, income and expenses and don't abuse credit, spend away people!! You only live once.

If I had the money and I really really really wanted one then I'd pay whatever that snake was going for from a good and well known breeder.

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Originally Posted by ssscales

Personally it would drive me nuts inside (a feeling as if I got taken) if I paid $3000 for a snake or TV or anything and found that same snake or item a week later at 1/2 price.

I know most would probably feel the same way. I would feel pretty bad if I sold someone a Spider BP or Salmon Boa for example at $3000 and then a week later announced a 1/2 price sale. How would that customer who paid $3000 feel when he/she checked KS and saw me selling the same snake he/she bought from me a week ago for 50% off?

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem wrong?

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If and when I decide to buy a top dollar morph (heeeello pied!), I will only buy from a reputable breeder who consequently probably doesn't advertise on KS or slash prices from week to week.

Animals are different than factory made, non-living things. True you can get a "lemon" DVD player, but the same model DVD player is still same whether you buy it from BestBuy, Walmart or unused off of eBay.

A captive bred animal is completely different. I want to know I'm buying a quality "model" from a good source that has been raised well and taken care of and that I'll have "good customer service" with the seller after the sale. That is worth a bit extra to me than buying from the cheapest seller on the block.

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That being said, I didn't answer the survey. We paid $80 for Cleo from a big chain pet store and $200 for Carmen from LLL Reptile. I could have gotten a good ball python for less money even from a good breeder (I didn't know any better then) and could have spent more getting a Suri from a good breeder (Gus at Rio Bravo has his 2006 Suri's up for sale - OH MY *drool*).

But Cleo and Carmen are pets. I really don't have any intention to breed snakes - just not something I'm into right now nor do I think I will be.

Everyone knows I *LUB* me a piebald but I'm really not into the idea of breeding and I just don't think I can bring myself to spend $5-6000 on what would be strictly a "pet".

I firmly believe that a piebald from a reputable breeder is worth that much, but I can't spend that much on a pet in the same way I don't think I could spend $1-2000 on a pure bred puppy*.

*Well, you know I would if that's what Rick really wanted, but I'm a softie. =D

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

Hi and welcome to the panties for pythons program. LOL

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LOL so much here at work I got in trouble, but dang that was one great comment!

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Originally Posted by cueball

I think Wysocki says it best when he talks about not getting in over your head and not being financially ruined if something goes wrong. I have taken this advice and feel more comfortable spending money on ball python morphs. For me personally this is a professional hobby. Professional in the literal sense that I need/want for it to have a return. If it where not for the return aspect of the hobby I would probably keep "normal" wild type ball pythons as I think they are just as beautiful. However I am in 10k+ per animal category because I'm interested in both facets of the hobby. I have a small collection though that does not put me out of control physically or financially. This is a dangerous line that is drawn though and I can see where that line can/could be easily crossed. I wish everybody the best of luck and truly enjoy being part of this group :grouphug:

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That was an awesome statement Cue, one I agree with very much (except I am in the $1000 range currently)

well i think i'll stay within the $500-$1000 range. im not the kind of person that would spend thousands of dollars on one snake.plus i have college tuition to pay for.