What will happen when everyone realizes...

I was in a local pet store the other day....they sold a CH normal ball python for $70 while I was in there. I talked to the owner and she said that they had sold 4 that DAY....and always have people coming in wanting one...at least a few a week.....I live in a city with around 20,000 people and there is that kinda demand.

I also see ads on the classifieds all the time for very nice normal ball pythons selling for $200-$400....reduceds, high golds, blushes, ringers, etc...

I have talked to a few snake keepers and people interested in ball pythons that do not even know that ball python morphs exist....these people have no idea what a pastel, a mojave, or a caramel is....and when they find out about them they all want one...

Normal Ball pythons are HOT!!!! Ball python Morphs are HOT!!!

....that really got me thinking about the size of the ball python industry. All the people that talk about the industry falling have no grasp of the scale of the ball python market. Tens of thousands of ball pythons are sold EACH year. I would not be surprised if there are over a hundred thousand people in this country that keep ball pythons. A few thousand people on the internet that talk about ball pythons are a very very very small part of the actual industry.

What will happen when more reptile keepers and people interested in keeping snakes realize that ball python morphs actually exist. I can almost imagine the demand for ball pythons....it would be more than anyone could imagine.

LMAO....All we need is for Ralph Davis or any other 'big breeder' to do a TV show about ball python morphs on Animal planet, Discovery, or National Geographic...we would all have to get on waiting lists to purchase any morphs...

What do you all think?

SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Wait until I am pumping out super pastels, bumblebees, killerbees, and albino pieds before you spread the word ;)



But my friend actually said the opposite to me today. We live in the chicago area, and he said, why are you getting into breeding. I dont know anyone besides you who has a snake, and who has the money to spend on a $200 snake anyway, let alone a $2,000 one.

I didnt have any GREAT arguments for him, but look how much people pay for pure bred dogs/cats etc

Well I know up here in the middle of nowhere northern Michigan if I walk into either pet store in town the most common snake to see multiples of are the cornsnakes but very closely followed by ball pythons and sometimes there are more bp's than corns in the stores. All this in a little nowhere area of northern MI...hmmm....makes one realize if there wasn't an interest the pet stores wouldn't bother to carry them would they. Of course I'd rather see those buyers going to a good breeder LOL.



~~Jo~~

One of the local reptile shops had around 120 normal babie Balls last year and they sold them for around $40 and last I was there there were only around 20 left. The guy doesnt relize how much they are really worth. All of the other pet shops want $120-200 for a normal. The guy at this one shop "says" he is breeding his het albinos and his het pieds. I just hope hes telling the truth, he was talking to a customer the other day about the price he would sell an albino for and he was wanting to sell them for $200-500. If he does produce pieds and albinos, I might just have to buy him out:hungry:. Luckily we know one of his best employees and he would hold some for us.:banana::headbang:

You always hear people 'worried' about the price of pastels.....LMAO....as long as normals are selling for $100-$500, I have no worries about pastel prices....

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Originally Posted by daniel1983

You always hear people 'worried' about the price of pastels.....LMAO....as long as normals are selling for $100-$500, I have no worries about pastel prices....

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I have heard people crying about the "great pastel market crash" for 3 years now ... because "everyone has them" .... funny, I RAISED my pastel prices in 2005 and I'm having no problems selling them ... crash my ace! ;)

-adam

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Originally Posted by SnakeySnakeSnake

But my friend actually said the opposite to me today. We live in the chicago area, and he said, why are you getting into breeding. I dont know anyone besides you who has a snake, and who has the money to spend on a $200 snake anyway, let alone a $2,000 one.

I didnt have any GREAT arguments for him, but look how much people pay for pure bred dogs/cats etc

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Ask him how many people he really knows...knows well enough to be aware of what kinds of pets they keep. I would bet my next paycheck that its quite a bit less than 50 souls. And even if he's somehow super-popular and knows ohh....150 people well enough to know their animals.....is that tiny little view an accurate picture of the entire pet-keeping/animal-raising population around the world?

How many movie-actors does he know personally? THere are lots of them out there, even though we may not actually know one. Does he know any politicians? Does he know anyone who skydives? I don't...and who'd want to pay that much money to jump out of an airplane??? Makes no sense to me! :rolleyes: ....see what I'm getting at?

It just shows how extremely limited someone's world-view is, when they believe their tiny slice of a social-circle defines the whole of society. :disbelief

I'll tell you when BP prices are going to plummet...NOT ANYTIME SOON!! The duration of my 6 years in the pet store, we literally sold hundreds per year and they were $79.99!!!!! Once in awhile I would share pics with customers of pieds and pastels that I took at shows and they would say something like, "Is that really a BP? , or "I didn't know they came in that color!!" In my opinion, the average pet store shopper is completely ignorant of the whole "BP morph world", and a lot of these customers would definately pay big $$$$ for a "awesome looking snake" that their friends would be jealous of, and they would even boast the the price they paid for it. Of course, supply and demand rules apply to everything, so naturally the prices of morphs will gradually go down some over time. But given how much people are still willing to pay for just normals, I still see morphs holding value for a long time, plus add to the fact new "uncommon" or "brand new" morphs like blue-eyed leucys being added to the list every year or two only heightens the hype and demands for morphs. I always say, forget the dogs!!! Breed snakes instead! There's more money in it, plus you don't have to walk em and they don't poop or pee on the floor!!! Anybody ever heard of someone charging stud fees for a snake?? LOL!!!

Well...people talk about morph prices coming down as supply increases, that could happen. In the grand scheme of things, if more people start demanding those morphs, at the same rate they are produced, the quantity supplied and the quantity demanded both shift, which would not support prices coming down drastically.

Kevin from NERD was on a late-night show with Steve Irwin a few months back, and dropped a bag 'o morphs right on the desk. I think I saw an albino, a bumblebee, a pastel, among others. I think we need to see more of that, our "world" is very much so NOT mainstream.....I think getting the word out would attract a lot of new people.

Great post Daniel. The attraction to Balls (mine in particular. Ok I couldnt resist), is getting bigger all the time. We need to all be spreading the word everyday! I won't be satisfied until Ball Pythons replace dogs and cats as companion animals! Ok, maybe that was a bit much. I don't see the market crash anytime soon and as a new breeder, I am thrilled by the way the craze is growing daily.