Buying a 4 Figure snake

[pbenner]

Hey guys,

I'm on the verge of doing something that I know I want to do, but I am hesitant to pull the trigger.

I've been eye balling Super Banana Females on MM for some time, and one finally popped up that I am super interested in. My only concern is that I've not yet in my life dropped 4 figures on an Animal before.

I've spent multiple hundreds, 300-700 before on my pets. Dogs and Snakes both, but never quite this much.

Anyone have any thoughts that I should run through before I pull this trigger?

Thanks!

Paul

[JRLongton]

Isn't this why we have credit cards?!


You know your finances better than any of us.

In all seriousness, were it me, I'd probably do it. In addition to snake keeping, I also build and fly RC planes. So I've spent four figures a number of times on various projects. There are lots of hobbies that people spend a lot of money on. No excuses are needed so long as you can afford it.

One caveat, just be careful with the breeder and make sure everything is on the up and up, but I'm sure you already knew that.

[Ax01]

i have a few 4-figure animals. if u pass up this opportunity, are u willing to wait for the next one to be available? will the price be lower if u wait? is the breeder/seller willing to work on a payment plan? is there something unique about the animal? and most importantly to me, ask yourself how bad do u want the animal?

if u breed, IMO the ROI on a 0.1 female maker Super Banana is worth its wait in gold. even if u don't, it rarity of such a morph is still very tempting.

[Helonwheelz383]

Jump on it if it makes sense for you financially! Considering the long lifespan it's really not a bad investment for a pet in my opinion.

[Craiga 01453]

Only you know your financial situation.

For me personally, a 4 figure snake will only happen if I hit the lottery.

But, if I made more money I could justify spending more money.

As for your situation, only you know if you can afford it. Just make sure the breeder is reputable and trustworthy (but, I would say the same if you were buying a $100 snake)

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I was there years ago now I have a hard time imagining spending less than 1K on a BP

It' s all depends on your goals nothing wrong with buying an expensive pet, and if you plan on breeding hopefully you have done your homework and if you did than it should not be an issue.

[Lord Sorril]

Anyone have any thoughts that I should run through before I pull this trigger?

Devils advocate: Snake morphs worth thousands of dollars ten years ago I can buy at Petco now for $100.

[pbenner]

I can afford it. I am planning on breeding and a Super Banana Female was on the list for soon anyways.

This one happens to be about 50% more than I was wanting to spend, but she has 2 more Gene's that I want in her project anyway so she saves me at least one generation of breeding.

Breeder has solid reviews. Am still just on the fence. I won't make an immediate move on her, but if she is there in a couple of weeks I'll probably put a deposit on her.

Was going to spend this quarters bonus on snakes anyways. ^_^

Paul

[Jbabycsx]

Go for it so I can live vicariously through you. I’ve been looking at them for days now wishing I had the money!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dakski]

Sounds like you reached a conclusion. However, I'll give my two cents anyway and for the benefit of others.

If you can afford it is the first question. If the answer is no, then it doesn't matter. If the answer is yes, then you have to ask yourself the following questions and amortize that amount over the life of the animal, say 20 years, and look at it that way:

1. Will I be okay with a similar animal costing much less in several years, or be angry I didn't wait? In other words, is the price worth the cost of being an early owner of a morph, or in some cases, owning a rare animal?

2. How many animals can I add to my collection and how selective should I be at this point? In other words, should I get what I really, really, want and is available now, or hold off, and wait for something else or to see if this is what I really want, and risk getting something else?

In my case, I spent 4 figures on 3 of my last 4 animals. I can pretty safely say I thought they were all my "last" animal, (all unusual, strikingly beautiful, rare, or some combo), justifying the cost to me. Now, with the collection I have, and a full reptile area, and a good amount of time spent with them and maintenance, but not quite too much, they very well may have been.

I bought a Scaleless Sunglow Motely Red Factor Corn (Solana), the only one in the world with those visual traits currently (at least until next breeding season). I've always wanted a scaleless corn and Solana is stunning and a remarkably personable and cool snake. NO REGRETS. I also remember to tell Figment, my Hypo-Lavender adult male corn that I don't love him any less even though he cost $75 (his shipping was almost as much as he was).

Then Katie/SunshineWalker bought Esmeralda/Ezzy, a Bayonaisse Leachie, the most expensive animal I've ever bought, of any kind. What justified that? Katie loved her and wanted her and was willing to take care of her. Given how far she's come, and how rare and incredibly awesome Ezzy is, I couldn't say no. Also, in her case, her tank setup was pretty inexpensive as it's not too big and she lives at room temp, so caging costs were low, offsetting her costs. No regrets.

Then I decided I needed an arboreal snake and got Yafe, the Albino Irian Jaya (50%)/Darwin (50%) Carpet Python hybrid. Rare, beautiful, and the tamest carpet the breeder had. He was 4 figures as well. No regrets.

I did add a very rare BCC, Feliz, as the last, but he was not 4 figures, but I would have paid that for him, he is so cool.