Help me to understand.

[JB_Orchidguy]

OK I am going to try to put this as gently as possible. Please do not blast me, but help me to understand the reasoning.

OK. I was looking at one of the site listed in the Hypo thread and they had a few snakes listed for $25K. Please help me to understand why that kind of price is justified? This is how I look at it. As I said help me to understand. Not blast me please. If someone is charging $25K for a snake then that only leads to its offspring being high priced also.You cannot say it costs more to keep these snakes because it doesn't. Granted its a morph or color that someone else doesn't have, but they will be wide spread sooner or later. I can understand selling a snake for about $2K. Although I still think that is alot of money, but I would pay 800 to 1000 for a snake to get something I would like, but those are Het prices. I'm not trying to slam anyone so please do not take it that way. If I had the snakes and I knew I could get $25K for them I would sell them at that price too. I just want to know the rational they have for those kinds of prices.

I sure hope the snake that apeared to be Pied when I disected the lost egg open was a pied and not a snake that hasn't developed all its color yet. Because I did two eggs one from two different clutches that didn't make it and one was fully normal. If that is the case I will be able to jump on the band waggon and might be able to get one of those fabulous $25K specimens. Thanks for everyones answers. I will say again this is not a slame towards anyone for prices like that. I would just like to know why so I can have a better understanding. Thanks

[Adam_Wysocki]

OK. I was looking at one of the site listed in the Hypo thread and they had a few snakes listed for $25K. Please help me to understand why that kind of price is justified?

In a free and open market, people can price their products however they want to. If animals are priced at $25K, then it's because that is what people are willing to pay for them. A business person like a ball python breeder wouldn't be very smart to price an animal at $3,000.00 if there are people out there willing to pay $25,000.00 for the chance to own an animal that there may be only 30 of in the entire world.

Don't blame the person selling the animals for the high prices, blame the people that are willing to pay.

If I had the snakes and I knew I could get $25K for them I would sell them at that price too.

Exactly. Didn't you just answer your own question? So what’s the issue?

I sure hope the snake that apeared to be Pied when I disected the lost egg open was a pied and not a snake that hasn't developed all its color yet. Because I did two eggs one from two different clutches that didn't make it and one was fully normal. If that is the case I will be able to jump on the band waggon and might be able to get one of those fabulous $25K specimens.

I think you are over simplifying. For one, you don't have a morph, you're embryos were just discolored due to improper incubation. Secondly, high dollar animals are being sold because they have been proven to be something special and unique and REPRODUCIBLE, and someone paid big money for the original animal out of Africa.

All of the morphs started with a single specimen or two that was imported from Africa ... these original morphs were very expensive. The original breeder took the time to establish the animal, get it healthy, breed it, and prove it out (which sometimes takes 5 years). All the while that breeder had payroll, food bills, taxes, rent, and other overhead to take care of. The money to cover the cost of the original animal plus the breeders expenses has to come from somewhere. I think the prices are more than justified.

Remember, these $25,000.00 animals aren't growing on trees ... there are literally only handfuls of the on the planet ... they are RARE ... and like all rare things, if you want something that has extremely limited availability, you have to pay … as they are sold and bred the supply will increase and the price will eventually come down.

-adam

[JB_Orchidguy]

Thanks Adam. As I said I wasn't blaming anyone for anything because I would be on the same band waggon too given the chance. I know my chances of having a morph are so slim it isn't funny, but wouldnt it be cool to have two Hets and not even know it, and to have only paid roughly 60 dollars for both snakes? What would the odds be? LMAO Come on stop putting out my glimmer of hope Adam. A guy can dream can't he? I have fantasies all the time. This is just the newest one. Adams spoiling all my fun and dreams . Even though he is probably right.

I also didn't realize the numbers were only like 30 in the world either. Now that explains alot. I didn't realize those morph were so new.

[Adam_Wysocki]

but wouldnt it be cool to have two Hets and not even know it, and to have only paid roughly 60 dollars for both snakes? What would the odds be?

You'd have better odds at winning the lottery.

-adam

[ssscales]

I think it comes down to supply & demand. When demand is high and supply is low sellers can ask for these prices as long as people are willing to pay it, its that simple. As supply balances out with the demands you'll see more competition around prices. As supply out weighs the demand...prices will drop to that last tier.

People with the resources that invest in that 1st tier when a new morph comes out want to make their investment back. They can charge that high dollar because they themselves put up the high dollar to reproduce that morph.Who sets the price for these morphs, buyers.

If someone wasn't willing to pay $25K, $100K or $200K for a morph, I don't think it would stay at that price for too long.

It's all a matter of what it's worth to someone, your house may be worth $200K today because someone was willing to pay $200K for it. If your neighbor sells his home similar to yours for $210K and the one across the street sells his home for $220K then all of a sudden your home is valued at $220K+ because some buyers felt it was worth $220K to live in that area.

If your neighbor asked $210K and had it on the market for 12-18 months and ended up selling for $180K and the guy across the street had his on the market for 6 months and sold his for $178K, your home just depreciated down to the $170K-$180K price line.

In SF realtors were knocking on doors of homes that weren't even for sale offering owners $100K-$200K-$300K over the value of the homes, why…demand Vs supply.

[sirhissball]

I know that my case is the exception and not the rule, but here goes my little surprise morph story. I bought my BP from a local pet store, and the owner of the store breeds the little guys to sell there, so they are CBB. I picked out the one that I wanted, and the owner asked me if I was planning on breeding BP's. I said no, and that was that. A month later in the same store looking around, he asked how my snake was doing, I told him everything was fine. We then started talking about his breeding and he told me that the snake I bought from him is 50% het for pied. He said that he doesn't bother trying to make any more money off of a 50% het...but he had some 100% het's that he was trying to sell me! I asked him if he had any documentation to prove it, he declined. Bottomline...you just never know, if he is telling the truth, I could have a surprise somewhere in the very, very distant future, that would be nice.

[Adam_Wysocki]

Possible het males are frequently dumped into the pet trade because of the lack of demand. Once 100% het male prices reach a certain low watermark, people don't even want to bother with possible het males.

Not unusual at all.

-adam

[ssscales]

Just look at Albino boas, Albino boas have dropped in price to $750-$900.

You can buy male 100% Hets now for as low as $75.00 (no more than a normal), females still fetch $200-$250, but are sometimes given away with the purchase of an Albino male for $900-$1000.

[4theSNAKElady]

here here Adam. Breeding snakes is just like breeding dogs or cats, or whatever. The more rare something is, the more valuable it is, and when the demand is high, well people are willing to pay more. Breeders of top show dogs charge thousands of dollars just ofr stud fees...and lots of people pay it to!! Hell, i remember when people were paying thousands of dollars for those darn beanie babies!!! I'd much rather invest the money in a nice pair of het pieds or something.....Like y'all said, don't blame the seller, question the buyer....its only worth what someone's willing to pay.

[wolfy-hound]

A snakes value can also be calculated on what the breeder is doing project wise. Some breeders wouldn't pay $500 for a adult albino, as they are concentrating on projectswhich don't need albinos in them.(assuming you are not allowed to resell the animal!!) A breeder who hatches out several snakes of a certain type that he/she is attempting to prove out or needs for certain breeding projects will put a higher price on those snakes as they are worth more to that particular person.
I love pieds, and pay more for a pied snake than I would ever pay for a caramel albino for instance. I want cinnamon pastels for a project and will eventually pay through the nose for a pair. But I really need them for the project so I don' tmind paying the extra.
w.