Wild vs. Captive: How will the numbers add up in the future?

[daniel1983]

I was wondering what everyones' opinions on the current/future captive ball python production and its' effects on importation from the wild.

[tmlowe5704]

I was wondering what everyones' opinions on the current/future captive ball python production and its' effects on importation from the wild.

I feel that people will still continue to import just as many as there are now. When you have people selling baby females for $10 a piece and wild caught adult females for $30 people will continue to buy them.

[daniel1983]

I feel that people will still continue to import just as many as there are now. When you have people selling baby females for $10 a piece and wild caught adult females for $30 people will continue to buy them.

Using corn snakes as an example. Do you still see wild corn snakes being sold commonly?? Will ball pythons reach the point that wild caught/captive hatched animals are 'rare'?

Will the declining price of ball python morphs have any effect on the importation? For example, once pastels hit the $100 mark....why would someone buy a captive hatched normal at a pet store for $80 instead of buying a captive bred $100 pastel? I have seen pastels for sale in pet stores already....so it is quite a possibility down the road a little.

[jotay]

Using corn snakes as an example. Do you still see wild corn snakes being sold commonly?? Will ball pythons reach the point that wild caught/captive hatched animals are 'rare'?

Will the declining price of ball python morphs have any effect on the importation? For example, once pastels hit the $100 mark....why would someone buy a captive hatched normal at a pet store for $80 instead of buying a captive bred $100 pastel? I have seen pastels for sale in pet stores already....so it is quite a possibility down the road a little.

I have to agree with you on that. I choose the down the rode vote. As prices decline on morphs why would there even be a market to import for sale.
Now there is because of the cost factor. When that levels out or gets close then the demand won't be so high so there goes the supply. It is the whole supply/demand thing.

[coldbloodaddict]

I have to agree with you on that. I choose the down the rode vote. As prices decline on morphs why would there even be a market to import for sale.
Now there is because of the cost factor. When that levels out or gets close then the demand won't be so high so there goes the supply. It is the whole supply/demand thing.

Importers buy the Normal Imports to have the opportunity to buy the possible New Morph Imports...They also have to bring in more than just Balls...

[tmlowe5704]

With my comment, I was stating about ball pythons only because it is in the general BP section. I do not know about corn snakes so I can't say for those.

[jotay]

Importers buy the Normal Imports to have the opportunity to buy the possible New Morph Imports...They also have to bring in more than just Balls...

Again it is supply and demand. If no one is buying the normals because there is not a market so much anymore because prices of morphs are more affordable then do you really think the importers wouldn't sell that import morph because no one is buying normals?
In other words if there isn't a market of import normals then they won't sell them anymore and just move on to selling the morph import .
Kinda like w/ the invention of the car I am sure horse sales declined.

I am only speaking on bp's not any other import

[Mendel's Balls]

I voted, "Captive breeding will effect importation down the road, but not anytime soon."

However, I think the fourth choice, "Captive breeding will increase ball python popularity; therefore increasing importation" has already happened to a large extent. The drive to find more base morphs and the possibility of creating designer morphs in captivity certainly have brought this animal from the back burner of the herp hobby to the forefront.

At some point, however, there wont be many more base morphs to discover in the wild and there will be a lot of normals and possible hets that breeders small,medium, and large will need to sell off.

[Rapture]

I voted for the last choice... I think more will continue to come in as everyone is looking for odd balls.

[daniel1983]

With my comment, I was stating about ball pythons only because it is in the general BP section. I do not know about corn snakes so I can't say for those.

This is about ball pythons only...maybe I was not clear in my phrasing. I was stating that you no longer see wild caught corn snakes readily available in the pet industry....but you can walk into just about any pet store and see some for sale. That means that their captive numbers outwiegh those being taken from the wild. I was asking if you believe ball pythons will reach that level or will they continue to be heavily imported from the wild.