Africa?

[herplover92]

I am curious about how breeders get their wild caught balls.
Do they get them for free from the wild?(if they get them from the wild, can you find morph?)
Do locals charge them for BP's they take from the wild?
Do they get them from farms that belong to locals?( do they charge for morphs, if so how much?)
Do they get the eggs or the hatchlings?

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Wild caught... hrm

They are caught in the wild .

CH = wild caught lays eggs, or a WC clutch is raided and they have eggs , and they are incubated in captivity.

So I guess if they own the land, or have rights to take them from the land, they get them for free (meaning hunting them down, or laying nets, etc to capture them).

Do they find morphs. Absolutely, but you have to consider the odds... definitely more co-dom morphs are found than recessive. (Yb, pastels, etc)

I'm sure most either have certain areas where they farm them from. Certain plantations that draw rodents for feeding, also draw snakes. I do not know for sure, but I imagine they either pay locals to go hunt them, or they pay for ones that are caught.

If a snake is being sold as a hatchling, CH or CB, then it was hatched in captivity. If they catch a hatchling in the wild, it should be considered WC

Again I'm not sure, but I feel think that there are higher up individuals who own most of the "farm" facilities, or the plantations on which more snakes are caught.



Just a note, this entire post was conjecture and what Ive gathered from reading. All or none of it could be true (minus the well known bits, like WC CH Etc)

[Adam_Wysocki]

I am curious about how breeders get their wild caught balls.

99% of the time big breeders get their wc balls from importers in the US, Europe, and Asia that get them from exporters in Africa. Smaller breeders usually get their WC's from middle men that get them from the importers. Some big breeders have relationships with trappers in Africa and get high end stuff directly.

Do they get them for free from the wild?

No. Nothing is free in this world.

(if they get them from the wild, can you find morph?)

Yes. Morphs can be and are found in the wild.

Do locals charge them for BP's they take from the wild?

You got that! ... Ball pythons are big business in West Africa ... tightly controlled ... a trapper that finds a morph in the wild can make enough money to feed his family for a year.

Do they get them from farms that belong to locals?( do they charge for morphs, if so how much?)

The trappers work for the farms that are controlled by the exporters. Yes, they charge big bucks for morphs. The prices are the same as they are over here ... the Africans have internet connections, they visit ks.com, they know what people are paying for these animals, and they get their piece of the pie.

Do they get the eggs or the hatchlings?

The eggs are collected from gravid females found in the wild and incubated on the farms in Africa.

-adam

[Adam_Wysocki]

All or none of it could be true

Looks like mostly none.

-adam

[xdeus]

The prices are the same as they are over here ... the Africans have internet connections, they visit ks.com, they know what people are paying for these animals, and they get their piece of the pie.

I don't see how that could be possible. I don't think too many people would pay the same price for a common WC morph as a proven CBB one. Look at the BEL and Lessers that are up for sale. I think Africa has a reptuation for poor quality as well (mites, parasites, hard to feed), so even if they did produce CBB morphs over there, they wouldn't get the same price as in the U.S. Of course they could charge a premium for new morphs, and will get it. I have to wonder how many of the new morphs are held back over there and bred, then shipped to an importer as a "one of a kind".

[herplover92]

Thanks Adam, you the man, lol.
Have you ever got any from the wild, or have you ever went to Africa, Adam?
thanks again.
Samuel Zaglul.

[Aric]

that would be sweet to go herping in West Africa for Ball Pythons, not to mention all the other herps. I was asking Ralph about importing a while back and he said back in the day you could get pastels, albinos, etc... cheap, then he said its big business now over there so everything is priced the same as it is over here. I would much rather have a CBB one for the amount of money one will spend on a morph.

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

Looks like mostly none.

-adam

/shrug

I find it hard to believe that most of the farming is done on land owned by poor africans, rather than by rich land owners

like I said, I read/heard this information from a few sources, doesnt make any of it true.

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

I don't see how that could be possible. I don't think too many people would pay the same price for a common WC morph as a proven CBB one. Look at the BEL and Lessers that are up for sale. I think Africa has a reptuation for poor quality as well (mites, parasites, hard to feed), so even if they did produce CBB morphs over there, they wouldn't get the same price as in the U.S. Of course they could charge a premium for new morphs, and will get it. I have to wonder how many of the new morphs where held back over there and bred, then shipped to an importer as a "one of a kind".

beat me to the BEL and lesser comment.

I dont see how individuals (trappers) can actually get much money for morphs over there. If the suppliers refused to buy them, they wouldnt have any means to sell them.

It seems like there would have to be some organizational force over them in order to make this work, and that they would get most of the money

[SnakeySnakeSnake]

You got that! ... Ball pythons are big business in West Africa ... tightly controlled ... a trapper that finds a morph in the wild can make enough money to feed his family for a year.
-adam

*pictures a poor trapper who can feed his family for a year on the revenues from a BP morph, surfing the web on a computer that could feed his family for a year if he sold it*

/edit, this comment was purely for humor, I know they can use internet without owning a computer, Im in an odd mood