Which morphs are stabalizing, which are dropping?

[rabernet]

One thing I think will be an interesting conversation, is do you think the prices on grade A pastels will increase? Why I ask this is because I have noticed that all the good pastels (grade A's) are being purchased like 25 min.s after the add goes up. Soo, with a high demand for them, is it possible that they will sustain their price range, and perhaps maybe even increase alil?

Just my

If I produce lemon pastels as nice as the ones I did last year, I will be pricing them higher than the price for "drab" pastels. If they don't sell - I don't mind at all - I'll keep 'em!

[rabernet]

As for pastels, yeah grading may get an extra $25, but as I said, I've seen males for $50. Proven breeder males for $175. I sold my proven breeder spider for $500.

When Winston (my adult male lemon) was on the BP.net table in Daytona, I was offered $1500 for him. He's not for sale, so it was easy to say no, but Karl said it was a good thing he wasn't there! LOL

[snakedork]

All it takes is for some of these people who keep low balling the market to finally give up and decide they can't make any more money in a field to drive the prices back up. If you produce snakes and they don't sell for the price you want keep them. I have several friends who held back lots of sweet animals this year because they were not willing to give an animal away to make a quick buck. This year i may only have a few snakes for sale. I don't know what price i will put on them yet. I do know what a spider female will produce later. I do know that my females will not be sold for any less than what i am willing to sell them for. But i do know if I hold onto every animal i produce this year I won't be able to house those plus any 2010 offspring. So i will have to sell some. This means that i will have to sell them at or close 2 market price what ever that may be. I did see someone this year sell a cinny for 80 bucks. That does drive some people crazy but I did see it with my own eyes. The snake was skinny But it survived and the person who bought it I think resold it for more. I think quality is the question of the year. I think quality over quantity will win this year. I also see that some breeders may get out of breeding ball pythons due to the fact that there isn't enough money in it for them anymore. If it cost them more to feed there animals then what they make in sales of animals its only business to them. A true hobbiest will always try and breed on a limited basis. Maybe if all of us just cut back on production by 10 to 20% we could actually increase prices due to demand being higher. That is counting on everyone to do that though so it will never happen.

[nova2door]

I have friends selling 08 male spiders for $125-150 and females for around $200.

i saw a male spider for $125 in december 07
so i am sure you could find an 09 for $100
i got 2 spider females this year 1 08 for $250 1 07 $275
i know someone who sold 3 cinnys for $300
and 3 days later they were are a show for $225 each and didn't sell
the more there are for sale the cheaper they get

[BPHERP]

And I'm seeing proven albino males for $600.

A 450 gram male spider for $250 shipped.

Proven male pastel $225 shipped.

300 gram female Lav $3900 shipped.

Albino males $400 females $525 OBO

Pastel males $100 females $200

These are all posted ads that took me less than 5 minutes to find. A good friend of mine just got a 500 gram Enchi for $125 from a well-known breeder. Prices are FAALLLLLLING!

Really, ok, i'll take 2.

[BPHERP]

The market for designer ball pythons (or anything for that matter) will undergo or experience negative pressure from the depression we are in; so 1) factoring in natural supply/demand pressure 2) coupled with the fact that people are spending more of their money on needs, rather than wants, the pricing pressure will be on a downward trend even more so...

…take any “luxury” or “disposable income” item and you will see these trends.

However, hard-core ball python people wont be able to tell the difference between a want and a need in this case.

BrandonsBalls

[Dave763]

From what I can tell, the doms and codoms were falling very fast. The recessive are holding fairly steady. Rare combos( ex.double recessive)will come down as more breeders start producing them. That will take much longer.
The interest in rare ball pythons is growing at a rapid pace. I believe we will see an explosion as more people are able to afford a morph such as a spider or a pastel.
Now is a great time to get into breeding ball pythons.

[FIREball]

Prices are falling and yes it may get frustrating seeing how low these snakes are going for but the plus to falling prices means you will soon see these morphs in pet stores, some are already carrying pastels, spiders, etc.

These retail shops will not be able to keep up with the amount of people purchasing these so if you have tons of females and can produce quantity then you will be good.

Yes there will still be a side of the market that deals with multiple gene morphs and top quality single genes but I really think in the long run it unfortunately is going to be about quantity and not quality.

Just my look at it

[rabernet]

I still believe that there are other buyers out there, like myself, who are willing to pay more for superior quality. Yes, there will be breeders who will breed quantity to fill the niche of the pet stores and the lower quality animals (in looks) and then there will be some of us who wish to only produce the very best examples of each morph they work with through selective breeding - and I do believe that there are buyers for that niche as well.

[KMS]

People need to stop examining the price and be more interested in the quality of the animal....There are alot of jobbers out there buying large lots from larger breeders at a reduced cost and just marking the snakes up very little...I feel that there are just to many people producing ball pythons for the price trend to stop....Maybe with the price drop some will be discouraged and not invest into them now....I feel its no longer about the single mutation its all about the 3,4,5 and so on morphs rolled up into one snake...
Just my 2 cents..
Kevin Stoltz