Ball pythons destroying the hobby?

[muddoc]

I have seen plenty of great thoughts and views expressed in this threaed, and thought I might add mine to the growing list.

I simply believe that Ball Pythons are doing zero harm to the hobby/industry. As many have stated, they make great gateway animals to get new people into the hobby. The larger percentage of the population that gets into the hobby, the harder it becomes for governments to place ill written regulations in place. Obviously as any industry grows, there may come a need for some sort of regulation. However, the larger the affected group, the harder it is to get regulations passed that will affect that group.

While Ball Pythons are very popular right now, there are plenty of breeders that breed other species of reptiles. The Ball Python market may actually be helping the smaller markets, by helping the prices of those other animals to stabilize or even increase. Let me explain that further by taking two species and applying what has happened with them over the last ten years or so. Ringed Pythons and Brazilian Rainbow Boas. These two species seem to be on cycles. Here is how the cycle works:

One year you go to a show and you can find BRBs all over the place. So, the supply has surpassed the demand. They are priced at $65 a piece. The following year, many breeders will not pair their Brazillians, because a) they still have stock from last year and b) they can't justify the cost of raising the babies for what the public is paying. So about two or three years goes by, and now you go to that same show. You are looking for a BRB. Guess what, only one guy has them, and they are priced at $150 a piece. He sells out at that higher price, because demand has surpassed supply. Next year, all of the BRB breeders pair their animals up, because they want to make $150 each for their snakes, because that is good money for a BRB. So in about two years after that event, the priced is back down because BRB's are everywhere. The cycle starts over again. I have seen the same thing with Ringed Pythons as well.

So, with that said, I think the pressure taken off of the other species, will drive breeders to make fewer of them, and thus drive prices up because demand is there and supply is low. I know this is a basis of economies, but I wanted to apply it directly to something in our industry.

I know that in the last two years I have gone from working with 4 species to now working with 10 species now. Although Ball Pythons are the bulk of my collection, there are some other species that really interest me, so I decided to work with them, albeit in small numbers. We now have and will breed in the next couple years the following: Ball Pythons, Blood Pythons, Angolan Pythons, Nicuraguan Boas, Kenyan Sand Boas, Corn Snakes, Honduran Milk Snakes, Western Hognose, Rhino Ratsnakes and while it will be a long while before we breed them, I do have and love watching my Aldabra tortoises and Columbian Red Foot tortoises.

That is my take on the subject, and possibly this thread may actually convince a few people to go out and research and pick up a new species.