Quote Originally Posted by Freakie_frog
I am with Adam I couldn't spend 4500 on a pied so if someone had one at say 2500 or even 1500 yea I be all ove it. I think to some who you got it from is just as important as what the animal looks like. Braging rights basicly. You say oh thats a spider from some dude at an expo and people will go oh its pretty, and never know the differance. To someone like Me and Cue and Tim and some others we get a kick out of saying thats an 8Ball, or I got that one streight for Sean at EBN or Mark Janaus (sp) hand picked that one for me. Now thats not to say that I wouldn't walk by a booth of some unknown and not find something I like. Its all in what you want if you just want a spider or a mojave and don't care about the breeder name then cool more power to you. I have a couple like that. Its all in what you want.
It should always be about what you want and what you like...
I myself have never bragged about "who" I bought from... Now if I was walking past booths say Greg Graziani, 8ball, RDR... and I saw an animal I liked... and then I saw some guy with only a couple of tables and a fraction of the animals but he had a stunning spider just as beautiful as any that the others had...but cheaper... I'd still opt for it. To me a Ball Python is a Ball python... Whether it's a RDR or a Graziani... Now of course I'm new to the whole show circuit but I've seen a few unknown or smaller known breeders with animals just as beautiful as the "big guy's"...

Now the question here is this... Everyone's talking about buying from the big breeders... What about the guy on BP.net who has been keeping ball pythons for a few years decides to take on breeding (alot of 'em on here including myself) produces some clutches and decides to put "them" on the market... He prices a little bit lower than the big guys but offers great customer service, has healthy & very beautiful animals keeps track of all of their records; weight, feeding, sheds & ect,... Are you going to not purchase from him because his price is lower? Does that automatically make his animals lower quality?

The fact is... Not everyone buying morphs are breeders, though alot are or have the intent to. Alot of the people that post about a low price aren't really bragging either... It's more so excitement and happiness and the fact that they want to share that. Alot of people are cool with it, the others that see these snakes as $$$ (investment/business) it's a nightmare...

Adam made a comment that "I say good for the people that get the deals! ... They have a right to brag! "

I'd say it's more happiness but ok...

Then he writes: Would you really feel good about a "het" that someone needed to move so badly that they dropped the price at least a thousand dollars below market value?

Well I myself and I'm sure most of everybody on here probably would...why shouldn't you? If you got a good deal and paid below the rest, if you actually paid below market value (I mean who is to say what is market value?). Here you have some saying $750 is market for Spiders and others saying $1000!! Why would you feel bad about it? If I needed $$$ and decided to sell my Pied (say I had one) for $1000, why should you feel bad about buying it?