Why are mojaves more expensive than pastel?

[omnibus2]

Oh i see, thanks for clarifying a lot, past 3 posters. Now I understand it.
Anway I hope mojaves drop a bit in the next year or two, I plan to get one.

[WingedWolfPsion]

You want them to drop lower than $200? They're barely higher priced than a pastel as it is. _I_ don't want to see them drop lower, they deserve more attention than they get.
Of course, like the pastels, I have seen some butt-ugly mojaves lately...adults that I seriously would have passed by as just normals.
I would like to see them quality-priced soon. People are just getting into the swing of that with the pastels. I personally hate to see any morph drop under $200, and I suspect that the supply of those cheaper morphs will start to decline because of the price drop. I wonder if it will ever go back up again as a result?

[pankthesnake]

You want them to drop lower than $200? They're barely higher priced than a pastel as it is. _I_ don't want to see them drop lower, they deserve more attention than they get.
Of course, like the pastels, I have seen some butt-ugly mojaves lately...adults that I seriously would have passed by as just normals.
I would like to see them quality-priced soon. People are just getting into the swing of that with the pastels. I personally hate to see any morph drop under $200, and I suspect that the supply of those cheaper morphs will start to decline because of the price drop. I wonder if it will ever go back up again as a result?

Within the next 2-3 years I can see Pastels, especially the lower quality ones you mention, becoming the Ball Python equivalent of the amelanistic corn snake, which reached saturation point many years ago. Amel corns sell for, in the UK, just a few pounds more than a normal, and snows sell for around the same price.

Even if many people stop breeding Pastels, they will still be produced as a 'by-product' of, say, Bumblebee x Normal pairings.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Pastels are so essential to so many truly beautiful combos, what I think we'll see is some truly GOOD pastels starting to actually get the price tags they deserve. It just takes some brave person to make some high-quality pastels, and give them a high price tag to go with it. Perhaps they'll sell, perhaps they won't--but if the animals are good enough, I bet they WILL sell. The value is not in the type of morph alone, but it how it's going to influence the appearance of the hatchlings it produces.

The ordinary run-of-the-mill pastels will continue to drop until they're little more than a normal, I agree with that. They haven't quite bottomed out yet, but they're dropping in $10 increments per year now.

[Lolo76]

Personally, I think the price difference has mostly to do with their respective super forms... since a super Pastel usually sells for around $700-850, but a super Mojo (BEL) can go for over $1000. I have each of these morphs now, and honestly I'm excited about BOTH of their potential.

For the record, I paid $125 for the Pastel and $240 (priced at $300) for the Mojo - both males. And if I must say so myself, they are beautiful examples of the morphs. I plan to mate the Mojave with a Lesser or Butter eventually, in hopes of making BELs; Toby the Pastel will start with a normal, and then we'll see!

[rabernet]

Pastels are so essential to so many truly beautiful combos, what I think we'll see is some truly GOOD pastels starting to actually get the price tags they deserve. It just takes some brave person to make some high-quality pastels, and give them a high price tag to go with it. Perhaps they'll sell, perhaps they won't--but if the animals are good enough, I bet they WILL sell. The value is not in the type of morph alone, but it how it's going to influence the appearance of the hatchlings it produces.

The ordinary run-of-the-mill pastels will continue to drop until they're little more than a normal, I agree with that. They haven't quite bottomed out yet, but they're dropping in $10 increments per year now.

This coming season, because of the growing waiting list that I have for Winston babies (my lemon pastel) and because I don't have any morph females ready to go this season, Winston will be selectively bred to 3-5 of my lightest females. He will be going back to the female that produced my holdback female (she can be seen on my website on "The Nest" link), and other females that I feel confident will compliment his offspring.

Quality Winston babies will be priced for more than your average pastel. I have no heartache about keeping all his offspring for myself if they don't sell, but I'm really not concerned about them not selling. Of course, they will be graded and priced accordingly.

I have a handful more females that will also be ready to go, but will not be paired with Winston, because I don't believe that they will compliment his offspring. Instead, they will be paired with other males in my collection. I truly believe that selective breeding is the future for ball pythons. I don't want to produce animals for the sake of producing them. If it means I can't put a Winston baby each person on the waiting list's collection this year, then so be it. I won't compromise quality for quantity. And I don't think that people who are waiting for his babies would want me to either.