Why We Are Idiots For Using Kingsnake.com To Price Our Animals

[Matt K]

There is not a thing wrong with being a business. Most of us either do now or plan to sell snakes in the future.

I find it difficult to define a hobby, something one does for pleasure, with a business, something one does for compensation.

I know a guy who keeps a bunch of orchids. He built a greenhouse for them. They're neat. He spends a lot of time with as well as on them. As far as I know, he's never sold one, he's never mentioned anything about wanting to make his investment back or that he wanted to make enough by selling little orchids to buy other orchids.

That's a hobby.

He breeds snakes too. Really nice ones. He sells them for money. I think it's a business he likes a lot but I, just me, don't consider that a hobby. There are different expectations from his interaction between his two interests.

This probably holds true for a great many.

My definitions of hobby and business may be a little more black and white than some.

I'm not claiming I'm right or anyone is wrong, just clarifying and expanding my prior statement.

I think flowers and snakes are different animals though. There is, in my opinion, a lot more that goes into the keeping and breeding of snakes than the keeping and breeding of flowers (given I have absolutely no experience keeping and breeding flowers). There is also a lot more to worry about, and a heavier ethical burden involved in snake husbandry and breeding. Beyond that, the idea of breeding on any sort of upper scale and keeping every single hatchling produced does not seem realistic to me, especially as grown hatchlings reproducing becomes an exponential problem. I think in the snake world if you're going to think about breeding, you have to also think about selling. I don't really think it's an option for 99.9% of people to NOT sell. In my opinion, selling is just another part of the hobby. Just because there is a business element to Ball Python breeding does not mean it's a business and not a hobby, I don't think it's sensical to draw such distinct lines.

Cheers,
-Matt