What is the bp market like?

[Royal Morphz]

Also everyone keeps looking at this as a hobby, are there any of you out there looking at breeding pythons strictly as a business? I mean of course you would love and care for the animals, I'm not saying heartlessly a business.

Ralph Davis is the only Breeder that does mainly Ball Pythons and he still has a General contracting company that he goes to work at everyday. There are others that do this full time but ask them and they have cut there breeding down to try and concur with the growth of the hobbyist breeder. You will not find many on the site that are a full time breeder because that is just so hard to do. Can the babies you produce fund your collection? Probably not and I say that because there will always be money to pay for rodents or electricity and no babies to sell.

[PitOnTheProwl]

I havent been into snakes long but I am thinking of breeding for the morph I want mainly because I cannot afford to drop 1k plus on one snake. Would it be nice to live a dream of my snakes supporting me? Yes. In reality I know they are not cheap to upkeep and there is always something that needs to be bought. When we got up to 5 I noticed my electricity bill go up a bit, sure will hate to see it when we get up to 30 or more snakes

[Wh00h0069]

In my opinion, it is extremely flooded. As long as you know how to market your animals, you should not have a problem selling them. You just have to know how to price them, and get your name out there. Prices are falling very quickly, so you will not likely make much money unless you invest heavily in the high-dollar morphs. They are fun to breed regardless of the market prices.

[sho220]

The future of the ball market is selective breeding...you can't just throw a couple snakes together and expect to get top dollar for the babies. You have to be patient, maybe willing to spend more for your animals, plan your breedings carefully, and produce the best examples of the morphs you choose to work with. It would also be cool to see bp's move in the direction of say dogs/horses/cats, etc. where they have shows to display and judge people's animals and give recognition to those breeders producing the best of the best...

[LotsaBalls]

The future of the ball market is selective breeding...you can't just throw a couple snakes together and expect to get top dollar for the babies. You have to be patient, maybe willing to spend more for your animals, plan your breedings carefully, and produce the best examples of the morphs you choose to work with. It would also be cool to see bp's move in the direction of say dogs/horses/cats, etc. where they have shows to display and judge people's animals and give recognition to those breeders producing the best of the best...

I like this thought.

[NewParadigms]

The future of the ball market is selective breeding...you can't just throw a couple snakes together and expect to get top dollar for the babies. You have to be patient, maybe willing to spend more for your animals, plan your breedings carefully, and produce the best examples of the morphs you choose to work with. It would also be cool to see bp's move in the direction of say dogs/horses/cats, etc. where they have shows to display and judge people's animals and give recognition to those breeders producing the best of the best...

If we want these kind of shows, we can't wait for some outside group to offer it. It's up to us, those in the community who wish to see these things, to develop and promote them. I'm sure with the many reptileshows nationwide, the venue is already there, we just need the initiative to get it going.

[monk90222]

Normals are the easiest to sell. Its the single co-dom morphs that are a bit of a challenge to sell. The market is FULL of them and people are willing to slash prices just to move them.
Don't do it for money, do it for the love of Ball Pythons.

[Amon Ra Reptiles]

I may be just restating what's already been said but here's my .02. I don't think anyone here would try to discourage you from breeding, but breeding as a business just isn't terribly realistic, at least not in the short term. I'm not a breeder as of yet but my girlfriend and i have begun purchasing animals and plan to break into breeding next season. We have accepted the fact that our animals will not be self sufficient for several years but we too have morphs we can't afford and hope to produce and if we make a little money along the way. If you love the animals and enjoy raising them as we do by all means breed but if youre hoping to profit from it any time soon maybe breeding isn't for you.

On a side note if you do decide to breed these boards are an excellent place for information the members here are extremely knowledgable and very helpful. So good luck and have fun!

[steveboos]

I personally DO feel the market is flooded. You are GOING to have normals in most of the co dom and recessive morphs you work with, selling those normals can be difficult. A petstore isn't going to buy from somebody just cause they have normals, you need to have a reputation with them for good animals. They don't want their customers complaining to them because the animals aren't up to quality.

Also when it comes to selling your animals, There is currently only one company that will ship them legally and you need to be certified, FedEx. Selling local is almost impossible, unless you have a friend with a vendor table at a local expo.

The market is flooded with pastels, spiders, mojaves, cinnamons, lessers, about every single simple morph is out there by the hundreds and it's just an all out war to see who can grab the customers attention with the lowest price SHIPPED!!!!

I thought about breeding and bought an albino and a spider, sold them. Then bought a bumble bee, pinstripe and a large normal, sold them. Then i decided to stop worrying about breeding a just buy what i wanted. Now i have BRB's, a GTP, my dream piebald, and my rescued normals.

I bought some possible het piebalds since it's worth the risk for the price i paid, so in a couple years if i want to take the risk, i can go ahead and breed them for that elusive piebald!!

From my perspective, this is not the hobby to get into unless your willing to spend $10,000 on just snakes to get the hottest morphs. But then you have to create a reputation, get good feedback, buy all the necessary supplies, and that all takes time and even more money.

I've been keeping snakes for about 2 years and have spent almost $4,000. The snakes i sold i either made my money back or lost a good bit. I never have made money because the prices of morphs keeps going down every season.

You have a lot to think about, I'm done, my fingers hurt .

[OhhWatALoser]

So it seems like I am obsessed with ball pythons and love the idea of breeding them. However I'm not entirely sure on how easy it is to sell them. I'm especially concerned about normal ball pythons. Are they easy to sell? Obviously you realize that I would be starting off on a smaller budget. Is it worth doing this on a business aspect? Or should I save more money to enter with better morphs from the start? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Normal are easy to sell, craigslist their gone in a day, morphs are the ones that are hard to sell, I had to get rid of my lessers at stupid low prices because no one will buy from a nobody like me. snakes are a bad business to get into the risk is so much greater vs money to be made than other things you can do, your better off playing the scam stock market. I just do it because I want the high end morphs, I love em, its like artwork to me. The other babies I produce along the way, i just hope they make someone else happy. I don't do it for the money, I just want to acquire the high end morphs lol.

put it perspective I've spend over 10K total on everything, and ive made about 700 dollars so far