What Morphs USED to cost ....

[GoFride]

I may be in the minority here, but I think the price drop may have been the best thing that could have happened. It generated a tremendous amount of interest in what was once a rather exclusive community. As prices dropped, more and more people could join, learn, exchange what they had learned, and influence the rest of the community. It's hard to be afraid of something that's familiar. It's hard to pass a law banning your 10 year old kid's pet. Just my two cents

I think I'll start a thread about this.

[EverEvolvingExotics]

GoFride,

That's what I was getting at. I wanted to know if breeders have found it to be a good or bad thing overall. I have a local breeder here that also thinks it is great. Imagine if purebred dogs were all thousands of dollars apiece and never decreased in price. I sure you would see a lot more mutts running around than Dalmatians.

I would love see a thread specifically on people opinion on this!

[wwmjkd]

I agree that the price drop was beneficial. but check out some of fauna's BOI threads from the early 2000s about scammers who were selling 'hets'. they were asking market price for het albinos and pieds, but were really selling normals, and making a killing. don't get me wrong, I hope they got whatever was coming to them in this life and the next, but I remember being put off of BPs in college due to the exorbitant prices.

[pinkeye714]

That makes me sad. Though i always like to read stories when the snakes were very expensive. makes me wanna take my snakes out of her tubs and rub them on my face in thankful-ness that i was able to get them.

[Luke Martin]

Those clowns were in Daytona of 05 at BHB's table. I remember back when BHB sold 4 pins in Daytona for 25k a peice. Spiders were flying out the racks at 17-20k a peice. I remember getting normal female balls from pet stores for $50 and selling them in the market for $1000. When the prices were that high it was crazy how things were selling, but people started producing rediculous amounts of them and thats when the prices dropped as much as they did. You are able to reach a much larger market with the lower prices, just have to produce a few more snakes.

Here's a Desert that was in Daytona 05 for 25k

[mainbutter]

well it would ssem that the price of pieds and ablbinos would be aot lower if the market was halfing itself every 2 or so years

I posted my "halving every 18 months to every 2 years" guesstimation some time ago, and I remember specifically looking at pieds, het pieds, and lessers. Just to double check myself, I did it again. It took about 1 minute.

1) Do a search on the Ball Python section of fauna classifieds for 'piebald'

2) Pull up the first result (2011, very recent) and last result (2005, 6 years ago)

new
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...hlight=piebald

old
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...hlight=piebald

3) According to my estimation, if 6 years ago a piebald cost 6k, then today it would go for $375-$750

4) Recent post lists asking price at $600.

[mainbutter]

Oh man...$50 for a killer clown creamsicle. I'll take two! Hahaha...

It's happened with pastels.

It's happened with most corn snake combos.

Ball pythons have small clutches, so it will take a long time to get there, but there are big forces at work here driving prices down, and in the future you WILL see crazy combos for $100-200 that today are fetching thousands.

[wwmjkd]

I posted my "halving every 18 months to every 2 years" guesstimation some time ago, and I remember specifically looking at pieds, het pieds, and lessers. Just to double check myself, I did it again. It took about 1 minute.

1) Do a search on the Ball Python section of fauna classifieds for 'piebald'

2) Pull up the first result (2011, very recent) and last result (2005, 6 years ago)

new
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...hlight=piebald

old
http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...hlight=piebald

3) According to my estimation, if 6 years ago a piebald cost 6k, then today it would go for $375-$750

4) Recent post lists asking price at $600.

I think quality pieds still go for $800-$1000 but no one would ever accuse you of not knowing what you're talking about. as a verified clairvoyant, feel free to send any future tips my way sir.

[EverEvolvingExotics]

Mainbutter, I have looked at many ridiculous corn snake morphs for next to nothing. When BPs get that low I will have some insane projects to work on! I can't believe I am able to buy double gene animals for $350-500 these days! High or low prices, ball pythons are always welcome to make babies at my place. They are such an amazing species with an incredibly diverse selection of color and pattern, almost all having lap dog personalities. How could you give that up? If a four gene animal was only worth $50 I would have the most amazing colored and patterned animals on the block!

The same thing is happening with crested geckos. They are an amazing, easy to deal with species. Everyone wants them, supply and demand. All the prices seem to be gravitating downward toward $30 ridiculous morphs...

Even though corn snakes and leopard geckos have dropped tremendously in price many people still thrive to produce the best and latest. There always be people willing to buy them, and people will be happy to sell to them.

This thread is really interesting. I wish more breeders would voice their opinions on whether they find the lowered pricing to be beneficial or harmful to their business.

[Sugarbone]

Yeah I wonder, if ball python prices ever get so low their profit is based on the breeder's overhead, and the prices sort of homogenize like corns - will morphs just be picking what you think looks the best, paying a bit more for more genes or recessives, etc? Then again, they don't have nearly as many babies a year as cornsnakes.