Julie,
Your line of thinking is a typical newbie mistake. You are trying to price your animals, and even discount them before they exist. Newbies tend to think that you have to be a big breeder to charge full price. This is completely and totally not true. In fact, the opposite is often true.
I guarantee you that there are plenty of people in your area that would be willing to pay you MORE then they would pay to the big breeders because you are local to them. They can meet you in person and look at your animals. They can ask you questions and get one on one customer service in person because you are THE local breeder.
The Big Breeder that you see online probably sells the majority of their stuff online, or at shows. That means that they have to keep prices low and on par with the other internet guys, or the other people at the show. If someone wants to buy from them they usually have to order the snake without even seeing it in person. They have to pay for shipping. They have to wait for it to arrive. They have to risk the snake showing up dead. Or they have to wait to go to a show to get it. With you they can call you and meet up with you that same day and look and touch in person... they can even take it home IMEDIATELY!
How do you think petco charges $80 for normals and sell out all the time? Why do you think prices for low quality morphs are so high in reptile shops? It is because they can charge those prices, the local people will pay them.
When your babies do come, put them up for sale at whatever the going kingsnake price is plus 25%. Local people will pay that all day long because you are local.
And yes, if you offer your snakes for lower then they need to be you will piss people off. This is true in any business. The ball python world is ultimately a pretty small world.
Reply With Quote