With well over 70 base morphs out that is somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 million different combo's. So with that said I think we are only just really starting to scratch the surface of what the ball python market is going to do.
Yes profit will be able to be made as long as Ball pythons are legal to own in the US/internationally.Would it be profitable for those who breed them?
I personally think that once the big dollar market i.e. the 15-20K base morph's have seen their time at the top and become more readily available in the common market scene you will see that the people who have made their living at this will continue to do so as long as they shift with the market. I for see the market going from simply paying 1200 for a Calico simply because it a calico to paying $500.00 for really nice example. You're going to see selective breeding and those that have built geared their collection toward selective breed keeping on while those people that bought a gene simply to have said gene regardless of looks will struggle. Because once the prices settle down then your only selling point is how the animals look and that is achieved through selective breeding.What do you guys think that will happen in BP world in about 5 to 10 years when the prices reach the bottom ?
I don't think you will never see the 4+ gene animals making it into the pet trade simply because of the inherent difficulty to produce them regularly. You will see many of the base morphs going for reasonable prices..example in 2006 pieds were 8K for a female and males weren't sold, fast forward 5 years and look where pieds, albinos, hypo's, ect are now. The 4+ gene stuff will have a market in the breeders circle but little Johnny Appleseed you saved his yard cutting money all summer won't be your customer for a 4+ gene animal (exceptions excluded) but for a smoking hot Bee or pied or clown yea..
I see in the next 5-10 years the market changing as far as what your client price point is and I see the majority of sales being 500.00 and below to the average person and the $1500.00 market being between the breeding crowd.. strictly..