Quote Originally Posted by Skiploder View Post
People who stay in this hobby for the long run do so for reasons other than money.

They do it for reasons other than breeding. They do it because the love their animals. They look forward to interact with their animals. They do not look forward to the cleanings and feedings and record keeping as chores - but activities that they find peace or pleasure in.

I've seen a lot of people come and go. A lot of people who have sprung into this hobby and built up a cult of personality around them due to the fact that they could get two expensive snakes to screw. They convince themselves and others that they are in it for the love of the animals, but in the end the love of the dollar seems to cancel out the love of the species. At some point they realize that they aren't going to strike it rich in this ponzi scheme and quietly fade off.

Then there are the people who get bit with the bug and begin collecting animals. They have no idea how costly and time consuming such a collection entails. Again, we see them light up the forums fiercely and briefly and then quietly fade away.

The forums are rife with these people.

Are you one of those people who are in it for the snakes or the money? If it's the latter, do yourself and your animals a favor and find good homes for them.

Are you a person who got into things too fast and the cost of the hobby outstripped your means to support it?

I honestly can't tell from your post. Is the cost of the hobby weighing you down or did you expect the hobby to pay for itself? (it rarely does).

If so, sell your animals. The hobby should not be a chore. It should be something that brings you pleasure - something you look forward to doing. The last thing anyone needs in their life is something that they elect to do but have no passion for. Time is too precious.

Understand I am not judging you. If for whatever reason you take no joy in keeping and breeding snake, the best thing you can do is find something else to spend your time on that you enjoy doing.
Interesting point of view.

About me - I have loved snakes since I was a little guy. I started catching them and bringing them home. I got out of them around 12 years old. Then I picked up 2 ball pythons about 3 years ago. That led me to get an albino burm - which I enjoy more than any of my other snakes and a RTB. These 4 snakes I got because the people who owned them couldn't take care of them. I didn't spend big money to buy high end morphs, I rescued them. The balls had terrible mites, were underfed and not kept properly. The burm was mean and never handled, underfed and also kept poorly. The poor RTB was lucky to be alive. The people who had it were beyond stupid. She got fed a small rat every other month and sat in a room with no heat, no water, no substrate in a 10 gallon tank and was 3 years old. Since then I have also rescued an adult male tiger retic. I like to help the animals.

Then the ball python bug got me. I spent time on forums and saw the possibilities. I didn't dive in too fast really, Over 2 years, I collected 32 snakes. Some may say that is too fast, but I just bought the ingredients for what I wanted to make.

I thought the hobby would at least come close to paying for itself. I was hoping for the results of the breeding to pay for food for the year at least. I wanted to make the snakes I wanted for my collection and sell the rest to fund some of it. In hindsight, that was a pretty foolish decision I guess. My ROI has been next to nothing, and I just don't know if I can justify continuing to spend money on such a crap shoot. Playing genetics god is fun in its own way, but I'm not sure if its fun enough. I would love to produce some of the awesome snakes I have seen, but it is such a miserably slow hobby. I have always been one for instant gratification and honestly I have a hard time with the idea of a project that could take 5 years.

Its not so much about the money. I know I will never get my money back out of them if I sell them, and probably still wont if I keep them. I guess its more about the time.

I really enjoy interacting with my 2 big snakes - the burm and retic. They are so personable. The ball pythons aren't nearly as active, and though some may argue this, I don't think anywhere near as intelligent. So I guess when all is said and done, I won't get rid of my big snakes, but I just don't know if I should hold out for some cool stuff to happen with the balls or if I am wasting my time.