Debating getting rid of everything...

[snake lab]

If its your time you want to free up and you dont like the maint, and work involved then getting big snakes is not the answer. They are more work. Bottom line is you are on a website devoted to the hobby and the love of reptiles. If you dont like the work it takes then i say sell em all and get out of the hobby. If the love is gone then its done. Now if you wanted your hobby to pay for itself and turn it into a buisness then it takes money to invest in order to do so. You also have to spend the money on animals that sell not just cool animals you want to breed. It sounds to me that you saw the ball market and thought hey i can breed and make money. Its not that easy.

It takes alot of work and time to turn it into a profitable venture. Obviouslly the easiest way to do so is by dumping a ton of money to set yourself up. That is the quickest way but not alot of people can do it that way. Most started small and grew a collection. I started in the early 90s with big snakes and switched gears towards the late 90s to balls and stayed with them ever since. Ive had times i thought about getting out of it and everytime i did i couldnt pull the trigger. I love the science behind the genetics and seeing what i can produce too much to stop. You have to ask yourself if you are commited cause if yoir not then your husbandry is going to lapse along with your intrest and if thats happening then you might as well call it quits.

[Andrew00]

Just whatever you do, hold on to some of your racks and supplies. You will be back, and when you are, you will be thankfully not to have to put hundreds of dollars into that stuff.

[Charlie And Lucy]

I say sell off what you aren't attached to, and keep your big snakes. I don't think it's right to hold out for something cool to happen with your balls. This hobby takes a lot of patience and love for the animals, and if you don't have that patience, this isn't for you.

[jtyson123]

I think I am going to start checking the market today to see how much to sell them for. Other than kingsnake and fauna, where else should I look to gauge what I should ask? I want to be fair, but I would like to try to get some of my money back out of them.

I think I am going to hold on to the 3 females I have had lock up already, but get rid of all the other balls. That way, it cuts my collection down significantly enough to where to cleaning and feeding isn't such a chore. And I will hang on to my baby rack and an adult rack so that in the event I do want to do it again, I won't be starting with nothing.

I think for now I'll keep all the big snakes.

It wasn't done solely as a business venture. I wanted to breed to create stuff for my own collection. It was probably foolish to think that I could breed enough other stuff to cover the overhead, but oh well.

Thanks again everyone.

[mastaxaph]

Well a lot of us are interested. So your hard part is done just. Make a list a.d a pic of each. That'll work best..and price next to it.

[Crawly's Mom]

I agree! I think you would have a lot of interest on this forum alone. Post what you have with some pictures, I am sure you will find a lot of people interested. Besides you would know that whoever took your snakes is a member of the forum and that just makes them better people all around lol!

[rabernet]

First - Admin hat on - let's watch the conversation here, several posts are very close to (if not already) infractable Advertising outside of the For Sale/Adoption/Wanted forum.

Admin hat off - thirty two snakes in two years, and attempting breeding just one year in is jumping in with both feet and not looking. I personally think you built up your collection very quickly and had unrealistic expectations of some sort of return when you started to breed after just one year of keeping ball pythons.

My strategy was different. I built my collection slowly, I didn't take shortcuts and buy breedable weight females, I raised my females up from babies. I breed going into my fourth year of keeping ball pythons. Those four years were years that all I did was feed and clean, and solidified my love for spending time with my critters.

My first few seasons of breeding, I took monetary losses each year. But I also expected it. This year is the first year I've actually made money, and I'm excited for this upcoming season and the next level that I'm taking my collection.

So, yes - I think that you DID get into this very fast, with unrealistic expectations. You already know the answer as to what you should do, and you really don't need us to validate that decision.

[jtyson123]

First - Admin hat on - let's watch the conversation here, several posts are very close to (if not already) infractable Advertising outside of the For Sale/Adoption/Wanted forum.

Admin hat off - thirty two snakes in two years, and attempting breeding just one year in is jumping in with both feet and not looking. I personally think you built up your collection very quickly and had unrealistic expectations of some sort of return when you started to breed after just one year of keeping ball pythons.

My strategy was different. I built my collection slowly, I didn't take shortcuts and buy breedable weight females, I raised my females up from babies. I breed going into my fourth year of keeping ball pythons. Those four years were years that all I did was feed and clean, and solidified my love for spending time with my critters.

My first few seasons of breeding, I took monetary losses each year. But I also expected it. This year is the first year I've actually made money, and I'm excited for this upcoming season and the next level that I'm taking my collection.

So, yes - I think that you DID get into this very fast, with unrealistic expectations. You already know the answer as to what you should do, and you really don't need us to validate that decision.

My apologies didn't mean to seem as though I am trying to advertise here. I came looking for opinions on what to do, not to sell in this thread.

Yes I did acquire quite a bit in two years. However I disagree that my expectations to produce something were unrealistic. I didn't purchase all babies and power feed them. I purchased adults and sub adults and didn't attempt to breed any of them until the second year I had them (this previous season). Why I had such a minimal success rate as far as them taking, I don't know. I did everything I should have done according to about 1000 different sets of directions I found on here and elsewhere on the net.

Either way you are correct, I have come to the conclusion that I really don't love it like I thought I would. I still think its cool so I think I am going to hang on to a couple of the balls, but the rest I will be selling.

Now since you are admin and can probably answer this best, where do I need to post to ask what I should sell the snakes I do have for? I have been scouring kingsnake and fauna to see what things are going for, but I want some opinions as to what people are really paying and what is fair.

[rabernet]

You could ask what market value is for the different snakes you have. If anyone asks you in the thread about selling to them, do not respond in the thread, simply PM them to follow up.

BP Morphs and Genetics would be a good place to ask market value.

[jtyson123]

You could ask what market value is for the different snakes you have. If anyone asks you in the thread about selling to them, do not respond in the thread, simply PM them to follow up.

BP Morphs and Genetics would be a good place to ask market value.

Thanks! Here is a link to the thread I created
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...03#post1699503