babies vs adults at shows

[snake lab]

Ok so a question thats been bothering me. Why do more people buy babies at the shoes then adults? The reason i ask is at the last show i had 3 caramels on my table that were babies. Good lookin babies. Average mels. Now i also had the sire to the clutch for sale. He is a crider line smokin proven male. He didnt sell. But the babies flew. Why wait on.raising a baby when you can get the stud? The babies were priced at 400 and the breeder i had him at a bargain at 500. Only thing i can think of was he has a small spot on his head that was from an old rub from when he was a juvi and liked to rub the top of the freedom breeder but its nothing. I also had a smokin pied male breeder priced at 850 and he didnt sell but i sold a really nice pied male 250 grams for 850. Gimme your thoughts

[Cameron Lamb Exotics]

Some people see the smaller number and jump on it without realizing they can buy the adult. But then there are others that like to raise there babies so they can know everything there is to know about them.

[The Serpent Merchant]

I like raising mine up, but in this case I definatly would have gone with the adult.

[Daybreaker]

Well personally, I buy morph babies over adults because I'm "poor" (well not really but you get the idea) lol I myself am in no rush to start breeding and I like seeing my little ones grow up overtime so I don't mind starting off with babies over adults. Plus being a full time student with only a part time job (and online business on the side) I do like saving money while I'm at it.

Now if I had more disposable income and had adults ready to go for breeding purposes then I would definitely go after those adults over waiting for the babies to get up to size.

[Mike41793]

Idk i would have gone with the adults if thats what i was looking for???
Most people probably dont understand all the breeding stuff though...

[Slim]

SL,

I think you may be looking at it from a sucessful breeder's perspective. That breedable adult male is money in the bank for you because you don't have to feed and heat it for 6-9 months before it can produce plugs for your girls.

I'm exclusivley a collector, and I only keep males. When I pick up a new addition, I like to get them well started, but still under 250 grams if possible. With BPs of that size I've had great success getting them switched over to F/T, and I enjoy watching them grow and gain in size. It's a big part of the hobby for me.

I'm not saying I would never add an adult, but it would most likely be an exceptional circumstance like a rescue or something.

[JTrott]

I don't like buying adults.......from personal past experience, if you are selling an adult, it is because there is somethingwrong with it......if it is a perfect animal....why sell it.....so to me, it is better to buy a younger animal because it is easier to fix feeding issues, and most other issues, in a younger animal.......just my preference......if you had babies and adults on the table at the same price, I will pick the baby everytime......

Jason

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

The previous couple posts say the same thing but I've already typed it out so here it goes:

With regards to breeding, I would never buy an adult female from anyone and would only buy an adult male from a breeder I have a relationship with. The caveat to this would be a collection sale which of course carries its own different sets of problems.

It most cases, it makes no financial sense for someone to sell a healthy, breedable female python. A single clutch will be worth several times over what she is worth. Why on Earth would somebody sell her...?

....because she's a poor breeder. An adult male is a different case but I still would be hesitant in case it too is a poor breeder. There is a much better answer than I can give on the Pro Exotics website as to why they do not sell (and do not recommend anyone buy) adult animals.


I'm not at all saying that you personally are selling poor breeders but as a general rule, I steer clear of adult animals because of this. In animals that aren't expensive morphs, the upkeep to get them to adult size is most likely to be more than the asking price. In this case, why the sale? On the other hand, an expensive adult morph is worth way more than the upkeep to get it to adult size but again... why is it being sold (male or female in this case) after all that hard work to get this valuable animal up to breeding size?

Of course, buying an adult strictly as a pet is a different story.

[TimNA]

For me I buy babies because they are usually a lot cheaper than adults.

I bought a big normal & was told by the breeder that she was "mean" & to be very defensive when around her because she was a breeder, not a pet. Well, my 6yr old daughter walks around with her on her neck all the time, never seen one hint that she is mean.

Story being is maybe people think coming from a breeder that the adults are not handled much & prefer to start out early to avoid having a aggressive pet?

Or even that maybe a lot of buyers at shows are new to keeping snakes & the bigger ones intimidate them?

[satomi325]

I buy babies because of their price tag. However, I would buy breeder sized females that are an affordable deal. I don't immediately think somethings wrong with her. Just because a breeder puts up a good breeding animal could just mean he's replacing her with something better and/or is downsizing their collection.
Like a het for a visual or something.

And I don't think I would buy a breeder sized male. Baby males grow to sexual maturity fast. Some even breed as young as a few months. Why waste space and money on a full grown adult male. You can cut down on food costs and housing space with a baby.

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