Indeed. However I wouldn't think badly of some of the people who probably surprised you in a negative way lol, a lot of people these days are more interested in the business aspect of ball pythons. They want to INVEST in ball pythons and ball python morphs. Of course a morph that can't produce would be useless to them.
I don't think deserts themselves should be worth 1k because they're not that cool looking. I would have gotten a bumblebee for $800 (that's how much they were when I joined) and I had no intention of breeding lol. I think bee's are freakn HOT. Even to this day, if you see a sweet bee, you gotta have it!! It's a beautiful snake even if it's just a pet.