My opinion is "bull spit".
You don't mean big breeders or hobby breeders, just 'backyard breeders', which suddenly doesn't apply to anyone mentioned.
They "make" the snakes breed. False. You can not make a female breed.
It's wrong to breed every year. False. I know a few breeders who have females 20 years old that have bred every year.
It's wrong to breed for money. False. There is nothing wrong in breeding snakes to sell and make a profit on.
You seem angry over something, but you're not saying anything that's wrong... just slinging terms used by animal rights extremists to purposely be vague. "Puppy mill" and "backyard breeder" have no definition, as you've demonstrated by deliberately saying it doesn't apply to ANYONE that people have mentioned.
What is a mill? How many animals does it take before it's a BP mill? If they are starving the females, they don't breed. If they introduce males to a female who isn't ready to breed, generally they don't breed. If they have more than 5 animals are they a mill? How about ten? 200? What if they have 500 but they're all well cared for AND they breed females every year?
I suggest you look further into what you're ranting about because frankly I think you're going on some vague idea in your head, put there by people who have a personal agenda. It's okay to say "I didn't think this through" or "I need to consider the reality of ball python breeders more so I can decide what I think."
I fully admit, I have NOT made a profit overall on my animals. I fully admit I thought I would make a profit on my breeding plans. But I didn't start breeding "only" to make money. I started because I wanted to MAKE one of the cool animals I saw but couldn't afford. I even printed a photo of one of the first albino/pied BP to put on the wall to encourage me when I was cleaning bins and washing water bowls. I don't consider myself to be a bad person for wanting to make a little cash to continue in the hobby while making awesome snakes too.
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