I have been keeping balls since January of 2008 and herps in general for even longer. I have NEVER seen a "crash" in the ball market or any other herp's market as a whole. I have however seen the "crash" of a given morph within a species. Leopard geckos and the RAPTOR, Enigma and Diablo Blanco morphs are a few examples and the motley morph of Boa constrictor is another.
Some on here have suggested that they do think we are in a slump hobbywise, and that when the economy recovers the demand will again be greater than the supply. I for one have never seen demand outpace supply in this hobby nor do I believe that it ever will. Even last month and now, before there were any or many 2012 hatchlings out, Kingsnake.com's classified section had at least 100 new ball ads posted every day, meaning that supply is doing just fine. I've yet to feel any effects of this recession on my life in general either, but that is neither here nor there.
I have breeding plans, as well as plans for acquiring new snakes and breeding them as well, but it is for my own enjoyment and not for any kind of monetary gain. I love new life and raising things from birth. I love the perverbial "roll of the dice" when dealing with genetics. I love eggs hatching and waiting to see what you've got when they start pipping. Even though I own and produce higher end stuff I still don't even expect to break even - not even close. In my honest opinion, this hobby is going nowhere. This is coming from a guy who has looked at thousands of ads and for sale listings a year for the last 5 years and has watched prices drop on older morphs while new morphs all start at around the $20,000 range.
My $0.02, take it for what you personally feel that it is worth.
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