Price analysis of ball pythons?

[Spartan452]

Hi guys, i'm in a financial engineering class and I have a project for the class. One proposal I have is for the market analysis of the exotic reptile trade, mainly ball pythons since encompassing the entirety of the reptile market would be quite the task. The exotic reptile market is a very interesting market because it is based solely on supply and demand since it is a free market with no regulation.

Can some of you guys who have been in the python hobby give me some history of pricing on some ball pythons. I'm curious about single gene animals like the Pastel, spider, cinny and double gene animals like the bumblebee and pewters. Mainly on the most established morphs that created the designer morph craze.

Currently we can get bumblebees for around 300-400 dollars, but that wasn't always the case. How much were these animals back in the 2009, 2010?
My friend was telling me that bee's in 2008 were going for 1200 dollars, same with pewters. Do you guys think Bees have finally hit the bottom, or will we see bee's going for $100 and eventually to normal ball python prices due to the saturated market? Do you guys feel that there should be a regulated standard price bottom for two gene morphs, three gene morphs, etc.. or should we stick with supply and demand for pricing?

I feel like the same thing will happen with fire, enchi, calico combos which are still fairly expensive now but within a few years when most small breeders have these morphs, their worth will drastically decrease due to a saturated market.

[TheSnakeGuy]

This sounds like a fantastic idea for a project. You must post your results once finished. I'm very curious about what you'll find. If I were you I would start by talking to breeders. Create a thread on the BREEDING page.

A few notable breeders I know of are:

Ben Siegel Reptiles Inc.
http://www.albinonile.com/

Ralph Davis Reptiles
http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/

BHB Reptiles
http://www.bhbreptiles.com/

[lovepig78]

Back when i was Getting into BPs in 04-05 balls where expensive....

i remember Spiders and mojaves were about $5k in 05 .... then by 07 certain breeders had flooded the market and mojaves and spiders were about $700...

Ghosts use to cost $1500 now they are like $300

bumblebees were like $8k now they are $300

Banana's use to cost $80-$60k back in 07.... now they are about $10-$20K



as more 3, 4, and even 5 gene animals start growing up we wont even see single morphs in the market anymore... and normals will become extinct and eventually double morphs, like the bee, will be dirt cheap.

[Valentine Pirate]

I remember when I was first starting to get enveloped in the hobby (2010-2009) bees were still $700-$800 (or more, for clean ones). I'd second the idea of talking to breeders though, they'll have paperwork on what they've sold, when, and for how much. Albinos were one of the first (or the first maybe?) genes to really get BPs some attention. I came in pretty late so as a beginning pair I bought myself a pastel female and male mojave. Paid a little extra $$ for the pastel because at that point they were cheap enough that it was worth investing into a nicer looking girl

[1nstinct]

It's hard to tell, ressisives hold their value longer, look how long albinos have been around and there still 300-500. As for single gene and basic doubles(bumblebee) I think a lot of breeders get them as a result from pairings, I don't believe a lot of big breeders are breeding to produce bumbleebees anymore. Ex- spinner blast x enchi fire could produce spiders pins bumblebees lemon blast etc.

[KornSnake]

This sounds like a fantastic idea for a project. You must post your results once finished. I'm very curious about what you'll find. If I were you I would start by talking to breeders. Create a thread on the BREEDING page.

A few notable breeders I know of are:

Ben Siegel Reptiles Inc.
http://www.albinonile.com/

Ralph Davis Reptiles
http://www.ralphdavisreptiles.com/

BHB Reptiles
http://www.bhbreptiles.com/

Dont forget NERD

[Mike41793]

I was talking to a local breeder whose been in the hobby for 15 years and he said back in 2000ish he got his first pastel and spider and they were like $8,000 each or something crazy and when he made his first bee it was like HUGE. And he sold it to some guy in PA for big bucks.

(The best part was he's telling me this as im holding the firefly spinner he just hatched out. And showing me a craploa of other crazy combos lmao).