Desert Morph, what are your thoughts?

[joebad976]

I would consider a desert ghost before i would purchase a desert just because of the female problems. Unless the problems with the females get figured out. Same reason i will stay away from caramel albinos just going to wait until toffees get more affordable or they figure out the females issues. Yes deserts make killer morphs and they are very unique but the problems they have outweigh their beauty for me unfortunately.

I agree go with desert ghost. I would not tie any of my females up with a desert either.

[TessadasExotics]

Deserts are for sure a dead end project. There is nothing to figure out with the females. They can't reproduce. The price is still high with most people because they are trying to recoup what they invested. Not gona happen. I wouldn’t even pay the price that most are asking for a male. IMO a Desert male or female isn't worth any more than $400-500 tops.

[Domepiece]

Yeah this is gonna be a hard decision. I really wanted one when they first started popping up but my interest has dwindled since. I would be trading a hatchling ivory female for him so I wouldnt be investing much into it but I guess I would rather get into another project that is going somewhere and not tie up my females. I suppose Id rather get into some pied, sable combo, genetic stripe stuff anyway. I guess we'll see. Thanks

[Serpent_Nirvana]

I love the desert gene. The deserts themselves are awesome looking in person, and the combos are unreal -- some of my absolute favorites.

That said, I'm not investing in even a male right now, and I may not ever.

I agree with what's already been said, that right now, the prices are dropping and are going to keep dropping -- fast. I don't know if I think it's a "dead end" project per se, but I do think it's a poor investment at the moment. I think the prices will keep going down as more and more people learn about the issues with females and even the males become tougher to sell. I predict (and as always, reserve the right to be wrong) that next year, deserts will be cheaper than cheap. This is the first year, AFAIK, that the evidence has become so overwhelming -- that enough people are showing their dead or slugged out desert females -- that we can all pretty much 100% agree that the females can't breed. I think the dust is still settling, so to speak ...

I find it difficult to envision that such a stunning morph could completely disappear off the map, so I don't know that I think that'll quite happen. I *think* (though again, could be wrong) that they're just too pretty for the whole community to abandon the project entirely.

What I've been waiting on is not only for the prices to stabilize, but also to see how we, as a community, are able to handle the concept of females being truly "pet only." Yes, with caramel females you have a pretty good chance of getting slugs -- but at least she's not any more likely to die laying than any other female. IMO, there's no ethical problem with breeding caramel females; it's just the economics of the initial investment.

With desert females, it seems like there's a pretty good chance that a female will die if bred, and that, to me, makes trying to breed them a serious ethical issue. Thus, if I, as a breeder, produce female deserts, I have a responsibility to ensure that they ALL go to homes where they will never be bred. Right now, I sure don't believe I could ensure that. The ball python hobby is focused on breeding, breeding, breeding, so with the lifespan of these animals and the number of times they change hands during that life, I think it's only a matter of time before she winds up in the hands of someone who either doesn't know about the issues, or knows but figures he'll "give it a shot" anyway.

So, I love to look at deserts and I think they're absolutely gorgeous. I wish I could add a desert project to my collection, but I definitely won't be doing it for awhile -- because of the pricing -- if ever -- because of the female issues. If I truly thought that I could successfully place 1/4 of all of my desert clutch offspring in a pet-only home, I'd breed them, but I don't know if that will ever be the case.

[adamsky27]

I saw desert females here at Tinley for $300. Males are still $1,000. The $300 females were SMOKIN, too bad they are pets only.

[OhhWatALoser]

I won't be getting into deserts, but I do think I see things differently.

You can still breed males and advance genetically farther with males. I just see it as having your odds cut in half for something you might want to produce. Breed a male desert to an enchi, you have a 1/8 chance of a tiger male. Just makes those high end combos that much harder to produce. Hit on a female... dead end, sorry, pet only animal. Due to the issue I just have that much more respect for the desert combos being produced.

If you look at these animals as an investment, yes it is a horrible project. Purely from a hobby perspective, there is much to be done with these guys. It's not like we are producing complete failure of an animal, you just can't breed females.

[Serpent_Nirvana]

I won't be getting into deserts, but I do think I see things differently.

You can still breed males and advance genetically farther with males. I just see it as having your odds cut in half for something you might want to produce. Breed a male desert to an enchi, you have a 1/8 chance of a tiger male. Just makes those high end combos that much harder to produce. Hit on a female... dead end, sorry, pet only animal. Due to the issue I just have that much more respect for the desert combos being produced.

If you look at these animals as an investment, yes it is a horrible project. Purely from a hobby perspective, there is much to be done with these guys. It's not like we are producing complete failure of an animal, you just can't breed females.

I would love to be able to look at it like this, and I do hope that down the road I feel comfortable adding a desert project. Right now, I just don't trust that the females I produced would remain pets, and not bred due to ignorance or "just to see what happens."

I'm certainly not of a mind that every single ball python produced into this world has to be bred -- far from it -- I think it would be great to advance and encourage the notion that "pet only" is a fun and perfectly valid way to enjoy ball python morphs. Moreover, I could even try to take your argument one step further and posit that the infertility of females could eventually be a good thing for the project, keeping numbers down as only 1/4 of all offspring from a desert breeding would be breed-able deserts.

I just ... Don't know how things are going to pan out yet.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Cool looking animal, great looking combos but I am not interested I was actually recently offered a male and 2 free females in trade an I passed on it.

Yes I could produce males and combo males and sell them without any problem for now but what about the females? I will either be stucked with them (space for my other projects is already limited) or have sell them as pet only and I cannot in good conscience sell an animal as pet only because I know for some people the temptation will be too big and they will likely try to breed them anyway.

[Gloryhound]

I think better alternatives exist at the price range males are selling for. Also I think the desert effect can be duplicated in other ways, might take more time as you will be dealing with more genes, but I think it can be done.

[mumps]

Female deserts at the Canadian Reptile Breeders Expo could be had for $100.

That's what they're worth, as even normal girls will give you eggs!

Chris