How do breeders price their ball python morphs?

[Joshua Jasper]

How do breeders determine what a morph should cost? Like what would a pastel, spider, or bumblebee should cost? Or what if it was het something, like het axanthic? What about age, weight, or if it's been bred yet?

There are wide variations based on pattern (clean or busy depending on preference and morph), color, genetic line (i.e. citrus paste), and overall quality (no arguments on that word again though!)

There are a couple general rules though:

• Morphs are less expensive when young. The bigger they get, the more they cost.
• Females are more than males. The exception to this is brand new codom or dom morphs. Champagnes are a good example where the males were expensive in an attempt to limit how many got out in the market. Since females are the key to breeding (size and time investment) then those are more valuable.
• Proven breeders are typically worth more in both sexes.
• A good metric for a good quality adult female wild type "normal" is 0.10 cent/gram or so, putting a 3000 gram female at about $300.
• Pastels, Spiders, etc are purely dependent on quality of the animal and of the line. A clean bright pastel or reduced pattern spider should always be more.

Hope that helps! In general, buy what you like and it's always a good value!