X2Originally Posted by NH93
I too am in Southern Ontario, and have visited some shows recently. I am brand new to snakes, just a few months into it (not even years) so I have nothing to compare to. However, I personally don't mind the prices being reduced - slightly - for people like me who just want one or two snakes as pets. Now, I don't need to have the most sought-after or fancy snake to be happy. I was super excited just to get my pinstripe
There was one guy at the Toronto expo selling normal males for $10. This has me worried, not for the ball python/snake market, but for people getting pets without doing their research or taking proper care of them.
If you can pick up an animal that cheap I feel like people may be more inclined to spend less on its needs altogether, and not put the effort into taking care of it as much. When you "invest" in an animal, like anything, you will want to take care of it. I think that's just human nature.
That's all I have to say about that.
This is a great point about super cheap normal males possibly being homed with people that don't want to spend a few hundred on housing a $10-15 animal.
Since few breeders are snapping up normal males this does seem to present an opportunity to anyone also selling/setting up racks or terrariums. i.e buy an appropriate enclosure and get a FREE introductory snake.
Sometimes we can lose sight of the fact that even wild-types are still good looking animals in the excitement of all the paintjobs.
That way you know the animal has a decent chance at being properly cared for, the person has invested (possibly through you or an affiliate) so will be inclined to continue looking after the animal. And, even if the end up addicted and breeding I'll bet most of us would still have "the normal that started it all" for us if that were our situation.
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