Quote Originally Posted by Pythonfriend View Post

I just think maybe a really low price for captive bred reptiles and nice morphs can help protect the wild populations, be it that ball python temple in Benin that is centuries old, or some arcane species of chameleons.

Maybe in the larger context it is not bad when prices get so low that import prices are undercut. Right now some brutal idiot could still make some money by raiding that wonderful BP temple in Benin and putting the BPs in boxes and shipping them off. When the python market in the first world overheats and tanks, there will still be a winner: The wild pythons.


I try to not be hating on anyone, i just want to open minds and show larger contexts.
Well, there is also just a general ignorance of the hidden costs of owning WC stuff correctly.

A $25 normal CB ball python is going to cost you far less then a $10 normal WC animal and will save you tons of time. I spent about $15 in NIX/PAM/Dawn Soap to remove the ticks my WC girl had and it took 3 months to guarantee that their lifecycle was done. Then there was the $90 vet visit to do a fecal to make sure she was cleared of internal parasites. Not to mention that ASFs arent exactly cheap unless you have a supplier (like i do) that offers them at normal rat prices. Still I had to drive 4 hours to get them and that ate up gas money, AND I now have an ASF colony to feed the WC girl and picky eaters.

So yeah, none of those hidden costs are there with CB animals except the vet fee if you get the animal from a crappy breeder.