This sounds extremely familiar, did you watch the urban jungle video recently? This topic is not exactly comparable to ball pythons.
1) Anyone can breed ball pythons and produce eggs, they are small, easy to breed, and a lot lot lot of people are breeding which is why they are hard to home (insert demand vs produced amount)
2) The average clutch size of retics is probably closer to 25 young, when working with massive girls (not many people are) you can see 40-60 egg clutches, but its not a common thing. When you consider dwarf / superdwarf clutches. You are looking closer to the lines of 10-20 eggs.
3) Demand for retics > supply at current. There are a few breeders who are producing a good chunk of snakes, but still its not that many. And many of those are supplying European markets (Prehistoric pets, Bob Clark, and now even Travis Kubes).
So where do they go? To special homes that want to take on the challenge of owning one of the most rewarding species in the hobby. Is there too many retics out there? Nope. Most breeders sell out quick quick even with many snakes fetching well over 1,000 per baby.
end rant
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