Ball python industry

[Chkadii]

It's not quite so bad.

First, there's hobby breeders vs. big breeders (think NERD, BHB, etc.), and importers. Big breeders have the volume, but also have the money. They put resources into hot new morphs, or producing quality, or seeing how many combos they can get into an individual snake. They likely won't have many single gene x single gene pairings, unless it is a new gene or they are trying to isolate genes. They can also afford a variety of supers, so not all snakes will be normals.

Hobby breeders do not have the time or financial resources big breeders have. The constraints of it being a hobby force them to pick what they like and produce snakes that people will want to buy. Out of the hobbyists I can name off the top of my head, Tim (lyfoti05) has amazing enchi hypo stuff and the granny ball. Travis (H00blah) has top notch specials. Deborah (Deborah) has some gorgeous pin pieds. They all have a niche, they aren't breeding without discretion or throwing animals together for the sake of having more. Being hobbyists keeps the numbers down and the quality up. Sure, there are some people who think it's easy money and breed with ignorance, but given the choice as a consumer, would you pay for an enchi het hypo from Tim or a supposedly het albino from a pastel x normal pairing from some dude on Craigslist? People want quality, and those who don't produce quality will quickly find the hobby more work than its worth, because there's no money in it and they aren't passionate about the animals themselves.

Finally we have the importers. Tons of ball pythons come over from Africa. I'm not sure if big box pet stores (Petco/Petsmart) purchase imports. With big breeders, however, there is more of a wholesale market for normal ball pythons. Over time, more pet stores get higher quality and well-adjusted animals that are captive bred rather than wild caught imports that may not ever thrive in captivity. Reptile companies such as Outback can import at their discretion for possible new genes or fresh bloodlines, rather than mass collections. While relying heavily on captive bred does have implications for the python farms/collectors in Africa, it also balances out the market for better or worse.

Now let's touch on saturation. Everyone used to have normal ball pythons, because that's all there were. Then morphs trickled in- albinos, spiders, pieds, etc. that were available for thousands of dollars. That separated the serious breeders from people who wanted a pet. Now, with so many morphs and combos available, there is a nice looking animal at every price point. People can have a spider as a pet instead of a normal. I see pieds as a choice for first BPs. It's not that everyone has too many, consumers just have more of a choice. And where some people wouldn't want three normal ball pythons as pets because they all look the same, they might get a couple morphs to show off the diversity. Due to popularity, there are a ton more choices in husbandry as well. You don't need seven glass tanks - you can use a rack. Weird house temperatures? Use a PVC enclosure. There's a set-up for almost every desire (efficiency, display, etc.) at almost every price point to support ball python ownership. So again, more of a focus on morphs rather than normals, more saturation, but it still balances out a bit.

For you in particular, you have to think about the means you have and the logistics of the project. If you're breeding two hets, or a male against multiple females for a 1/16 chance of getting the animal you need, you will have a lot of offspring to rehome. If you're proving out possible hets, that's a lot of animals to hold back and raise up. Local people may not be able to drop $1500 on an animal you produce despite it being worth that much. By the time you get to the results you want, the retail price of that combo may have dropped. Short answer is this: will you be able to find homes for your animals? Probably, eventually. Will you make easy profit (if any) from breeding? Most likely not. But if you buy quality animals, stay within your means, and have a passion for the process itself, then breeding will have it's own rewards.