Rare morps and their worth

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I guess I will answer the question plus give you some more insight based on my experience over the last decade (again I do not do this for a living but I went from being in the red to having a collection paying for itself to making a profit.

The economics of the snake industry are very simple it’s about supply and demand.

New mutations will always commend higher prices (also not has high as a decade or 2 ago when price were very inflated IMO) but the will commend higher price that will than drop as more animals hit the market. That being said some will maintain their value longer than other and those are recessive projects.

I always smile when people mention the price drop of the CG / Banana, that mutation has not drop any faster than other in the contrary it has held it’s value better than pinstripe or spider, people just don’t realize that because they have not been in this industry long enough. Banana and CG are not new back in 2007 Dave Matuzac had some in Daytona for 60K. They actually held their value better than other co-dom or dom mutation because of the Male maker, female Maker thing (at first there were mainly females on the market which meant the lack of ability to mass produce them like other mutations hence lower supply hence a value that maintain itself better)

Because of the economics of BP anyone wanting to do this without losing money must keep upgrading their collection and re-investing each year, if you don’t you will soon be left with animals that do not sale or take a long time of course you must also have a venue and a solid plan.

As far as pricing if you price your animals fairly (that requires knowing the market) they will sell and you will get your asking price or be within 10% of it if you are patient. While patience is key of course marketing, customer service, reputation will also play into getting your asking price.

Now economically is it worth it as a breeder to keep normal or low end co-dom around? No economically it makes because the reality of it is that by year’s end if not sold you will without a doubt lose money.

Now because price drop does not mean that projects will be abandoned and mutations will disappear from the market, in the contrary they now become more affordable for a larger amount snake enthusiasts that could not buy the snake of their dream 2, 5 or 10 years ago. Those mutations now enter a different market from breeding project to being pets, but they will still be there and still sell.