If you want a storm trooper you may as well wish for a scaleless and throw down about $50K per snake LOL.
Do you want them to breed for a profit or for a general collection? Clowns are a good investment for breeding but personally I think they are over rated, I don't find them very attractive, especially for the price. I think it's just a fad, I think the pieds may hold up well over time since they are much more attractive and variable.
For a personal collection (not breeding to make money) I'd go with a black eyed leucistic. All kinds of ways to make one. I have a spider pied 'white wedding'. She is by far my favorite snake. When I bought her I think I paid around $1,250, but they are cheaper now. You could always go with something like a super Russo, all white and a bit cheaper.
I also like the bright yellow snakes with spider, something like a bumble bee or bumble belly = pastel + spider + yellowbelly. Anything bright yellow with that spider mixed in is simply amazing.
Pieds are cool but if you mix in another gene they will be out of your price range, so you'll have to stick with a straight pied. If you had about $10,000 for any one snake I'd go with the 'panda pied' = super black pastel + pied.
Here's my top picks:
Spider Pied 'white wedding':
Enchi Pastel Fire 'Firefly' =
Super black pastel pied 'Panda Pied': (out of your price range though!). You may be able to pick up a black pastel pied and try to make one of these, or if you have less money and more time you could get a pied and a black pastel and start from there. You'd get hets and then breed them back to make more black pastel pieds, then breed those back and hope for the super.
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