Breeding Standards

[Stewart_Reptiles]

How do you evaluate "quality" without a standard though?

Some are easy, like pastels that don't brown out over time - and there are a few of those and they should command a premium price.

Similarly if a line of black pastel or cinnamon could be identified that did not have the duck-billing or kinking issues, or a line of spider that didn't wobble, then that's another potential standard.

Moving in this direction creates added value for owners, no different from other industries. As an example a successful racehorse or show horse will have a higher value as a performer and breeder than the backyard hack used for the occasional trail ride. Both critters have minimum care requirements, one is just more expensive.

I'm neither a breeder nor even particularly invested in morphs in general, so I don't really have skin in the game here, but I'm really curious as to how you define "high quality." Is it based on appearance still?

Again high quality and beauty is in the eye of the beholder (both vendor and buyer)

Who is to say that a clown that is busy is low quality and a reduced one should be a standard and therefore quality or vice versa, trying to impose standards will not work and is ridiculous considering the variation in mutations including animals from the same clutch.

My standards are my own I would not impose them on anyone nor do I wish anyone imposing their standards on me, there is something with everything in Ball Pythons no matter what you like, people should have their OWN standards (also many do not which is why people often ask whether or not they should by a particular animal.)

If you have an animal and you think it is a quality animal you can sell it for whatever you feel it is worth if you don't believe in your animals you can give them away or sell them cheap it's up to each an everyone of us but establishing a standard and dictating prices based on that standard is just silly, and not like people have not brought up the idea over the last 10 years.