Ball Python Pricing for non breeders

[B.P.'s 4me]

Hello to everyone that reads and responds to this.

I am new to the ball python world and I’ve been looking at different morphs and I see how expensive they can get. I want a few different morphs but they are priced way out of my range for just pet snakes. It seems like to me that breeders are pricing snakes out of the price range for just pet owners. I know that all the snakes I look at in their description it says would be great for future plans when it comes to breeding or something along those lines. Now I know that dog breeders have pricing for people who plan to start breeding and people that just want them as pets. I know some of these snakes should be looked at as investments but what about people that just want a nice visually looking snake? Can anyone explain to me how the pricing works for ball pythons I guess it’s my main question.

Breeding mammals and breeding reptiles are two very different things. There are shows, breed conformation standards, etc. etc. to determine which animals most closely resemble what would qualify is the "perfect" specimen of the breed, be it dogs, goats, horses, sheep, cats, or what have you. A breeder, eager to improve their lines, then chooses to pay more for a specimen that would have the best chance in the show ring and/or to produce offspring that most close resembles the conformation standards for that breed.

Pet owners buy animals that would be excused from the show ring and have conformation, genetic, or color faults that would make them unsuitable as ideal representatives of their breed.

Reptiles aren't judged on the merits of their conformation, as far as I know, there are no "conformation standards" set for tortoises, lizards, snakes etc. Their value is in the dna they carry and the color morphs those genetics can create. That being the case a 4 gene snake (for instance) is always going to be more valuable than a single gene animal. As others have mentioned, the value of the morph is in how popular it is with buyers and with it's availability. Generally speaking, once a morph becomes popular, EVERYone jumps on the band wagon and starts breeding them. The glut on the market, drops the price, and the next unique morph takes it's place. Also, as someone else mentioned, unless it becomes a popular trend to spay/neuter snakes, EVERY animal sold is a potential breeder. A person purchasing one as a pet, can't really guarantee that 16 years down the road they will still own that snake, or that it won't, at some point, be used as a breeder.
In the end, it's like everything else, if it's a priority, we find the money - or we choose to spend our money on things that matter more. It's all subjective. :-)