BP trade advice

[Xac]

Hiya everyone, my first post here- sorry it’s a little bit of a boring topic.

I’m in need of some advice, I recently purchased a larger rack to move my snakes over into (currently using a 10 33L RUB system) Which I realized I wouldn’t need until my babies got a little larger. Anyway, I put the older rack system up for sale. And got an offer from a guy to trade it for royals. So I said, possibly what kind of morphs do you have as my current project that i’m doing is with toffees and albinos, I asked him if he had any of those. The buyer then offered me a fire het albino female at 3800g, now because i’m new to this im unsure. Is this a good trade? I put the rack up for a value of £450 if that helps ar all.

Thanks for any advice and I’m looking forward to being here,

Xac.

[Lord Sorril]

I would pass on this deal:

1. It is visually a Fire and *may be* a Het Albino (you don't know for certain-unless you trust this person).

2. A 3800 gram female is likely older and its fertility may be diminished at this point, and/or a non-layer.

3. Fire and Albino in general are nothing new to breeders: If it is indeed a Fire Het Albino of breed age-I would still only value it around ~£150 (unless prices of snakes and availability are much different in your country).

Edit: Welcome BTW

[Xac]

This is exactly the info I needed! I was aware that the morph combination was not particularly valuable but was also under the impression that females become more valuable as they become breeding weight..is this incorrect? I don’t know what weight/age they become non-layers (although I probably should), how old are they usually when they cease to be fertile?

Thank you for the help.

[Lord Sorril]

You're Welcome

Breed age ball pythons do become more valuable: however, it is only by a small amount. Some breeders will list their entire collection as 'available' at significantly higher prices than market value so that in the event someone is willing to pay it: They have no issue trading one for the money and replacing the snake with a more valuable acquisition.

As for fertility I can only speak from experience:
-I have a 12 year old female that still gives me 5 good eggs/year (minus slugs), but, gave me ~8 or so/year for 6 years.
-My ~5 year old females average 8-12 viable eggs/year.
-I also had a 6 year old female at 4500+ grams that never gave me viable eggs - Ever

The difference between 8-12 and 5 eggs per year (imo) is significant. Doesn't mean 'no eggs', just means: a lot less-Just something to factor in...