What stopped me from breeding (so far) are choices I know I have difficulty making: selling babies to customers who may be sketchy or bad owners (I run into that a lot when I was looking for homes for my foster kittens. The amount of willingful ignorance out there will surprise you unless you don't care that much or will take that chance), finding and executing a humane way to put any babies hatched with severe deformities that would continue its suffering or diminish its quality of life, eggbinding that could kill your snake if not caught on time and the required vet care/money needed to save its life, etc. The risks are small but they are there.
I know as a consumer, if I want cheap snakes, I go for the cheapest priced ones around. If I want my expectations met, the genes sold to me promised and guaranteed, and a higher chance that the transaction will go well with a health eating snake, I go with a reputable breeder that may charge more for these perks. In this oversaturated market, you are competing again at the big names and the small businesses like yours. The big names that have a good reputation and decades of experience and work behind them can afford to price their snakes higher. To sell your snakes, unless your snakes are exceptionally rare, you probably will have to keep it at or below the average market price just so you can get rid of your stock. The longer you keep your stock means you have to continue feeding it and keeping it which costs money and space that you need to invest in another snake. All in all, if you get lucky, you break even.
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