I think the point of doing this (for Wilbanks or anyone else) was pretty clear. When you want & need some income from snakes you breed (let's face it, they may be an INVESTMENT, besides being an enjoyable one) you soon realize that the first breeders to come up with new & different colors-patterns-morphs-etc. are the ones who make the most money. As he pointed out, the source of his pinstripe was shocked that he was on the market with offspring so soon thereafter. Oops, competition already!? So I can sympathize but that's always the risk once you start selling the rare thing you managed to come up with in your breeding projects. Mike might never get that lucky again, now that others find out how he did that so fast, lol. So for him to share this information really wasn't to his own personal advantage, IMO- it seems just to be about increasing our collective knowledge about snakes, which I do respect him for.
Personally I don't have any interest in ever breeding snakes any more (did I mention they're a lot of work?) because I worry too much about each getting a good home. When I've bred some snakes it was for "other reasons", it sure wasn't a big source of income- I had a good "day job" & I made more money breeding & selling rodents than I ever did on snakes- the rodents supported my snakes, lol. Snakes are always a 'labor of love' for me, & I like it that way. Like when I kept rattlesnakes, that was never about money at all. Nor were the other native snakes I worked with (like desert glossy snakes). You don't get rich working with common or non-salable species...at least not the monetary kind of "rich".
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