I would think that the market would be similar to the puppy market. Having bred yorkies, I got extremely high prices for mine despite the fact that people have been breeding and selling yorkies for about 100 years. My pups went for the top prices barring show dogs. And I had a waiting list that was 2 years long at onepoint, so I drove my prices up by double and not one person dropped off the list(I was TRYING to shorten the list).
If you are passionate and caring about the animals you produce and you produce great quality animals and back them up.. there is a market for them.
If you want to be the equivalent of a puppy mill(snake mill?) and produce the largest number of animals and invest the least amount of time and money in them, lie about them to get higher prices, then no you won't last.(** I AM NOT SAYING YOU IN PARTICULAR!! Just using it as a in general**) Those that invest their time and efforts and build themselves a solid reputation as a honest person who genuinely cares about the ball python.. I think they will continue to do well.
Just my own .02 and of course I am also hoping to make my money back in about 5 years. I want to produce the greatest animals I possibly can, and that is the bottom line with me. Healthy good looking snakes. It helps that I ADORE all my snakes even the cranky females that bite me every chance they get. I just think they are spunky.
Wolfy