I would think to that the people buying $10K+ animals are one of a couple things; people who've very carefully thought about their purchase and have planned for the expenditure who either are going to pay for the snake in full or very quickly because they made the decision to buy the animal and they want it now. A breeder selling a 10, 20, 50 thousand dollar snake isn't gonna sell it to someone they feel isn't going to pay for it or who want a "five-year" plan to pay it off.

I would think breeders would experience difficulty with lower priced sales, 5000 and under...but what do I know? =)

Me, I'd put the lesser on my AMEX and watch AMEX go nuts, hehe...("you spent HOW MUCH for a snake?!")