Does quality matter to you ?

[RegiusCo]

Just had a friendly debate with a fellow breeder

We had been waiting a few years to locate ''THE CLOWN'' and we finally purchased one of the best BHB Reduced Pattern Clown that became available this year.

We paid a pretty premium for this animal and never regretted it one bit, the unnamed fellow breeder was saying he would never pay a premium over market value at that time. He claims that getting the best deal regardless of quality will give him the same results when offspring start hatching.

A friendly bet ensued and we will compare babies when they start reproducing.

The question is, would you guys pay a premium for a top notch animal or is pricing the only concern regardless of quality?

Marc

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The question is, would you guys pay a premium for a top notch animal or is pricing the only concern regardless of quality?

To me the quality and finding the animal that appeals to me always come first price is secondary.

[neilgolli]

NO QUESTION.....

Your your own answer to the question. You happily waited and paid more for the animal that you wanted. I do the same and so do most now a days. Because more animals are now produced by more people, wait, find that animal that you love that has the traits your looking for. Ask for tons of pictures, high, low, both sides and top and bottom. Find what your looking for because its out there.

Quality sells and will continue to....

[Freakie_frog]

Yes and I have.

[jkobylka]

Just had a friendly debate with a fellow breeder

We had been waiting a few years to locate ''THE CLOWN'' and we finally purchased one of the best BHB Reduced Pattern Clown that became available this year.

We paid a pretty premium for this animal and never regretted it one bit, the unnamed fellow breeder was saying he would never pay a premium over market value at that time. He claims that getting the best deal regardless of quality will give him the same results when offspring start hatching.

A friendly bet ensued and we will compare babies when they start reproducing.

The question is, would you guys pay a premium for a top notch animal or is pricing the only concern regardless of quality?

Marc

Many times I've spend thousands more than market value to get the perfect animal. You made the right choice, especially with the clown trait, which is so variable and the parents have such a big factor.

Justin

[broadude]

Yes. Very much..and it's awesome when I can get both quality and a good price.

[drew5337]

Depends on what I want the snake for. Say I want a blue eyed leucy for my girlfriend, because she thinks they are pretty (which is in fact the case), yes, I'd pay more for a lesser platinum so I can make her a prettier one. If I were looking for a breeder, a super mojave would be fine, because its going to make all mojave babies even if it isn't the best leucy.

Pastels are about the only morphs from what I can see where there is a big price difference based on appearance. My blonde pastel that I'm getting is very nice yellow (as a baby), and has a good looking pattern, and was $200 as a result. I could have found one for half that but it would look like a fancy orange normal until it browned out.

If you work with recessives I don't think it makes that much difference from a breeding standpoint, I know that high white pieds don't always pass that to their offspring. If its a snake for you to appreciate the aesthetics of, then just like any other visually appealing thing you can buy, yes, a premium is worth it.

[JoshJP7]

I was just in your shoes a couple weeks ago... Searching everywhere I could for breeders who had female clowns for sale. I knew what I was looking for and I knew what I was willing to pay... When your dropping that much on a snake you def want to make sure its the right one and is everything your looking for. My gf made the best comment to me which ended up preventing me from buying from one breeder.... "are you 150% satisfied with the way it looks"... Well i was like 98% sure... but no where close to 150%. If I hadnt found the one I ended up going with I was willing to hold out and not spend the money. It may not be proven but it makes sense... good looking parents make good looking offspring the majority of time.

I personally want to know if an unbroken line down the back is genetic in clowns so I went with the only one I could find with a complete stripe with no breaks in it. Ive seen very few clowns with unbroken stripes so my initial guess is no but time will tell.

[RegiusCo]

I never doubted making the right decision and can understand people being on a limited budget and all...

I just can't understand people that will settle for the very cheapest price out there and then expect to produced top quality animals from it

[Adam_Wysocki]

I will pay (and have payed) whatever I have to in order to get an animal that I love into my collection. I've even offered 2 - 3 times market value on animals that "weren't for sale" in order to pry them away from another breeder because I loved the way they looked so much.

For me, this started as and always will be a hobby first ... no matter how many snakes I own or how many babies I produce. The day that I decide to "settle" for just any old snake in order to "produce" is the day that I find something else to do with my time.

But that's just me ... I'm a ball python maniac ... I love everything about them and rarely see any ball pythons (normals or mutations) that I wouldn't pay to have in my collection if I had an unlimited budget.


-adam