Artificial insemination isn't cheap either. Ask anyone that breeds animals using this method and they will tell you they pay big bucks for sperm straws from a quality stud or bull, plus the costs of the vet to come do the AI procedure.

There's also the issue of snakes needing to lock to encourage the female snake to ovulate. A few breeders on Reptile Radio have been discussing that, in that the first locks the male and female do are more about stimulation than about actual insemination. Inseminating any female creature isn't going to produce offspring if she isn't producing the mature follicles that are needed to be there in order to be fertilized by that sperm.

I'm not expert on snake reproduction, but AI doesn't seem like a viable option at least at this point in our understanding of how snakes reproduce.