Its called "retail," folks. Items are marked up to make a profit...ya know, the whole capitalism thing, the whole foundation for our economy. Its just the way things work. If you don't like it, fine, don't buy a snake from a petstore. Neither do I at those prices. But don't blame the petstores for trying to make money. That's what they do. Its how the business keeps running.

Most petstores generally mark up their animals 3x what it cost them. The ideal is a customer paying the full price. But even if they have to discount it down for whatever reason, they can still turn a profit.

Cost of animal: $200
Full retail price: $550

Essentially anything over that $200 is a profit, but the ideal is usually to make at least double your money back, so most petstores would be perfectly fine selling it for $400...not that they would advertise that fact though.

There's also the issue of feeding and housing the animal it is in the store. Of course, there's no guarantee how long that animal sits in store before it is purchased, but as a business, the company has to overcompensate for that to ensure they're not losing money with prey items, and bedding used for store-use.

There's also the matter of supply and demand (another cornerstone for our economy!). When I worked at petsmart, they sold baby ball pythons for 79.99. To you and me, thats ridiculous for a normal BP. But consider this: most clientiel of petsmart are new reptile owners that simply don't know any better. They see it this way: buy the snake from the petstore now, or order one from a breeder's basement online based solely on a photograph on the animal and pay extra for shipping. Most opt for the "now" solution. I'm not saying its right; just saying thats the norm in msot cases. Bottom line: people are still buying BPs from petsmart for 79.99, so the company will still sell them for 79.99. If petsmart expanded its herp section, and started getting BPs in larger quantities, the supply goes up, the demand stays the same, so the prices may be lowered. If there was ever a global shortage of baby BPs (unlikely), supply drops lower than the demand, so the prices may go up.