1.) Some other snakes that meet your crtieria: rosy boas, children's pythons, spotted pythons, Dumerils boas (females might exceed the 8 ft marker), carpet pythons (some localities may get over 8 ft), Hog Island boas

3.) The ball python market is still a breeder's market, at least in the terms of morphs. As a breeder, you are "investing" when you shell out several hundred dollars for a snake, because you can raise that snake up, breed it and hopefully sell each of the offspring for close to what you paid for the parent. Quite simply, people are still paying high prices for these morphs, so the prices still hold. When people stop paying that amount, prices get lowered. Regrettably, since BPs have a lower reproductive rate than some other snakes (like corns, burms, retics, and boas), it takes longer for a morph to finally reach a level where Joe Smith can afford them. Look at pastels: they've been around for over a decade, and just now, this year, they're finally popping up for sale in petsmarts.