Where is the morph market heading?

[nixer]

The crystal is a combo morph - it's a mojave x "special" female. Only a few people know what the female is. Tom Baker was a smart businessman keeping that under wraps and keeping the crystal value up.

one of those special males was on ks. i almost bought it but i passed because i dont have the lesser complex animals to use for that project

[juddb]

one of those special males was on ks. i almost bought it but i passed because i dont have the lesser complex animals to use for that project

who was selling it?

[LadyOhh]

who was selling it?

Anthony McCain...

He was PRE-selling.. He hasn't even produced it yet.

[anendeloflorien]

My personal opinion on the "ball python market" is that it's finally correcting itself. I agree that the people that are in it to get rich off of that one new thing (champagnes, coral glows etc.....) are going to have to seriously re-evaluate what they are doing and who their market is.

I don't think that people like Adam Wysocki will have any problems at all however. He knows his market! He doesn't feel the need to have 20 racks of triple, quad, quintuple gene animals to play around with because he knows that he can always sell simple recessives, hets, single or double gene co-doms and cover his expenses and still have money to live off of.

The market as a whole is going to go down, it's unavoidable. Supply and demand is such that as more people get the animals, especially co-doms which have a first generation turnaround, they are going to produce babies and they are going to try and sell those.

Myself personally, I have what I want. I know which combos i intend to try for and I only need one other morph (cinnamon) to try for some real fun ones. Once I have my basics covered and have at least one breeding season under my belt then I'll start on some more fun and exciting animals like lessers, mojos, champagnes (maybe) and others.

Just my .02.

[Eric Sandoval]

It should be 4... a Kingpin is a Lesser-Pinstripe. So it's Lesser-Pinstripe-Butter-Pastel. And I think it already is pretty white ... Three would be just Pastel Kingpin, wouldn't it?

That snake is a triple not quad. It's a butter pinstripe pastel and I believe the name was changed after that post because it confused people.

Eric

[Lateralus_Love]

I personally like the fact that they are producing more complex combos, and creating new morphs. It means a broader selection. And I also really like the fact that prices are dropping because it means that, being in this for the hobby, I can have what I want in my collection I may have to wait a few more years so certain things are below $1k, but, essentially, the lower the price, the more probable it is to purchase. Especially with our economy so low at the moment. It will take years for us to bounce back. Within these years, prices will drop, more snakes will be bought, more hobbyists will be happy, more morphs made and combos played with, and things will get on a roll once again.

That's just my dream anyway

[Bill Buchman]

The crystal is a combo morph - it's a mojave x "special" female. Only a few people know what the female is. Tom Baker was a smart businessman keeping that under wraps and keeping the crystal value up.

Hi Robin! While Tom may still be referring the gene as a "special" -- everyone else has adopted the Crystal name for the base morph. That gene is crossed with other morphs to make Crystal Mojaves, Crystal Spiders, Crystal Albinos, Crystal Pastels, etc...

There are still fewer than 20 Crystals in existence -- only a few crosses and one super have been made. It is still unclear what morphs will look best in combo with the gene A lot of trial and error to come I suspect...

[RandyRemington]

Hi Robin! While Tom may still be referring the gene as a "special" -- everyone else has adopted the Crystal name for the base morph. That gene is crossed with other morphs to make Crystal Mojaves, Crystal Spiders, Crystal Albinos, Crystal Pastels, etc...

I've found this change from crystal being the combo to being one of the ingredients very confusing but I guess "special" wasn't that great of a name even if we don't know what it looks like. Actually Tom might have started it by calling what appears to be a homozygous special a "super crystal" but that was before it was really proven that mojave and special are alleles.

[DrLew]

You gotta be in it for the love first.....market second.

AMEN.....brother!

[Herpquest]

You gotta be in it for the love first.....market second.

Spot on RichardA. If you have Ball Pythons just to make money, you won't have them long. You have to love BP's first and if you make any money over and above what it costs to accomodate and feed them, that is a bonus.
When I hatched the first Blackeyed Leucistic in 2002, I received genuine offers of up to $250K and a rumoured offer of $500K from Japan. Where is that same snake now? I still have him, because money was not the reason why I started keeping Ball Pythons.
I am not a rich man either who could afford to turn down a price like that, I am a disabled pensioner who struggles to pay the bills incurred with keeping and feeding quite a large number of snakes, but the snakes are my hobby, they need to be cared for and the rodents that go to feed them have to be looked after, fed and cleaned out. That is why I can get out of bed in the morning and endure the pain of looking after my charges.
A few people have made the 'big bucks' from breeding Ball Pythons but they are few and far between - and they were snake lovers first!
Eric Davies