I have to agree that for the majority of breeders this is a hobby and not a business. The reason is because most(if not all) morphs get sold to other breeders, and not as single pets.

This means that money and snakes are just exchanging hands between breeders, and there is no financial gain in the system without most breeders being hobbyists with other jobs they work to make the real dough to spend on snakes

This also means that most breeders at this point in time have not seen profit on snake investment. That is NOT to say that they won't see profit years down the road, hopefully as the hobby grows with more and more people, those who are in it the longest see a return on their initial investments, financially supported by newcomers to the hobby who in turn spend money on new snakes.

Or at least that's my understanding of the economics of the ball python morph business in North America.