LOL Probably the only reason the breeder cannot be named is it triggers the profanity/banned filter. For reasons why somebody would be banned or even have their nic banned from the forums or chats, please read the Terms of Service, located here:

www.kingsnake.com/shared/tos.html

We can say Voldermort, as he hasn't, as yet, violated any Muggle webpage TOS's yet LOL

Back to the main topic of this thread. The cost of various snake morphs, really comes down to a couple things:

Demand - if more people want it, the price typically is higher, especially when compined with a low...

Supply - if a particular morph is rare or very hard to 'create' then this drives the price especially coupled with the above reason.

Value to Buyer - This is a bit more varied. Face if, if you really really want something, you will pay any price you can afford. If the first breeder you go do has what you want and within your price range, alot will just buy it then and there, to avoid risk of having it sold to somebody else while shopping around. Course,this could mean the next breeder may have it cheaper.

Quality - Why buy cheap when you can pay more for much better quality? Quality in snake morphs typically means animals who are well cared for, get regular vet checks, have well fed and cared for parents etc. The genetic background could also be as genetically diverse as possible while maintaining the looks of a particular morph. (ie if several different breeders breed albinos but have completely unrelated bloodlines, adding the 'fresh' albino blood from the other breeder's stock refreshens your stock without loosing the genetic morph you breed. Out crossing for short LOL)

That's pretty much the main things that determine the price of a particular morph/snake. As corn snakes are very prolific, easy to breed and obtain (especially in the US since that is where they live in the wild LOL) and they have been in the pet trade for a very long time compared to say, ball pythons. The high cost of ball python morphs is mostly due to their smaller clutch size, finickiness in feeding, not always breeding every year or infrequent or rare double clutching. That and it's a bit harder to get healthy fresh wild caught animals, as they are imported etc. They have not become as popular as fast due to more difficulty in care, habit of not eating for long periods of time and panicking beginners LOL etc. That and the ball python morph field is exploding lately. They are highly expensive, to expensive despite the various factors that have driven up the price, but breeders can ask for whatever they want. People do buy them, mostly people who want to breed and sell the morphs themselve, especially $10K and up morphs. The rest of us, go for hets and possible hets and co-doms to get into the ball game LOL. Eventualy the ball python morph prices will drop, it may not be for another 20 years but one never knows. I still think there is alot of potential still in the corn snake and ball python markets to keep the profession interesting for all of us, advant collector, pet owner and breeder.
-----
PHLdyPayne

[ Show Entire Thread ]