While I prefer nice "textbook" specimens over color morphs, being an academic herpetologist / herpetoculturist, I do enjoy admiring color morphs through the glass and I have found the market and interest in such has spurred an increase of interest within the realm of genetics and mathematics among young aspiring herpetoculturist, so there are benefits to such "extreme" pricing, as the possibility of financial gain is always going to elicit interest. Keep in mind, a free market system prices are determined by supply and demand and some color morphs will maintain their value longer, as breeders tend to hold back upper tier specimens for their own collections. As was already mentioned, the repetitive inbreeding causes gene loss, resulting in physiological anomalies such as autoimmune and neurological deficiencies along with a host of physical anomalies such as bilateral and unilateral anophthalmia and spinal anomalies, so breeders of color morphs often produce specimens which are unmarketable.
Your comparison, regarding the price of color morph Python r reticulatus and Python regius, requires some consideration. First, you must realize the number of offspring such specimens can produce, remember supply and demand, as female P. r reticulatus will deposit between 25 – 80 eggs at oviposition, as compared to the 4 – 8 eggs one can expect from a female P. regius. Heck, I can remember back in 1983, not to give away my age, when amelanistic Python m bivittatus (Burmese python) were selling for 12K and up!
I understand your frustration and I would hope that the high price would not be an antagonist for you, but rather a motivation to work, save and strive to reach a level of economic ability which will allow you to make such an acquisition and fatten your own coffers with the proceeds of the offspring you produce. Ball pythons are not the only species which cause such frustration for those left wanting, as I often see the same thing among chondro python enthusiasts and a few others…

Best regards,

Jeff
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Jeff Snodgres
University of Arkansas
snodgresjeffreys@uams.edu
501.603.1947

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