as a reptile show and vendor and first one attended 15 years ago, people were buying " pets ". Then as a few years went by,it was every other person that was interested was looking for a breeder type of thing and anywhere of small investment to large investment. Remember these shows were in the days of the burm craze and the colubrid market was very healthy in price and motivation. The reptile show and expo exploded in the hobby and in my very honest opinion perpetuated < ? the industry. Then came the designer and morphs and hit the rat snakes ( corns ) market then went on to the milk snake family. Then it made a turn to the lizard kingdom with the saturation of leopard geckos and bearded dragon. The snakes took a virtual downward spin in the market and what seemed to be a very spiral down in price and only very recently held somewhat steady but not like it was. BUT it didn't last as long as some of us thought it would. Now it seems like a new age thing is upon us on certain species and a stimulation of new morphs and designer pythons has taken over. I can't really pin point the reason other than a FAD > ? a sensationalism of some kind > ? a false hope or allure of investment and or returns of profit of most people thinking ? I keep looking back at the gray-banded king snake craze and the effected market and the never return of profit that the species once held ( although never of price as in the current BP market ). I do know that saturation is everything and the return of the wheel will happen and has happen in this industry several times of past but with consequences of profit and interest / popularity. Something keeps bothering me though as a hobbyist and being a past member of the industry........will saturation be achieved by just more animals produced than can be kept / sold / wants and desires by the general public ? Now ? The future if the mass breeding keeps going the way it is now ? Then how about the generation gap of age ? Will we still see a huge interest of certain population of certain age wanting to keep reptiles ? Remember that while we are in the mode of our hobby and have been, there are factors that is making the keeping of herps harder and harder in proposals and laws that most of us had never had to deal with before. AND I don't mean just laws of city, township and or state but insurance as in health and home insurance with keeping reptiles now. I can name several city's that even BPs are not allowed. I can name several city's where ANY large constrictor and yes, this includes balls that needs to be registered or permitted to keep in city limits. I can name some of the major insurance companies that will not insure if reptiles are kept on premises. I can name some health insurance companies that specifically ask if reptiles are kept as pets............
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I may be old , cantankerous, crabby, and cynical, but......

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