I find about half of the morphs for ball pythons look like nice normals as it is (ie I can't tell them apart) unless it is a group shot with normals, albinos etc. A picture of a ghost to me looks like a normal in shed LOL but really, till you see them in person, against normal ball pythons, to most laymen, it could very easily be a normal with a high price tag.



ball pythons seem to be a very diverse and fascinating snake that has an almost individually unique pattern like finger prints do to us. The range of natural coloration (ie wild type) from black to a rich cinnamin red-brown with alien heads anywhere from muted grey-yellow brown to stricking bright yellow as seen in high yellows, to an almost dark brown not much different than the darker body colors. Sure some of the extreme ranges have been bred to bring out that tendancy but is it genetic or just selective breeding?



All and all, how the morph came to be (ie years of line breeding, introducing other proven traits etc) isn't really an issue. The issue is the result and how much a person is willing to pay to get that morph in their collection, and how much a person is willing to sell it for.



If you are a first to produce a morph that many people find spectacular and would may almost anything to get one, the breeder certainly can ask 100k for it. However if nobody really finds the morph any different than a nice looking normal, they won't pay $2k for it, maybe $100 but definitely not as much as say, a Pied goes for.



The attractiveness of the morph is also dependant on peoples tastes. Pieds are good sellers and have a good price because they are very stricking, but some people may find they look awful, like somebody through paint on them. Hence they won't buy it if the pied was sold for $50.



So raining on people's parade because they want to work with something that has a unique pattern or unusual traits, doesn't mean he is wasting his time. He enjoys working with it. Maybe he will hit on something that when crossed with something else, produces something truly amazing.

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