Um, the "redundancy" you spoke of was not from me there bro. I have a tendency to respond to husbandry and genetics questions and not touch the stuff I just remarked on in this thread.



As for your comment: "As for breeding balls because you enjoy the hobby....well that's fine, however, there are people who breed balls for a living. What's wrong with enjoying what you do and also being aware of the bottom line?"



There are plenty of people who do things (in whatever profession) for a living without fully thinking through their options. If you can actually generate more income for yourself by breeding your snakes than you can with your regular day job, then by all means, take it on full-time. There are however, a lot of folks who jump into this business with both feet... and then complain about the temperature of the waters that they didn't test first. There isn't anything wrong with that either; you have the freedom to succeed as well as the freedom to fall on your face.



What medusah hit on, and what I agree with, is that you are far safer, and apt to be far happier with this business if you keep your goals in line with maintaining a hobby/business rather than if you try to eke out a living for yourself before you have been producing these animals for a long enough period of time to have spread your risk. Most of the "Big Boys" were breeding snakes as a hobby for a VERY long time before they ever decided to give up their day jobs, and that has a lot to do with their success. That also has a lot to do with them not obsessively stressing over the fluctuations of the market.



Nothing personal, Nick. Whatever you choose to do for yourself is fine.



My original post was just to remark that these repetitive market posts aren't new, and they aren't going away. I though medusah said something that was worthwhile.



Good luck all!



~Rebecca
-----
0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)

1.2 Ball Pythons

[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]

[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]

[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]

0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

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