Everyone knows I couldn’t stay away from this topic First, I think everyone is entitled to their opinion and everyone makes some great points, I would never try to disrespect someone’s opinion.

That being said I’ll give you my opinion on this topic. The more or less argument has been one that has been in the reptile business for twenty years, From the fall of Albino Burmese Python prices to the fall of the Albino Leopard geckos and everything in between, but the truth is you can’t put the cork back in the bottle. There are way too many people that have invested in the hobby either for fun or for monetary gain to think that we are going to stop growing. Asking someone that has future plans of producing “X” amount of clutches to reduce their number for the greater good of the market will never happen. And even if they did there would be a hundred people behind them that would just keep producing. This has been a problem for as long as I’ve been in the hobby/business. We have to realize that every sale we make is a future competitor. So this is where I think more is better. Yes, more means more people producing in the future, but it also means more exposure to new people interested in the hobby. When someone from “wherever USA” buys into a Ball project, they show their friends and whoever wants to see and they talk up the hobby. These are potential future customers that we would never have in the hobby. So the more animals out there the more potential customers. I guess I see it as produce it and you will sell it?? (it’s my “field of dreams” take)

Even if we all decided to reduce our production and cut the number of Balls produced, the market would still continue to moderate until it becomes a price that a consumer can afford to buy and doesn’t need to think of breeding to justify their purchase. This is just the reality of the situation, you can’t convince somebody to pay $2500 for a Ball mutation and then expect them not to want to breed it and make their money back.

The market is what it is. I will still challenge anyone to tell me a better way to make a living, or just pay for your hobby. Yah, prices have dropped and in some cases they’ll continue to drop. So what, we’re still making a great profit and loving what we do, right?

Listen people, yes there are bad people in this hobby that will cut prices, not care about their customers, not protect the future of the hobby, sell crap, ect…. But there are those people in every walk of life. We can’t just try to be selective about who or how many people get to breed their snakes. There are so many people in the world that have never even seen a Ball Python. We have such an untapped market just waiting to be exposed to these beauties. So I for one have always believed that it’s a matter of increasing the demand more then it’s decreasing the supply. But hey, what the heck do I know, I clean snake crap for a living????? Sorry if I offending anyone, Brian (BHB)

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