These are a few of the questions I ALWAYS ask before I invest in a new or newer morph. I say invest because that is what the breeder is claiming.

1. How many have been produced?
2. What does the breeder project to hit the market from their facility in the next year, two years…etc?
3. What combinations have been made?
4. What are the breeder’s plans for the morph?
5. Has there been any inbreeding?
6. Have any health problems been noticed in the litter(s)?
7. What were the litter stats?
8. If the morph is new enough I even try to find out who else is working with them so I have some idea of how well the project will be managed.

I agree with everyone about if you take the risk you deserve to reap the return. If all or even most of the above questions are answered favorably the morph will still command a high price. The original breeder will place a price tag on the project as a statement of the success that is projected. If the next person on the pyramid comes along and is paying into a multi-thousand dollar project there is a LOT of risk as well. Therefore, hopefully some profit will be realized for the next person, and so on.

Every time this topic comes up the argument is about “the risk” and “the love of the animals”. This only addresses the beginning and end of the market cycle. What is always left out is the middle. In my experience, which is limited in comparison to many people on this forum, some who have taken the initial risk think they have a license to disregard ethics. What I mean is when an animal is for sale I expect to be told the truth about it especially when I ask, regardless of the price tag. When ALL of the above stated questions have been answered favorably, and directly by the breeder, I, like many others become upset when 60 plus litters hit the market the following year that were not disclosed when answering question two. Or when I go to a show two years in a row following my purchase and that particular breeder has a large percentage of the same morph with one eye or that are a bit “goofy” at greatly discounted prices (so much for out crossing claims). Or when two of five boas purchased die at an early age with no apparent reason that can be diagnosed by a veterinarian other than a weak snake possibly from inbreeding. By the way my vet has been breeding reptiles for over fifteen years.

Then in the case of the motley and jungle morphs, the word is sent directly from the top that more out crossing will make the supers strong enough to produce viable litters. Wait a minute, outcrossing, what happened to the answer to question five. In the mean time, everyone who has invested in the middle portion of the market is left asking the question that started this thread. To say “don’t worry about it, you should do it for the love of the animals, not profit” is just a blanket statement that distracts people from the poorly managed market cycle and quite often poor ethics. Furthermore, who would invest any money in reptiles if they weren’t “doing it for the love of the animals”. To say it is the little guy’s fault for being a sucker is quite often a narrow point of view.

In the end there isn’t much you can do about it other than work with people you trust. If I had a dollar for every time I have said for the most part you get what you pay for I would be a rich man.

A little off topic but you will see viable litters produced from super motleys and super jungles.

Steve - sdi

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