Well first off I would have NEVER mentioned any names or breeders but since Chad chimed in I feel ok saying it. Also, I really respect the fact that he did.

I did purchase my Latis from Pro Exotics. First and foremost, it was an excellent transaction, with lots of great info from Robyn and Andy. It was very hard, at that time and still, to find much good info on the Latis. They are great snakes, and have done incredibly well for me. So, I have absolutely no complaints or regrets.

Ok, but I may be the perfect example here, however. I just checked, and I bought those snakes in June of 2009. So, not even a year ago. I paid $900 for the pair. Right now, PE sells '09s for $350 a pair. And even '08 animals, which could possibly be breeders at this point are $450 a pair. So, in less than a year, the same snakes are being sold for half, and newer hatchlings are even less than that. That isn't just a simple drop, and I just don't see that many people working with these animals at this point. At least not like the corns and Balls listed above.

I see them on sale in the classifieds from time to time. Some imported some not. That price point is on par with the imports I suppose. But, I guess people are picking up the imports left and right at those prices and I'm not hearing about it much?

I've been around long enough to know that prices fall rapidly. But the only other time I've seen this happen was with albino leopard geckos. And I think we can agree more people by far work and breed leopard geckos. But imports didn't cause that for sure, the major breeder at the time affected the price. But this price change is huge for a snake that isn't widespread, even if they have been easy to breed. From $900 to $350 in less than a year is huge for most of us.

I suppose the ease of breeding plays a big part, but there are other species that are imported in large numbers (and do very poorly as imports) at low prices, but the US captive bred specimens still retain higher prices. Right away I think of Green Tree Pythons. Captive bred babies are normally double the price, but again, they aren't as easy to breed.

I want to be very clear here, I'm not questioning Chad or PE at all. I'm super happy with the snakes, and the way they handled the transaction, they are great animals. I'm a very experienced keeper, but needed as much info as possible when paying that price for a snake I had trouble finding info on, and they helped me with it. It was probably the reason I actually bought them, not normally something I would do. My question was just how the price fell apart, and why. I don't keep snakes for money, but like someone else mentioned, when you pay that kind of price, you have to think you'll at least get a good part back early on. I would have thought we'd see these prices maybe in 3 or 4 years at the earliest. I don't regret my purchase at all, but had I known that the price would be where it is now, I sure would have waited a year.
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Brian Suter

www.serpenteer.com

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