Hi folks,

I've been away from the bp world for several years and recently adopted a nice little normal from a herp society. When I started roaming around on bp sites looking for updated info I was really shocked to see the prices of various morphs being produced. I'll admit it right now...I'm a (shudder) mere pet keeper. I enjoy my herps for their individual qualities rather than their reproductive potential. A snake's genetic purity would be sort of wasted on me. My questions for you breeders are:

Does anyone think about producing "pet quality" bps? I do NOT mean breeding mills as for dogs! Whether we like it or not simple pet owners are a large portion of the snake-buying public. It is one thing to offer genetically specialized animals for thousands of $$ to fellow collectors, but what about the new keeper or pet owner who does not breed and probably won't appreciate the investment (both genetic and monetary) such a snake is?

If we as keepers want to encourage snake buyers to choose cbb animals how can we realistically expect pet owners to fork out $1000 or more for such carefully cultivated animals? They may only care about the markings of their individual snake, its health and temperment. Het for whatever won't mean a thing.

Please don't get me wrong. I've worked with herps a long time and appreciate the time and effort that goes into designer morphs, even if I can't see myself buying one for pet purposes. And yes, I also appreciate the cost of establishing bloodlines etc. My little rescue deserves the same level of attention and respect as that high contrast albino. I just wonder if breeders are losing sight of a rather large segment of the herp public and unintentionally perpetuating the market for miserable imports.

Thanks for listening.

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