I produced my first clutch this year from a 50%PossHet albino bred to a normal. I wanted to sell the only male as a normal and keep the females to breed back to the PossHet sire to possibly prove him out. When I asked our local reptile shop if they were interested, the reply was that "We've never had a problem with farm-hatched ball pythons. They settle in, feed well, and accept handling as well as any captive-bred. We can get them for $12.00 each, and that's all we can realistically offer for yours." I've sold other reptiles I've produced to them in the past for reasonable prices, and I believe they were being very honest. For $12.00 each, you can't even pay for a year's rat food and bedding to raise your own rats to feed your breeder's and hatchlings, much less buy supplies incidentals along the way! So maybe you want to seek out customers who want captive bred...If they'll pay $50.00 each for captive bred normals, you've got to find those people. If they aren't local, the shipping will cost almost as much as the animal. What it comes down to is margin...Would you want to go to all that work to sell a $50.00 animal, or a $5,000.00 animal? JMHO

Paul

[ Hide Replies ]

• hypothetical question-indulge please - Carlton, Fri Dec 5 18:51:00 2003
• In my limited experience... - PiedPeddler, Fri Dec 5 19:31:46 2003
• RE: hypothetical question-indulge please - mlpetros, Fri Dec 5 19:47:43 2003
• I agree and - jmartin104, Fri Dec 5 19:56:59 2003
• RE: hypothetical question-indulge please - Serpenti_Reali, Sat Dec 6 14:04:02 2003