I have been keeping herps since I was about 15 years old, that’s almost 30 years for those doing the math LOL and in that time I have watched the hobby go from being a few dedicated individuals to something that resembles the gold rush of 1849 in CA. The money has gotten so outrageous that the hobby is no longer referred to as a hobby but as an “industry”. It now has more that it’s fair share of scam artists and others that are not into the hobby for the love of the animals but for the love of money! Damn it people get jobs!!!!

If the market on some of these snakes would level off a bit and make it affordable to all, then the money would not attract the criminal element as it has. Maybe our animals would be safe at the shows and we would not have to worry about them be stolen by “Joe the crack head” if we turn our backs for a second. If the price of the animals were at a more affordable level maybe then new keepers would be more interested in learning about the animals first and looking to breed them second.
If we could just take the money factor out of breeding then we could be back to working with the animals for the love of the animals and all the bad guys would just go on to the next get rich quick scheme. Our hobby could go back to the friendly little group it once was without the scams and scum that now comes with it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that we will ever return to the “good old days” and each time I wish we could, I know the younger guys are sitting back saying “I wish this guy would stop his B-----ing over this” LOL.
But to answer your question, I don’t see the market crashing anytime soon. Even if the Albino Boa does drop to a nice $600.00 per baby a litter of Albinos is still a very profitable boa to breed. If you figure a litter of 25 baby albino boas at $600.00 each, that is $15,000.00 return on your $1,200.00 investment three years ago. Furthermore that $1,200.00 investment will now payoff, for at the very least, every other year for the next 10-15 years. To bring the issue even further, you now use the albino boas to trade for other boas that you may want to produce and keep a few of the top picks for yourself each season. So you use the Albino baby to trade for a Hypo and an Anery Boa. Now you have the mix to make sunglows, snows, SnowGlows, Ghosts and a bunch more, which in turn makes more money, so on and so forth. So regardless of what the price of the boas are when you go to sell your young you “investment” will still pay off much better then any Money Market or CD. Now this investment is not with out risk, but the market dropping is not going to be one of them. IBD, theft, equipment failure and other perils of the hobby or more likely to cost you your investment then the market place ever will.
Good Luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com

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