Has anyone looked in the classifieds lately? There are normal wildcaught females going for 300 and up, and normal babies going for 400 a pair because they are "reduced pattern" or "possible axanthic" or even some snakes which are definitely not yellow bellies going for 2500 or more because they kinda look like a yellow belly. Just because you put a picture of its belly in the add doesn't mean it is a yellow belly. The characteristics which show these heterozygous phenotypes are obvious, don't be tricked into emptying your wallet for a snake someone is trying to pass off as rare. Don't get me wrong. If you produce something out of this world which many of you are doing, then set the price where supply meets demand and let the free market economy work for you. Lets get real though. We have people trying to get rich off of babies they bought two weeks ago in a shipment from Africa for 10 bucks a piece or less. How many poor newbies are being suckered into this and buying animals they think will make them rich which are nothing more than normal babies from a shady salesman.

The herp hobby has always been a little shady, that is why you only deal with reputable people you can trust. I know that for every person like myself who loves their animals and loves the idea of experimenting to see what the new genetic combinations they can produce, there are 10 more out there who see nothing but dollar signs when they think, if I buy this cinnamon pastel male for $25,000 and breed him to 100 females then I can be a millionare in no time. I sincerely hope I am overestimating the problem, but right now it seems like this to me. Don't get me wrong, I would love to have a pair of every morph out there, who wouldn't? But I am not planning on quitting my job and becoming a professional snake breeder. I will have a white, black, pewter pastel, piebald, albino, and everything else my wife lets me put in the house eventually, but I will wait when I can afford it.

Eventually the prices will come down and we will see a leucistic ball in our local pet store and say to our kids, "I remember when one of those sold for $250,000 and it was the only one it the world." By then your kid may want the brown and black one because the white one looks too plain. LOL

I am interested to hear from you all on the present situation in your opinion. I fear that increase worth of the WC females will lead to overexploitation in the wild and more negative press about the herp hobby.

Just my two cents, well maybe 2 bucks.

Shannon
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1.21 ball pythons
1 speckled kingsnake
1 snapping turtle
1.0 argentine horned frog
1.1 English Bulldogs

[ Hide Replies ]

• Is some of this getting out of control or is it just me? - coyotethug, Fri Jun 3 03:41:02 2005
• RE: Is some of this getting out of control or is it just me? - jeff favelle, Fri Jun 3 09:01:34 2005
• RE: Is some of this getting out of control or is it just me? - coyotethug, Fri Jun 3 09:36:16 2005
• This IS free market forces at work! - sparke303, Fri Jun 3 16:33:58 2005
• The prices aren't "up"... - tc@screamdreams, Fri Jun 3 20:00:50 2005