Dean is absolutely right. DEMAND definetly outweighs supply in this case. and the Couperi are hit and miss breeders, any one that has bred them repeatedly knows that often, after all their hard work, they may find themselves with NOTHING at the end of the breeding season.

This year has DEFINETLY been a banner year for bad production in Easterns. 6 out of the 10 breeders that I personally know have produced either nothing or just a few Couperi, and as Dean said they are allready spoken for..and the backlog sometiems continues for several years.

Many people get invloved with snakes because they can get a certain species up to breeding size QUICKLY by overfeeding, and then breed them VERY early, producing low numbers but still producing SOMETHING.

The problem with this is that it is bad for the snake, and doesnt allow the person to learn to truly appreciate them. The rush is to get to market.

I akin D.couperi with TORTOISES. Couperi take upwards of 4 years to reach maturity and breeding age, and then they often get eggbound or produce eggs that are infertile dureing their first attempt at reproduction.

So..it takes patience to grow them to size and even more patience to get them to successfully breed and the eggs to hatch.

Tortoises...are alot like that. They take a long time to reach sexual maturity, and frankly their owners arent worried about it, they honestly like the animals. They have too, its a long haul toget then to breeding size, relatively. I view Tortoise owners and Drymarchon owners as extremelt patient people, and definetly not in it for the money. It just takes to long and is to uncertain.

Take care

Fred Albury

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