Posted by:
Conserving_herps
at Wed Oct 12 15:20:44 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Conserving_herps ]
What can we really do about this? I have been out of town for the past few days and just getting caught up with the strings of posting here on the forum. I see the valid points of Tom's, Terry's and Shannon's. I, myself, have a collection of high-end hondos and will really start exploding starting next year but am also concerned about what the market will be come next season. But it really bids the question of what can we really do to stop the landslide of prices? In reality, there's really not much we can do except hope that prices stabilize. There is no governing body out there (like the Federal Reserve controling the interest rates or the government stepping in to curb the oil prices). The fact of the matter is people will do what people would want to do. If one has suddenly produce a bunch of snows or ghosts but have no space or cages available to wait for another year or so, then panic sets in and they try to sell/dump fast. It's the law of economics and manufacturing companies do that all the time... no different from us people. I've always been a believer in markets correcting itself. You learn that from graduate business schools all the way to just your common day-to-day experiences.
The economy also play a big role in whether people have the money for this hobby or not. Let's face it. Raising snakes is not a "need" but a "want". So when hard times come (like escalating oil prices, bad job market situation, and lowest consumer confidence index in two years... well, our snake hpbby will surely suffer temporarily. I apologize for throwing in some jargon words (occupational hazards I suppose) but these are the things that are wreaking havoc on prices of high end hondos.
I think it really boils down to how much you care about these snakes. I personally have done my marketing this year MOSTLY behind close doors and have sold all of my hatchlings a few days after they are hatched. I think the key for sellers and breeders to find out the optimum level of production that they should be doing. We all try to make some "reservation" list and from that list, you pretty much know who will be committed (even though there's no deposit) and who seem wishy-washy. From that feeling, one should have a pretty good idea of how many hatchlings or pairings to do. The hondos do not jump into the other cages to breed. You have that control over it and the demand from your reservation list should be your guide to avoid excesses and surpluses that you won't be able to handle later. If the breeders think of demand first before rushing in to mate the hondos, then the market will not be sooo over saturated right away.
The last comment I'd like to say is that I do this hobby primarily for fun first then for making money (in that order). Hondos are such wonderful snakes and it's hard not to really care about these guys. And if we all care about the well being of these guys, our common thrust should be to explore the other hidden genes, breed them intelligently, and not go for PURELY commmercial reasons alone.
These are just my 2 cents. I hope I did not offend anyone in any shape or form and if I did, I apologize in advance.
Thanks for reading and hope to see some comments/reactions.
Have a good day and advance happy halloween !
Best regards,
-----
RAY 
[ Hide Replies ]
 A lot of people complained about the nose-dive pricing of high-end hondos but..... - Conserving_herps, Wed Oct 12 15:20:44 2005
|
