Reptile & Amphibian Forums

wow it sure seems like the incredible looking motley morph is fast becoming the hypos from 5 years ago. anyone else sense "motley's" will be "hypo" common (availability and pricing wise) in just a few years.

One thing Motleys have that Hypos don't a patternless super version. No matter what a Motley is still a Het Super Motley and that will keep its value strong for a while.
In fact I think they are probably the most under priced morph at this time considering they are het for the only PROVEN genetic patternless boa.
I would assume that at this time there are probably less than 100 Super Motleys out there. Also there are NO living Hypo Super Motleys or Albino Super Motleys yet!!!! Heck there are only a handful of Albino, Hypo, and Sunglow Motleys out there.
You still need a pair of Motleys to make a litter with 25% Supers in it. To get an Albino SM, Hypo SM, Sunglow SM, ect. the odds go down alot, and it will be a long time before enough numbers of them are produced to drop the price.
The price will drop subtly every year, but there is no Motley crash coming
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Thanks Vinnie Caruso
opinons are like a--holes... everybody has one and they all stink

I really think that not going to be the case. Motleys have far much more breeding potential than hypos, I love what hypos do to other morphs, but as Vincent said, there is a whole different morph when it comes to the supers.

Chris

In my opinon the motley market is in it's very early stages. The most important factors are the price that the morph started at and the need for females to produce super motleys. I think the original high price of the motleys and limitted numbers that were sold have held down production and kept the price high. While more people are starting to produce motleys now the price has still remained relatively high. In the interim several people have produced super motleys, hypo motleys and albino motleys and the appearance of these motleys has helped keep the prices at a high level as the observable potential of the motley continues to expand. As more combination morphs are produced the interest in motleys and motleys combined with another morph(s) will continue to grow. This will be particularly true with combination morphs with the super motley.

On a practicle level motley prices did start to drop last year but still probably averaged around $4000-$5000 for a motley. When I was selling mine at my table at Daytona I had many people come up to me and say they couldn't wait until the motleys got down to around $2000 a peice so that they could buy pairs or more. After hearing that from so many different people my opinion is that the motleys will reach a price at about $2000 in another year or so and at this price the supply won't be able to meet the demand and the price will stabalize much like the albino boa price stabalized for many years. Most boa breeders will want to have a pair of motleys and produce supers very similar to the albino market.In addition, many people who are breeding motleys will be making motley combinations with other morphs which will sell for more and mean less normal motleys are produced.

The super motleys obviously add another whole level to the market. The appearance of these may dramatically increase the interest in the whole motley project. This will make the value of female motleys increase as they will be critical to any super breeding project.

I also think there is the possibilty of a refined market for motleys with super high contrast and great patterns that can be developed from selective breeding of specific motleys.

The final point is that the morphs are more diverse now then when the hypo started. Many people with their first hypos basically had choices of breeding with an anerythristic, albino or normal. Now people have so many more choices and much more diverse collections. This diversity means it will take a much longer time for the options with motleys to be exhausted.

Bill Kirby
KRBS HERPS

terrific post Bill. thanks for your insight. The ability of the Motley morph to reproduce itself in 1st generation breeding is what lended to my initial observation. I guess from that, single numbers standpoint, i envisioned a glut available in a very short time period. I Do agree that the potential to play with this gene seems genuinely exciting at this point and look forward to all future developments with it.

Great Post Bill! That is right on the money! I think Motleys are going to be in huge demand when the prices go to those levels....They are an awesome morph...and are only scratching the surface....I have to get one myself....I think they are awesome!

Andy F
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