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Anyone else think it's time to bring ball morph prices ALL THE WAY down to earth so that the average hobbyist will get back into them?

Anyone who makes a real living in this hobby knows that the average hobbyist is the life-blood of any reptile business...and if they're a halfway intelligent business person, they know that the average hobbyist's salary is no different than the average American's. This means that most hobbyists can't afford to spend more than a few thousand dollars per year on their hobby.

For a few grand, you can't buy many ball pythons and a handful of snakes per year doesn't really scratch the itch of most hobbyists...especially when you consider that the same amount of money they would spend for a trio of lower end ball morphs could buy them a great little collection of corn snakes, leopard geckos or even other python species. As much as I like ball pythons, if I only had a couple thousand dollars of disposable income to spend, I'd probably pick a different species.

I think if prices for the relatively common morphs get down to where the average Joe can afford to buy a trio of snakes every month or two (and have more choices than just pastels!), ball pythons would be wildly popular throughout the entire reptile hobby. Once snakes start selling, momentum would be restored and prices will eventually even out to where they should be...meaning some will even go back up due to good old supply and demand.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying I have it all figured out, but it is a thought...

Interesting "thought". I don't think it's very realistic though for a few reasons. And I also, respectfully, completely disagree.
First of all, it is supply and demand. It wouldn't make any sense whatsoever for a pastel to cost the same as a pastel super stripe. There are a million pastels, and now 1 pastel super stripe. These morphs take time to establish. A lot of effort is put into getting them established, and I totally feel that the breeders who do this work, and spend the big money in the first place to be able to work with them, should be compensated for what they create. If you want the top of the line animals, you should have to pay for them accordingly.

I think us smaller breeders/hobbyists cause a lot of problems. As always, when money is involved, you get people that don't care about the animals. This problem is probably more widespread in the ball market than any other reptile. Also, it would be impossible to get EVERY (probably more like ANY) breeder on the same page with bringing prices down. That just sounds crazy to even say. I think most morphs are way too cheap as they are. And unfortunately that will only get worse. I like owning elite animals. I don't want everyone owning them. If they want cheap, stick to corn snakes. Let them chase those glorified worms around, clean up after them every day, and deal with that smell.

As far as only being able to afford a few a year, good. Then it takes more time to build your collection. You spend months, years, decades planning and saving. The payoff in the end is much more satisfying than sitting down at your computer, browsing the corn ads for an hour, and accumulating 20 snakes for the price of 1 quality ball. I like the ball market the way it is. I wish it would go back to the way it was a couple years ago when even pastels were a couple grand each. They've only gotten so low because people that don't care about quality went and made 100 brown pastels. Now 99 out of 100 pastels are the ugliest balls I've ever seen. There's nothing that can be done to slow this trend. I just wish the people buying and selling these snakes had more respect for quality. Then they wouldn't mind paying for quality. They'd see it as money well spent. Alright, I'm getting lost now. Just my opinion. Ryan.

You never heard of time = money & supply and demand?

Why in any breeders right mind would sell 3 snakes they can make with one?

Why does a black eyed lucy cost what they cost?

Is feeding food, electric, water, gas free?

Take a moment to answer these questions and you might wonder why "balls" cost what they cost.

If you need more money to buy the snake you like, my suggestion would be to get yourself another job. Don't hate the breeder because you can't afford your dream snake?!?!?!

1. You're right about one thing...supply and demand are precisely the issue. If you actually understood the principal of supply and demand, you'd recognize that there's a surplus of ball moprhs right now...meaning more supply than demand.

If that weren't the case, we wouldn't be talking about why ball morphs aren't selling, now would we?

2. I have been breeding ball pythons, amongst other species, for a living for years now. We have well over a thousand animals and I'm the one who pays the help, buys the rodents and pays the bills.

Now that you know that, let me tell you what I know. I know what it costs to run this place and what it costs to produce a clutch of ball python eggs (everything considered) and the reality is that ball pythons can be profitable at even $200 each, so long as you make sound decisions regarding overhead, advertising, help, ect.

3. I never said pastels and whites should be priced equally. If that is all you got out of my post, you didn't think too hard about what I said. There will always be a few rare snakes that are in high demand and those will obviously be more expesive.

The thing is, this whole market lost touch with what the word rare even means because most people don't have any idea how many people are actually into ball morphs. Ask one guy, he says a million, ask the next guy, he says a thousand...truth is, it's closer to a thousand. That means that if theres 100 of a particular morph out there breeding, it's not rare.

4. Don't make assumptions about my pocketbook or mistake what I'm saying as being jealous. I'm not a 15 year old complaining about prices because I want a shiney new snake. To be frank with you, I can go on the classifieds right now and pay cash for any morph I want and never dip into my personal checking or savings accounts. I'm just wise enough not to do waste my money.

The ironic part is this - The only reason I even have the ability to buy any ball morph I want right now is because I had the foresight not to put all my money into ball morphs. I saw where this was headed and sold off a lot of ball pythons before the prices even topped out.

Boidpro why don't you post your real name ? Ernie Eison