Reptile & Amphibian Forums

WELL AS SCREWED UP AS THE WORLD IS,AND EVERYONE PAYING HIGH PRICES FOR THINGS,DO YOU THINK THE REPTILE MARKET WILL BOUNCE BACK?DO YOU THINK THE MARKET WILL GO BACK UP TO WHERE IT WAS OR DO YOU THINK IT WILL STAY THE SAME JUST TO MAKE SALE?DO YOU THINK OUR BALL MARKET WILL GO BACK UP?DO YOU THINK PASTELS,MOJAVES,SPIDERS,PINSTRIPES...ETC WILL GO BACK UP?ANY AND ALL THOUGHTS ARE WELCOME..LIL BREDDERS TO BIG BREEDERS!!
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BRIAN FONTAINE
EXOTIC CONSTRICTOR REPTILE'S

Prices are what they are....I see very little chance they move up...they'll just continue to go down, IMHO.

Jason

First off, NO NEED TO KEEP YOUR CAPS LOCKED

I see one positive aspect of this international finantial crisis for the ball python market, the ones that are only in it for the money will move on to something else and those that are in it as a hobby will enjoy the limitless combo potentiel and not worry how much they where worth 10, 5, 2 years ago...

I bet you 3/4 of p. regius keepers will move on to the next big thing...

Prices that are being seen in the ball python market right now have very little to do with the economy of the US. It is a natural progression of sales. When pastels, mojaves and such first hit the market they demanded a high price tag because of the limited number of specimens available. In todays world there are a huge number of private breeders and hobbyist who are successfully reproducing these animals and thus the avalailability of htem is higher and therefore the price is inevitably going to go down. It has nothing to do with the economy and everything to do with sound business practice. Supply and demand. When only a handfull of snakes are available they deservingly so have a high price. When they become readily available the prices drop. Just be thankfull that they only have a few babies at a time. The Retic breeders have to deal with this in a much larger scale since they are able to reproduce morphs in large numbers and there prices drop much more drastically because of this. Todd

...the less there are the more they cost..or vise versa.
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Charles Glaspie
http://www.myspace.com/coldthumb

>>WELL AS SCREWED UP AS THE WORLD IS,AND EVERYONE PAYING HIGH PRICES FOR THINGS,DO YOU THINK THE REPTILE MARKET WILL BOUNCE BACK?DO YOU THINK THE MARKET WILL GO BACK UP TO WHERE IT WAS OR DO YOU THINK IT WILL STAY THE SAME JUST TO MAKE SALE?DO YOU THINK OUR BALL MARKET WILL GO BACK UP?DO YOU THINK PASTELS,MOJAVES,SPIDERS,PINSTRIPES...ETC WILL GO BACK UP?ANY AND ALL THOUGHTS ARE WELCOME..LIL BREDDERS TO BIG BREEDERS!!
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>>BRIAN FONTAINE
>>EXOTIC CONSTRICTOR REPTILE'S
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www.brandonosbornereptiles.com

I don't ever see prices going up. A stabilization can occur - but that may be asking too much from too many people with too many agendas and egos.
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Tosha
JET Pythons
Toshas Blog

the more people get scared and run from the ball business, the better in the long run it will be for the breeders that can hold onto the market and continue to produce awsome combos and different things. remember, we have only begun to scratch the surface of this whole ball python color scale....

Prices will continue to drop, probably at an even faster rate than before the economy went into a recession. Snakes are a discretionary purchase; you can live without them. The easy money has long been made with high volume species like ball pythons, corn snakes, boas, etc. Ball pythons have pretty much become commodity items. In my opinion, there will be continued demand for high end and more unusual species such as green tree pythons and black-headed pythons, but their prices will drop also. Nonetheless, some of those morphs you guys make are really cool looking animals.

gtps and blackheads?_-I have seen a huge drop in demand for both those species.

Balls continue to sell well even when other animals are sitting. Yes-some prices come down, but some morphs are in short supply, even with the current economic conditions.

I would rather be in ball pythons or Boas then the stock market. Maybe all the great financial experts and advisors should start putting people in?
John

amen to that John

Ask the corn snake people this same question.......
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Damian Macioce
www.strongholdreptiles.com

I would have to agree with most that prices will probably never go back up to where they were. But I do think that prices will stabilize after the economy turns around a bit. People are just scared. A lot of people losing their jobs. If you don't have money for food how are you going justify buying a snake. JP

Yes, prices will recover-

But not very much....

But not until the economy recovers (which it now looks like will occur in years rather than months....)

But the days of making a living off a spare bedroom and a few breeder high end balls are probably over for good-you'll need a building (and maybe some luck) from here on...

But the only breeders still around to enjoy the price recovery will be those poor souls who are dyed-in-the-wool addicts (unfortunately I'll have to include myself in that )
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

The Avalanche has already started-it is too late for the pebbles to vote....

I don't understand what you're asking? GREED??? Do you want to get into the next big thing to make money, or do you really enjoy working with the balls? The ball python has taken a back seat to the economy, just as every other thing that's not a necessity. Who'll be able to feed the snakes (reptiles, whatever), much less buy more, when there's no money to buy the food for them in the first place? Yes, the Ball Python Morph
Market has taken a hit. Do you think it's good business to buy a morph in '08 for 15-20k and in two years produce and sell the same morph for 3-4k? To be honest, that's not going to happen again these days(unless you have 30 - 40 females to breed it to). Today, you have to make SMARTER choices as to what you get into (morph wise). What are you going to buy and for what combos do you need it? The prices will NEVER stay the same year to year unless it's a morph that no one wants, with no potential. The KEY (My Opinion) is to get a morph or a couple of morphs that you think have a lot of potential. Put those new morphs to other morphs for future use. (Spider, Bumble Bee, Spinner, Spinner Blast, Honey Bee, etc.) As for the Spider, it will continue to go down but it will finally find a low end price at which it will sell consistantly. I think (my opinion again) that the Pastel has found it's bottom price. This is the price at which the public will buy it for no other reason than as a P E T !!! Not to use the pastel to breed. Will the market come back? Yes, eventually. If you see the economy rebound before I do, let me know and I'll start investing again too.