Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've only been keeping track of prices for two years now.
I noticed prices droped about $500 from last year to this.
has this been the trend ? can I expect them to go for about $2000 in 2004? thanks in advance for any help, Jason

It's all about supply and demand. As the hobby grows from year to year so dose the amount of breeders.

np

what a stupid comment.the prices will come down.Albino burmese went for thousands each at one point and are now going for $25 at some shows i've been to.I was just asking have they been comming down at the rate of $500 a year or what? IN 10 or 15 years alino balls will go for 25-50 bucks also. Herps are not relestate the newer morphs go for more, the longer they have been around the cheaper they go for. thats not rocket science for most of us VDherper.Thats just common sence.
anyone who has been following albino prices and can understand my very simple question. Please respond.
thanks, Jason

And your new name is Elmer. As in the glue, not that Fudd.

Burms have 40 eggs easily. Of course thier prices are going to drop. And what happens if those 40 new Burm babies don't sell? Well the breeder is stuck with 40 animals that will be 5 feet in 5-8 months! I can house 400 baby Balls with EASE and I'm a TINY-a$$ breeder. I can sit and wait until I get my price. Not so with a Burm breeder. Plus Burms are 10x easier to breed.

And when Albino Balls drop to $1,000 (more than 5-7 years from now, for sure) the demand will far far outstrip the supply. People who make these comments on how Ball prices are going to do this and do that are 99 times out of 100 not breeders and own one normal Ball Python and sit in their basement under a bare light bulb thinking up zany and stupid things to say.

Congrats on a fine troll.
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Last year the cheapest I saw them going for was $3000 or $3500 one or the other. THis year I have seen many going for $2500 and even saw one guy had them for $2000 bucks at a show.$50 in 15 years may be a stretch , but I bet it will closer to that then your guess of $1000. THe albinos will have to compete with more and more morphs also ball pythons are the trendy thing now. may not be in 15 years. Only time will tell.You guys seem to have a lot of smart comments, but I was just trying to ask a serrious ? about the patern in pricing . Does anyone know what they where going for 3,4,or5 years ago with that info. we could easily see a trend. and not just have to here from bitter angry investers.
thanks, Jason A.K.A (elmer}

That prices decrease at a decreasing rate. That is, only a handful of peope can afford a $25,000 Ball Python. As that price drops to $5,000, thousands of people can afford to have them. When that price hits $2,000 the demand is nuts and people are buying 4 or 5 at a time. At $1,000, the demand is through the roof. Now the kicker is that Ball Pythons are not widgets and production can't just be stepped up by speeding up the assembly line. They are easy to breed, yes, but give people a chance to f**k up and they will. Production will never be 100% in each person's collection, and even if it were, the TINY TINY clutch sizes will keep that supply in check.

Trust me. I mean look at Brazilian Rainbow Boas. They were $200 10 years ago and low and behold, they are STILL $200. That doesn't make sense as thousands of people are breeding them and they have 4 TIMES bigger clutches/litters than Ball Pythons. Why aren't they $5 each (by your logic)?
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Actually Brazilian rainbows are around $80 at shows, and $120 or so retail, but that is another topic.

I have a male albino and two het females, should breed this coming year. All things considered, my albinos will be priced according to the market, but looking ahead, right now, I would say $2400-2800 next year.

The albino ball will be a staple in every ball collection. Not only is the albino nice to look at, but is a must for the many crosses that are out there. Albino ghost, albino striped, etc.

Comparing Balls to Burms is like comparing a Corvette to a Geo Storm. The reason albino burms went down in price so quickly is because of clutch size, ease of breeding, and, well, because they are still burms. I would not take a burm, any morph you pick, for free, much less pay for them.

Dave

The price must vary from region to region. The price around here is $120 to $180 depending on color, ect. I wonder how many snakes that happens with?

The price for WHAT is $120-180, an albino burm?? If so, that is about $120-180 too much. Albino burms are now a pet store animal, and have been for 8 or more years. Their price may be regional, especially out in the places where a mom and pop pet store is the only pet store for 200 miles, yeah, they may have an albino burm for $250, but with the internet, and internet herp sales, why would anyone pay a "local" price that is so much higher than buying an animal AND paying for shipping. I do not think that Ball python morphs are priced according to region.

Dave

Well, first of all, Jeff Favelle, like myself, is (are) from Canada, with the exchange rate, our prices are equal to yours. Secondly, like Jeff said, supply will never meet demand on a high-demand morph such as an albino. I, personally have a male albino, and 1.3 100%-ers, and I can't see the prices EVER dropping below $1000, adn even that will take many many years to get to.

the burm. comment was just off the top of my head, it was just a random example.Also on the rainbow boas, I remember them going for three hundred and some dollars in the eighties and have seen them under $100 dollars recently.
I also have 2002 albino hets(1.2 100%het,.3 50%het). and hope they do stay up in price long enough for me to make a nice profit. the point of my original question is that I was trying to decide whether to get another piar of hets this year or try to save for a piar of albinos next year.
Not to beat a dead horse but; If ball pythons had over/under bets like football, I would take the under on albinos being $500 bucks in 15 years.In 15 years I think folks will be walkin in to herp shows and puchasing them as nice first time reptile pets.Remember to that everyone that purchases now does so with the intent to breed them.
thanks for the serrious posts on this. Jason

If you have what you say you have, 1.2 hets and .3 poss hets, all for albino, I would not buy another het pair if I was you. I would save for a male albino, or male pastel. Here is why. Right now you have a het male, so with your het females, you may get an albino or two, and a bunch of possible hets. Possible het albinos are worth about $1.99 more than a normal, due to the fact that male 100% hets are only around $150 now. So, how do you avoid having possible het offspring? You buy a male albino. You breed the male albino to your hets, you get albinos and 100% hets, hope for females, and you get some good money for those clutches. Breed the male albino to your poss hets, and you get a minimum of 100% het albino babies!! Not bad, and maybe some albinos too. Forget the albino het pair, get a nice male and go from there.

A pastel male would not be a bad choice either. Cheaper. If you breed your hets, and your possible hets, and two do not prove out, you use those two females for your pastel male. The good thing about your collection is the high female to male ratio.

Good luck!

Dave

A little steep since 2003 Albinos can be found NOW for $1800-$2000.

As was mentioned once before, IF you take the time to look, you can find albinos for less that the EXTREME prices out there! You have to look, have to be careful, but no more so than with purchasing any thing else.
Things are ONLY worth what someone is WILLING to pay for them, animals, cars, collectables, etc! WHEN I get to breeding my OWN albinos, I will sell them for what I want, not what others tell me to. IF I find someone like me, who wants the snake, who would give it a good home, love it and maybe breed for the fun of it, who would pass on to others what I give to them, I WOULD sell an albino for $50.00!!!!
Just my $.02

It also seems that you should have attended slither hall instead of Griffindor Mr. Potter
Anyway, yup I was joking but your hostility based response leaves me no alternative but to answer. I don't believe you will ever see the ball python albino go for less than $1000.
It is the most important ingredient to all morphs. It is also a beautiful animal in its own right.There will always be a market for them. If you look at the big breeders they are usually sold out before the hets and albinos hatch. But there are alot of regular folks like myself with hets ready to breed next season that will create albinos.Does this increase the supply and decrease the demand, Not enough to notice.
As far as boas, you will probably note that they are live bearing and produce up to 30 offspring.And they can do this annually. 300 offspring in 10 years by one breeding pair, or one male to 5 females for 3000 offspring from only six easy to care for animals.This fact does reduce the value of the animal. As far as burms and retics, they are lucky to get rid of them at a couple hundred dollars. Only a few truely devoted keepers have the huge potentially dangerous animals and the rest become casualties to disposable animal syndrome.Only the truely caring should have them.
About your comments with my handle.Whats up with you dude? Are you unable to read or are you implying I have VD for making a joke at a really silly question? Either way, get.........xoxoxox
Craig

I think you will see them drop slightly, but ball pythons don't produce as frequently as a burmese python. For a long time, albino bps went for around $7500 then dropped to $5000 and then to $2700-$3000. However, pricing will vary based on age, sex and who you get them from. Remember you get what you pay for.

You should see the albinos hold steady in pricing for sometime since it is a key component to designer morphs as are other morphs. I think once it gets to $1000-$1500 it will hold for some time.

I would expect to still pay right around 2000 actually I was in Daytona in 2002 and they were 2500 to 3000 and this year they were still all right around the 2500 range.

Bryan

www.exoticballpythons.com