Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was looking at some Ball Pythons for like $15,000. A few years back I spent probably.. $800 bucks only to come home from school one day to find my heater blew out, caught fire(luckily only burning a small portion of the wall and not hurting any snakes), and our snake room over 120 degrees. All the snakes resorted to hiding in their water dishes but in the end, I lost it all, but 1 big female, and I haven't ever bought another Ball Python since.So it amazes me that people spend thousands of dollars on animals that something could happen too and you'd loose it all! So, whats the most you guys have spent on one snake, and whats the most you've ever lost at one time for one reason or another? Lets hear some interesting stories!
On a side note, I am purchasing a YB, this may be a start to beautiful new collection. ;P.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

Really? There used to be all kinds of ball pythons for $50,000 . are you amazed people buy houses for several million dollars? cars for hundreds or thousands of dollars? artwork for millions of dollars? they are all investments and all can be destroyed in minutes by natural disasters. You either have the guts to invest or not. The ball pythons will make more ball pythons and you profit from them while still having your adults. None of those other investments can do that for you. If you spent more time being safe and using equipment made for your snakes like ARS racks you would not have a fire or overheat your animals. People pay millions for horses. Tens to Hundreds of thousands for dogs. Ball pythons are a cheap investment in the big picture. every investment has risk. Most people have insurance.
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Evan Stahl Reptiles
www.evanstahl.com

Our heater was meant for animals and indoors, it was not my fault that it happened, nor could I of prevented it. And yes, people spend millions on houses, because they are houses. You don't live in a Ball Python do you? I understand the fact that people invest tons of money in items like that, and I still don't understand it. It seems to risky for me. Ive never been the one to spend, or risk, a large amount of money. The thought of spending $500 on a snake still sounds crazy to me. I, personally, have never spent thousands of dollars for ANYTHING. I understand that i'm only 15, and I don't necessarily know what its like to have to pay for a house or whatever, but it still doesn't change the fact on how risky spending that kind of money is. If you went out and bought $50,000 worth of Ball Pythons, and then a month later a tornado came through and wiped them all out would you hurry out and buy another $50,000 worth? Id be a little sceptical.And even then, its still different, with a house or car or something you can have insurance. I don't see commercials on TV advertising Ball Python insurance. Correct me if i'm wrong, id love to see people view on this subject. I apologise if i'm sounding stupid right now.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

The bigger investment you make in the animal itself, the bigger the insurance you should surround their health with. With each new snake we purchase we have added a layer of protection to keep them from cooking/freezing etc. Deeper water dishes, higher quality substrate, a better thermostat, more durable rack systems, a high quality thermostat for the entire room, exhaust fans for the room, higher quality rodents, etc, etc,. The idea is, if you bought a $15,000 snake, I would surround it with at least a quarter that amount in protection such as listed above.

I agree with the previous post above though. People spend how much money on derby cars? Afghan dogs? CLOTHES even. I am probably one of the very few women in the country that owns snakes that are worth more than her wedding dress. People dump money in to expendable or infrequently used things all the time. Ball Pythons, which are actually pretty durable, low maintenance, and can live for upwards of 40 years, seems like a pretty smart investment to me. Not to mention they are one of the few things you can purchase, give a couple dozen meals, and nearly double its value.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

Joshmolone,
don't take this the wrong way....but...when you grow up you will learn that there is no success without risk....

that's how wars are won....
that's how we got the first human on the moon....
that's how Columbus found the New World....

and the list goes on and on....

you take risks everyday and don't even know it....ever ridden in a car without a seat belt???

Evans,
excellent post!

Pitoon

>>Our heater was meant for animals and indoors, it was not my fault that it happened, nor could I of prevented it. And yes, people spend millions on houses, because they are houses. You don't live in a Ball Python do you? I understand the fact that people invest tons of money in items like that, and I still don't understand it. It seems to risky for me. Ive never been the one to spend, or risk, a large amount of money. The thought of spending $500 on a snake still sounds crazy to me. I, personally, have never spent thousands of dollars for ANYTHING. I understand that i'm only 15, and I don't necessarily know what its like to have to pay for a house or whatever, but it still doesn't change the fact on how risky spending that kind of money is. If you went out and bought $50,000 worth of Ball Pythons, and then a month later a tornado came through and wiped them all out would you hurry out and buy another $50,000 worth? Id be a little sceptical.And even then, its still different, with a house or car or something you can have insurance. I don't see commercials on TV advertising Ball Python insurance. Correct me if i'm wrong, id love to see people view on this subject. I apologise if i'm sounding stupid right now.
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>>Got Balls?
>>Josh Molone
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Homepage
My BLOG
2010 European Shows

I know what your saying. I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

too bad i'm on the other side of the big pond....i just had a clutch of YB hatched....i could have given you a male for free!

Pitoon

>>I know what your saying. I guess I will cross that bridge when I get there.
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>>Got Balls?
>>Josh Molone

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Homepage
My BLOG
2010 European Shows

That's the 1st thing to be successful.

Manage the risk !
Is it worth or not ? Is there a way to turn the risk into something less risky ? yes it's possible, just need to find out.

Don't you think the financial market is risky ?
If you put all your money on one company, it sure does. But if you spread it accross, you minimize your risk.

Sames goes here.

You can also have insurance on your snake or your business...
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love this world, don't hate it.

With every investment comes risk. However, normally the idea of doubling or tripling the originally spent amount makes people take the risk.
You just need the right protection. One thermostat is not enough, get two as backup, so if one over heats, the second will catch it and stop it. Deep water dishes so they can protect against the worst. Alarms for if something malfunctions.
Spend money to make money, and spend money to save your investment. It would not be possible, with our set-up, to have all our ball pythons over-heat and die. Thus our investments can grow.

Yeah people that have crap loads of money go out and buy all this expensive crap. Some of it is investments, others are needs and pretty much anything else are wants. All that stuff can be insured and so can snakes. I believe they would be classified as personal property. If I am wrong I am sure someone that knows will say so. Now with personal property you have to either have the serial number to it or a bill of sale. The insurance company would have all that on file. Anyway, to get to the point, I had a little over a $1000 invested in ball pythons and lost my job and had to get rid of them. When I get to where I can I will reinvest and try again. By God I am going to do what I have always wanted to do and that is breed ball pythons and various other pythons. It's not a matter of how much they cost. It's a matter of if it's your passion and something you love to do. This isn't a job for most of us. It's a way of life. Plus you may make a little something off of it and produce cool looking snakes. They are investments and I'm sure everyone that is in this business would start all over if they lost it all. Just as I am sure you are passionate about something in your life and if you lost it you would start all over.

Spent $550 on a male Nerd line lemon. You can get them for $70 now.

I think the thing that pissed me off most was spending $600 on 3 breeding size normals, only to have one drown in it's water dish.
I took a big plastic bowl with a lid and cut a hole in the top so they could drink, but not tip them over. Snake went in...couldn't get out. It was my fault, but it was still annoying.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

I didn't mean for this to be an argument. I was just curious. Like Bolitochrome said, I will definitely add more types of protection for the snakes. They are actually housed in my room now, so I pretty much can keep an eye of them at all times. I really appreciate everyones advice and such, I just hope I didn't piss anyone off too bad. ;P. And like someone said, sorry forgot who, for some people its a business and for some its a way of life, a passion. I totally agree, I have no intentions of making my hobby a bussiness. I mean, I think that would be great messing with Ball Pythons and making a living. But I would almost feel bad selling the little guys. They are just so darn cute. And this, once again brings up the age factor, i'm only 15. Although, I did apply for a job at a local pet store. I have definitely learned a few lessons about money over the years. Lessons I will definitely use in the future, and help other people out with my mistakes.
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Got Balls?
Josh Molone

I don't think you made anyone mad. I know I have been approached with this question before. More often it is stated like, "You spent HOW MUCH on SNAKES?"

Usually after I explain it as I did to you, that when you look at the numbers Ball Pythons are much more stable long-term investment than many purchases of equal value, people tend to understand.

I'm sorry to hear what happened to your animals. I wish you the best and hope you find joy in Ball Pythons, even if you decide not to breed. I will keep you in mind when our first clutch hatches.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.0 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

YB.....male?...$20.....it's a start....LOL

....most spent....$3G

most lost......$2G .........stolen off a table ....

people suck.....any way you look at it....

....I make my morphs...done spending cash......well...locality milks....little reds....aaaaahhhhh cute....

..
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......JY

Dude...you use the "..." too much. Just sayin.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)

I've stolen it and use it everywhere..... especially facebook.

Not here though..... It would be too obvious.....

dude.....dude?...1973?....

dude....I use it ....tough...?...

....you want me to write like this...like everyone else...?

Hello, my name is Timmy. I had a puppy but lost it to the wolves.It was my bestest friend. I now have to learn how to hunt and trap wolves. It will be a very good time catching and shooting their freakin heads off. The wolves suck,bigtime. End of story,tadaa.!...LOL...

....they are dots.....and if you really look...I see soooo many people doing it now...copycats....you'll see...you'll do it...

....end of story...LOL...

I am 50...leave me alone and breed....!!!///...Ha
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.......
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......JY

LMAo

It's infectious!...damn you...

Sure does beat the hell out of sentences and paragraphs like this one that have absolutely no punctuation at all just one big run on paragraph for everyone to try and figure out where one sentence starts and another leaves off of or even what the point was to begin with by the time you are done translating it

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Charles Glaspie
picasaweb.google.com/coldthumb

Well since you're buying you YB from me if i can be any help or give you advice on care or husbandry just let me know. Sorry to here about your snake room ...I have so much money invest in my stuff it would be catastrophic if i lost them all!!!!!!
Best of Luck, Jonathan Bryan/EyeballMorphs

You think snakes are bad? Even if you had a killer collection with 20 snakes and all of them being high quality, you might top out just under 100,000.

I have worked in the horse industry where people will spend over 30,000 to get a young horse (barely broken to ride), ship it from Europe to the U.S., only to put it into training for 2k a month (minimum, up to 6k a month). Then the horse gets a stomach ache on the trip, colics and dies, or get's into the training program, only to be out in it's field one day and roll into a fence, scrape it's leg and be out of work for 3-9 months. Those months you still have to pay to feed and house it while it recovers. Not to mention the vet bill, the 4-6 weeks in between shoeing the horse (100-300 per time, depending), semi-annual (to quarterly) vaccinations, tack, grooming supplies, blankets, supplements.

I would easily pay 15K for a snake that eats once a week and lives in a plastic tub with no will to hurt itself.

But that's just me...

And that's just the basics of horse stuff...
you are completely leaving out accidents during transportation, ballsy predators like mountain lions, gopher holes...etc etc.
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"What is man without the beasts?
If all the beasts were gone,
men would die from great loneliness of spirit.
For what happens to the beasts,
soon happens to men.
All things are connected."

-Chief Seattle (Duwamish Tribe)