Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thing bout posting this post for awhile. Well, I got today off and I'm curious to YOUR replys & thoughts
I remember catching everthing that moved by the age of eight. That was back when aquariums were all Slate bottm & HEAVY !
I didn't have a clue what I was doing ,BUT the love for these magnificent creatures, from the 1st one I caught, a water snake the sure did musk me and bite me
I remeber before the internet I got a copy of reptiles Magazine. I sent a.s.a.s.e. to every one that would offer a price list. I would be like a kid at X mas checking the mail box. I quickly found that Mom & Dad would rather call up Glades Herps, pull out the credit card & order a spotted python or colubrides and for a lil' over $100 X mas shopping for me was done.
Now after this long drawn ot post, let me get to a question. can you all rememebr some of the prices of herps back in 1993 and how most have dropped. Not ALL bt alot
I remember Jungle x diamonds being $999.00, now their ALOT less. Dumerils @ that time were on the endangered speceis list, CITE 1 or 2 I can't remeber, plus the cost was way up there! Now you can get it from $135 ea to $200 1.1 a pair. Do you have a certain species that stands out in your mind that the price has radically changed? Your thoughts?
Dave @ East TN reptiles
P.s. Anyone want to share what the most ya ever paid for a snake. I payed $2,500 for a 0.1 albino boa 100% het for snow. It died 28 days later. I've been keeping snakes for 14 yrs This animal did NOT die from my husbandry. The seller said she was 18 months old, she was barely over two ft. I rememeber the seller answering ALL my e mails,( he is well know) then when I emailed him bout her death..........the replies became ALOT less. I'm not posting this individuals name cause I beleive this forum is not the place for it. The seller did tell me he'd knock $100 off IF I bought another snake, like the $2,500 that just died.I put the animal in The freezer after e amiling him.
Finally when he contated me, he said I sholdn't have done that. Well,,, If a snake dies that ya not had long & the seller doesn't reply....... what would you do? I've babbled enough.

>> P.s. Anyone want to share what the most ya ever paid for a snake. I payed $2,500 for a 0.1 albino boa 100% het for snow. It died 28 days later. I've been keeping snakes for 14 yrs This animal did NOT die from my husbandry. The seller said she was 18 months old, she was barely over two ft. I rememeber the seller answering ALL my e mails,( he is well know) then when I emailed him bout her death..........the replies became ALOT less. I'm not posting this individuals name cause I beleive this forum is not the place for it. The seller did tell me he'd knock $100 off IF I bought another snake, like the $2,500 that just died.I put the animal in The freezer after e amiling him.
>>Finally when he contated me, he said I sholdn't have done that. Well,,, If a snake dies that ya not had long & the seller doesn't reply....... what would you do? I've babbled enough.

I had the same thing happen this month. 2 baby corns, bought as feeding, ate, but began regurgitating. Long story short, was blamed by the seller-she stated it was my care, then when I posted results of the necropsy she disappeared off the face of the planet.

I'm not sure how I'd feel if that happened with a $2500 boa.

-cat
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http://chaoscat.lowerground.net/herps/
My collection and herp photography

www.lowergroundreptiles.net

HEY, THAT SOUNDS LIKE MY STORY! I'M NEW TO HERPING,BOUGHT A SNAKE THAT WAS 5FT FROM REPUTABLE DEALER,BIG NAME HERP STORE.IGNORED THE BOA CHECKLIST,OPEN MOUTH CHECK FOR RESPITORY ETC.I DID ASK IF IT WAS WILD CAUGHT.THEY SAID IT WAS C.B SOMEBODY'S PET.TOOK IT HOME RIGHT AWAY TWO WEEKS LATTER,NECROTIC TAIL TIP,TAPE WORMS,RESPITORY INFECTION AND MOUTHROT.A.S.A.P.STRAIGHT TO THE VET. GOT MY HANDS ON ALL THE LITERATURE I COULD FIND,READ DAYS AND NIGHTS!FOUND OUT SHE WAS WILD CAUGHT BECAUSE SHE WON'T EAT F.T,AND SHE HAS TICK SCARS AROUND HER NECK.IT'S BEEN THREE MONTHS AND I'M STILL BATTLING THE RESPITORY. SHE'S SLOWLY PULLING THROUGH.GAINING WEIGHT AND HISSING LIKE THE DEVIL!SHE'S A REAL BEAUTY ,PURE PURPLE GUYANESE!DAMMIT!!WHAT A WAY TO LEARN!!

Hi this is a good post. I used to do the same thing. I used to live for Glades Herps price list however I would have to say my favorite price list was from Crutchfield! Oh how I waited monthly for the Crutchfield pricelist! I could sit for an hour or so with my highlighter pen going over species I was interested in. It was a little more fun in the old days getting new animals probably because you hadent seen them at all yet! I might just be jaded now that Ive had about everything. I remember getting my first blood python from Crutchfield AWESOME! I remember my first boa constrictor I bought when I was a kid and how fun it was. HOWEVER MY MOST MEMORABLE REPTILE PURCHASE WAS a Papuan python from Gulf Coast reptiles. I had NEVER EVEN SEEN a picture of one. I couldnt even find a picture of one. There was a baby picture in the Ross and Marzec book but that was it! They were selling them for $1750 as imports and were male heavy so I got a deal I believe I paid in the $1000 range for him. And that was probably my most memorable being that I had never even seen a papuan picture! As for prices! I believe that Timor pythons, boelens and black heads were all at the 10k range in 1990. How about ring pythons? A short time ago I remember Dick Georgen selling them for $3500 + I thought man if I only had the money for one of those! Look at them now! And as fun as it was in the old days I wouldnt change these days for anything! Remember buying animals from a price list never seeing what your getting? Yea I used to do that practically EVERY time I bought something. Now its rare to buy an animal sightunseen. Remember only hearing about this animal that the Barkers had? Or that Crutchfield sold? Now you can see it on the internet! Fantastic! Check out the shows! Woowee theres some good stuff there. So as far as Ive been into reptiles its really always been fun for me. Prices have gone down significantly but now I can actually own a blackhead python and not just talk to the Barkers who had them and me just wanting to live vicariously through our conversations lol.

GREAT BIG OLE FOLD OUT GIANT PRICE LIST ! The differnt colors ( blue was my favorite. I to would spend hour in just amazement.

At 45yrs old I decided instead of a blonde or red sports car I wanted to get into snakes ( I think I made the right move). My first snakes where cornsnakes. and now at 48yrs all I want are boas. And in part it's because of all the great pic. I see here on this form. Thanks to all Tom

I bought my first boa in 1978 and I only paid $37.99 from a pet shop. I named her Bo and had her for a pet for 18 years.
I first got in to reptiles when I was about 6 years old. I would catch Garter snake, Bull frogs, Snapping turtles, panted turtles and soft shell turtles out of the Little Calumet River. Boy did my Mom love finding all this reptile in the window wells of are house and in the garage. LOL One time I caught a squirrel and let him go in are family room. I sure and fun trying to get him out of the house.
He was fairly tame he would run up my leg and eat out of my hand.

Here is a picture of Bo. She is also the first picture you see on my website.

Take care,
Tom
McCarthyBoas.com

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McCarthyBoas.com --------- Thanks & Take Care Everyone

In cleaning out some old files over the holidays, I found what appears to be my oldest price list. It's from Alfred Ljeda of Tropa Co. and dated 1980.

Here are a few of the noted wholesale prices:

rainbow boas - $25
baby boas - seasonal prices
garden tree boas - $35
blood pythons - $65
retic pythons - $16
indian python - $10 a foot/baby $35
ball pythons - $21
hog nose - $10 large

Also found this in my old files, an August 1991, Crutchfield price list:

Dumeril boa - $675
Surinam Redtail - 8-9 ', $750
Colombian boa - 6-7', $275
Brazilain Rainbow (Lamar strain) - $675
Cuban boa - $575
Turk's Isle boa - $175
Bahama boa - $175
Jamaican boas - $875 pair
Hog Isle boa - $975

Boelen's pythons - $2,750
Retic - 24-26', $12,000
Albino Brumese - female, 10-11', $5,000
Bismark Ring python - $1,475
Diamond pythons - juveniles, $4,500 pair

My first Colombian redtail cost me $178.00 plus tax in 1991 at a pet store...and he was just a baby. When people ask these days why I paid so much, I try to explain that prices were different then. Not everyone was breeding these guys and $150 or more wasn't unheard of (especially in pet stores). The bigger the boa, the more it cost, so babies were the way to go. I'd never even heard of a reptile expo back then. If they were around, it sure wasn't in rural Virginia. I never got the price lists - my mother would have had a heart attack! - but I can well understand the excitement of looking over a dream list and picking out the ones I wanted.

Raven

. Since I became interested in reptiles I have seen prices go from very low in the 60s to very high in the early 90s and then back down in the late 90s. Since 2000 some prices have gone up and some have gone down. Before the big retile dealer sting operation which was in the late 70s or early 80s there were quite a few dealers sending out pricelists. After the sting there fewer people in the reptile business. The business went through a big period of growth after around 1985 as interest in captive breeding grew. I had some pricelists from the 60s and 70s but have misplaced them. The Crutchfield pricelists from the early 90s were great. I have piles of pricelists from the 90s. The big change in the reptile pricelists over the last 40 years is that most of the reptiles for sale in the past were WC and most today are CB. IMO the most interesting current pricelists are from Strictly Reptiles and a few of the other importers. These pricelists have more and more CB animals for sale but they also show us what is currently being imported.
Jeff

>>I've been thing bout posting this post for awhile. Well, I got today off and I'm curious to YOUR replys & thoughts
>> I remember catching everthing that moved by the age of eight. That was back when aquariums were all Slate bottm & HEAVY !
>> I didn't have a clue what I was doing ,BUT the love for these magnificent creatures, from the 1st one I caught, a water snake the sure did musk me and bite me
>> I remeber before the internet I got a copy of reptiles Magazine. I sent a.s.a.s.e. to every one that would offer a price list. I would be like a kid at X mas checking the mail box. I quickly found that Mom & Dad would rather call up Glades Herps, pull out the credit card & order a spotted python or colubrides and for a lil' over $100 X mas shopping for me was done.
>> Now after this long drawn ot post, let me get to a question. can you all rememebr some of the prices of herps back in 1993 and how most have dropped. Not ALL bt alot
>> I remember Jungle x diamonds being $999.00, now their ALOT less. Dumerils @ that time were on the endangered speceis list, CITE 1 or 2 I can't remeber, plus the cost was way up there! Now you can get it from $135 ea to $200 1.1 a pair. Do you have a certain species that stands out in your mind that the price has radically changed? Your thoughts?
>> Dave @ East TN reptiles
>> P.s. Anyone want to share what the most ya ever paid for a snake. I payed $2,500 for a 0.1 albino boa 100% het for snow. It died 28 days later. I've been keeping snakes for 14 yrs This animal did NOT die from my husbandry. The seller said she was 18 months old, she was barely over two ft. I rememeber the seller answering ALL my e mails,( he is well know) then when I emailed him bout her death..........the replies became ALOT less. I'm not posting this individuals name cause I beleive this forum is not the place for it. The seller did tell me he'd knock $100 off IF I bought another snake, like the $2,500 that just died.I put the animal in The freezer after e amiling him.
>>Finally when he contated me, he said I sholdn't have done that. Well,,, If a snake dies that ya not had long & the seller doesn't reply....... what would you do? I've babbled enough.