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Are they any inexpensive ball lines if so what are they and whats the price range? Is the market doing well for normal balls? Are normals being used for anything besides normal projects? I want to get into balls but if its only for the rich then I cant get in.

Are there any inexpensive ball lines if so what are they and whats the price range?

---The most inexpensive that I am aware of are pastels and albinos. Male pastels are around $1000 and albinos around $2000.

Is the market doing well for normal balls?

---Great for female normals. You'd have much difficulty in moving hatchling males unless you virtually give them away.

Are normals being used for anything besides normal projects?

---Normal females are particularly useful in projects involving co-dominant morphs such as pastels, mojave, etc... This is why it's hard to sell normal males for anything other than pets - and the pet stores are loaded with imports that were purchased for next to nothing.

I want to get into balls but if its only for the rich then I cant get in.

---Well, right now it's not necessarily for the rich, but for those who are willing to take a risk. You can't make money in this endeavor without spending it. The longer you wait for the price to drop, the less will be the profit potential. I don't know your economic position... however, if you have the fortitude and forward thinking to begin saving now, then you could start a respectable small breeding project in the near future that could potentially return several times the initial investment. If you're going to be breeding snakes anyway, then might as well have a prospect to make a little money too (that's the way I see it).

The most expensive I've seen is $20,000 and higher.
Don't expect to get rich, but you have to spend money to make money.
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That's one of the problems though. Too many people are breeding animals just for the profit (to get rich).

How many people are breeding solely for profit in proportion to the number of breeders not doing it for the profit?

And how do you know these numbers?

Or are you going just by what you see on the KS Ball Forum?? LOL!

I don't know about anyone else,but I'm not rich yet!Hell,any time I sell a snake,I go buy another one!LOL!Or pay the rent,car insurance,etc,etc! Besides,breeding snakes isn't exactly a "sure thing" as far as investments go!
Oh well,just my opinion(let the beatings begin!)
Hello,my name is Roger,and I'm addicted to reptiles!

I may have cleared $30K in sales, but I spent $40K on NEW animals!!! Yeah, I must be in it for the money, LOL! The MINUS money that is.....

So far no one has mentioned buying hets or possible hets as an alternative. Sure, buying a het for albino male for $250 and breeding him after a year to some 1500 gram or larger normal females may take you a few years to produce some albinos, but you will produce them, even if it takes you 3 or 4 years.(you will have to breed your male back to the female 50% possible het offspring). You have the albino gene and you only pair $250 for it. Does it take time? Yes. Is it expensive? Not for most people. This is not the fastest way to produce a morph but it is an inexpensive alternative if you have patience. You can do this with practically any morph you want although the price of hets does change depending upon the morph. On the other hand, if you can shell out a grand for a male pastel, as the others mentioned, you could produce pastels in your first clutch, but remember, you have to have some females that are breeding size. You could buy some imported females for this purpose, but I would not recommend it. You could (and most likely would) be looking at a whole other realm of problems ( parasites, disease etc.). You can find normal females in the 1500 gram range on the classified section but don't be surprised if they are $200-$400, depending on who is selling them and if it is near the breeding season. And of course, are you sure these females are not imports?? Do some research before getting involved. Breeding is easy as long as you have the right setup, but this costs some initial investment as well. Hope this helps.

This is certainly an option. However, consider that an unknown breeder will have extreme difficulty selling hets and possible hets of a simple recessive morph. Using the albino as an example (the same will apply to other simple recessive morphs once the price drops into the current range of albinos), the value of hets and possible hets will deviate more and more from the value of the homozygous morph. I expect female het albinos to drop to $300 before albinos drop to $1200, and at this point the het males aren't worth much more than imports. There are a lot more hets out there than actual albinos. Just to save the future small scale breeder some grief, I recommend gearing toward the production of as few hets as possible and NO possible hets (unless the morph is still very expensive). So a very small operation could have one or two albino females and a het male, or one albino male and several het females.

Just some food for thought.

No one's mentioned jungle balls!?I know they're not in high demand,but they are prettier than "normal" balls,and usually in the $200-$400.00 range.I don't think anyone is trying to disuade you from breeding balls,myself included,but if you're just doing it for fun...who cares what they're worth! Another thing to consider before shelling out any cash:breeding ball pythons is not guaranteed!I know I've found it to be much trickier than I thought it would be,nothing like burms!LOL!
Anyway,do the best you can with what you can afford,and have fun!!! Good luck