Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First of all let me state I am hooked! My question is this. I have recently seen many people selling fresh imports as new lines of Ghosts,Pastels and Spiders. Obviously just as with any new morph they sometimes occur naturally in the wild. But what I mean is I don't see how people can import a wild caught or "farmed" animal and then say this is a new line of Spider,Pastel, Ghost or whatever. I mean, I see how they can do it.I Just don't know if I can believe it or not. Correct me if I am wrong, but usually high prices are either the result of something being extremely rare or the result of hard work. If spiders or other higher end morphs are popping up regularly in the wild it stands to reason that they are not all that rare. That being said is the market heading for a Crash? Another thing. Is the demand that great for 10-20 thousand dollar animals? I hope nobody takes this the wrong way the stuff being done with Balls amazes me and I would like to get into them. The prices just blow me away!

The reason why they sometimes state it could be a new line is because they have to be proven out to be genetic. If proven out to be genetic, they can usually be called whatever line because they never had an origin. As for the CH morphs, usually they are priced just right, but sometimes I see some that are wayyy too overpriced for an unproven animal.

i personally would buy a pastel import just for it to be a lil cheaper & I would like to have my own bloodline. that's the appeal of import but it's alot more risky. snakes could be sick, not eating, etc. I would never chance an axanthic or anything like that i hear about snakes just turning silver after a shed randomly...hell clark's spider he said just shed & went from being a spider to looking like an axanthic spider. If it was pied or albino you know something bold & very easy to see is not normal that's different. I don't agree with the import prices i see & personally if i have to spend the same or more than a captive version from a top breeder that is also unproven. screw it i'd go with the top breeder instead of rolling the dice. it seems like every single imported 6 dollar ball is now something wild & crazy..lol "Yea look at the head pattern & color, there's something unusual going on here" what's unusual is that it's a clearly normal (Not even pretty) ball & the seller is actually trying to back up the b.s. .....see what happens when you eat paint chips as a child..lol

"...see what happens when you eat paint chips as a child."

Hmmm...never thought of that...you could be on to something there...

Very true, and funny post.

Chad

Glad I am unleaded!!!!!!
-----
RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

Seems like *everything* is a morph now. Heck, with every ball python being a morph, I figure my normals will be worth a FORTUNE soon! Invest in my normals now! GREAT potential! PROVEN genetics!
-----
Astronomy Picture of the Day

I hear ya.........
-----
RicK @ BbI

Ball Boutique,Inc.
The home of the singing snakes!

Rare is a relative term. I wish I had more sure and recent numbers but at one time I heard they where taking 150,000 eggs a year from the wild and wild caught gravid females. If they found 4 spiders in 12 years at that rate it would make a wild spider 1 in 450,000 or about half way to "one in a million".

i just bought a pair of ch in africa orange ghosts. they are definatly ghost and they are very orange.i also like the fact that because they are imports they are my own line. i dont think i am going to name them anything special but they are my line. they eat great and i couldnt be happier.

joe
-----
1.1 orange ghost
1.0 piebald
0.2 100% het piebald
1.0 pastel
1.1 albino
0.1 100% het albino
1.1 100% het yellow ghost

With respect to spiders, the higher price is justified as they have good potential as an investment animal. The prices will drop steadily and I expect even more quickly than others that we've seen (co-dom, maturing market), but don't expect a "crash".

Personally, I'm looking forward to the production of more designer morphs (albino piebald, lavender albino piebald, axanthic piebald, .... you can tell I like the piebald).

These designers will hold their value better than any other morph we've seen due to the nature of their inheritance (double recessive). Personally, I'm going to get in on a pair of albino piebalds as soon as I can (which will probably be a decade from now, )