Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's almost like leos are turning into kittens...the price for them has been driven so far down that about a year ago you could sell a normal baby for 50 dollars and now you have to sell them for 20 bucks or under...everyone is breeding these guys now...it's almost not worth it and it's turning these wonderful animals into "disposable" pets.

Sad really. Just thought I'd throw that out there.
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Chris Vanderwees

E-mail Me
1.3.0 Veiled Chameleons
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Indeed it is sad. I don't know about kittens being dispoasable...at least people will take them to the vet. I'm afraid they are turning into anoles... so cheap they may be sold as "feeders". There is NO money in these animals anymore unless you deal with the extremely high end or have hundreds of breeders.

There was also a BIG discussion over at "the other place" in which a LOT of good points were brought up. e-mail me for hte address of "the other place" if you are unaware.
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Brian Skibinski
Milwaukee Reptiles
Brian@MilwaukeeReptiles.com

Sorry, I didn't explain the whole thing about kittens...

The kitten thing was to mean that leos are so cheap now that nobody wants them for a high price so we might as well put them in the paper for "free" just like all the kittens every spring.

And I definetley agree, they are turning into feeder food.
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Chris Vanderwees

E-mail Me
1.3.0 Veiled Chameleons
3.2.0 Corn Snakes
1.3.0 Tokay Geckos
2.2.0 California Kingsnakes
1.3.0 South Florida Kingsnakes
1.1.0 Albino Sonoran Gopher Snakes
1.5.0 Leopard Geckos
0.1.0 Green Iguanas
3.4.0 Mali Uromastyx
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor

Simply supply/demand market economics. That is what is great about this country! It takes some average joes with no overhead to really drop the reptile markets to their actual values. We are starting to see that with the albino ball pythons. They have really been overpriced for what was out there. It would be a shame if sellers of normal leopard geckos were asking $100 each. The buyers make the prices, and we know what it has shown. Still think the prices on kingsnake are rather high. Prices at shows versus kingsnake.com for most animals listed is fairly similar, but leopards seem to be 3-4 times high when listed here. I reguarly see leopards (normal, high yellow, albino, hypo) for $15 babies. At Daytona last year I saw both regular and albinos at numerous tables for $10. Saw one person selling for $7.50. I guess I missed the point as to why this is "sad". Ease of money making in a given venture is usually much better at the beginning of a successful area. Once others see the success they jump the bandwagon and quickly push the market to its appropriate and stable levels. And that is exactly what you are seeing. Before you know it those that sell for $600 will also be in the $30-50 range. And for the average joe right this moment who has very little overhead he probably could sell for half the price of the large breeder with the exact same stock.

Matt