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np

Here are some pictures of the Nicaraguan T positives that were born at Burke Reptiles the end of July. I never get tired of looking at them (or showing them off!!!) and to say these have been my most exciting project to date would be a huge understatement!!! LOL You can see more pictures of our adults on our web site.

Burke Reptiles Web Site

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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com

Wow!!! Glad I asked. Out of curriousity what are they going to be priced at. Understanding they should be far more than typical t negative albinos. Damn good stuff.
Kevin

those are really great looking. Good luck with them.
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IF YOU HAVE IT SHOW IT. IF YOU OWN IT FLAUNT IT!!

I emailed you twice the first time you showed these pics of your 04 litter. I asked how many babies were in the litter, but you never responded. I heard some others asked the same question and you never answered them either. It was an innocent question that is asked many times about litters. I thought perhaps you were mad at me, until I heard you didn't answer other emails either....asking that question.

Oh well, perhaps it was too personal a question. I'm sorry if it was. Anyway, I love your T's and I love those babies. It makes me anxious for another year to roll around when I'll have some of my own to drool over.
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

You're correct, I don't often answer that question. Not just in terms of the T positives, but with any of the babies I produce, whether they be T positives, hets, albinos, sunglows, etc. It's nothing against anyone. I know it's a common question, and you aren't the only person who asked me. In a way I just do think it's personal to a point. Some people don't like to discuss certain projects they're working on until they decide they're ready to have it be public. Usually, I'm too excited about what I'm working on to be able to keep a whole project a secret, but numbers I feel differently about. Again, it's nothing against you or anyone, but numbers of what I have in the way of specific animals are just one of the things that I like to discuss when I feel it's appropriate.
Thanks for the compliments on them. I'm sure you'll be as thrilled as I am when you produce yours!
Tom
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Tom Burke
www.BurkeReptiles.com

I guess the exact population of visual T positive Nicaraguans will now be steeped in "mystery"....oooooow. There were 5, but now, who knows??? From this point on, we will all have to wonder, and speculate, and scratch our chins over how many visuals actually exist in captivity........since it's such a top secret issue.

Gee.....if I'm lucky enough to produce a couple of litters of visuals next year....should I also keep the exact number of babies a secret.....or not? Something to ponder???

Really, I never imagined that the number of babies in a litter would even be cause for a shroud of secrecy. Perhaps the element of mystery makes them even more valuable.
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

I think the reason behind the quantity secret of babies is due to the value of the snakes, they were offered at 50k and if there were 20 babies for sale I don't think they would all sell, on the other hand it may also be a whos got what and how many issue. this would leave us to wonder how many he will breed in the future when the price goes down, who else will have the numbers he has to breed, so he will controll the market price for the next 5 years or more.

Further more, he could just want to sell only one and have 10 future breeders for all his future projects, but if we knew he has 20 babies to breed in the future we also know the price will have to drop rapidly enough so he wouldn't be stuck with 100 baby trying to sell for 30k he just could not unload them all and then the market crash happens,,,

Also could be just because he wants to keep that info to himself.

just my O

Well, whatever the reason. Ya gotta love a good mystery!!
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

Since my dad is out running errands, I guess I'll take this one, although I really don't know what else to say, beyond what my dad already said above. Frankly, I'm somewhat surprised by your response to our decision to keep certain things private for a time and I'm wondering if I should respond with the same hostility that you have? But I won't. This isn't limited to our T positives, we feel the same way about ANY of the snakes we produce. We've had alot of similar questions this year, like, "How many of *fill in the blank* did you produce?", "How much did the Arabesque Sunglow sell for?" and "How much money did you make last year off of that sunglow litter?" In some cases, the questions seem intrusive, so we choose not to answer, in other cases, we do answer and have answered this exact question. I have no control over what you decide to say about the numbers of T positives you have when you produce them...what you say or don't say is your business, and we are 100% ok with that.
Since I have plans to go see a play tonight, I won't be able to respond further. Either way, I really don't think there's much more to discuss. If you feel differenly, feel free to email me.
Take care,
Amanda Burke

I'm sorry if my puzzlement over this one issue appears to be hostile. I emailed you both twice recently about your litter of visuals and neither one of you even bothered to answer the email. That's OK - it isn't written in stone that you have to answer emails. I heard that other people emailed you without a reply as well.

I'm sorry you are upset with me over this. I have always held you in high esteem and thoroughly enjoyed your posts when you were a regular here on the forum.

When you first posted pics of the litter on the forum, did you not expect that people would ask how many babies were born to the litter? It's a very common question and I really don't think people are trying to be "in your business" with that particular question. They are merely curious. There is a lot of interest in this morph. You posted the pics. It is natural for interest to follow. If that one question is off limits, now we know, and won't ask it again. Some may feel it is a little odd.....but then that's our problem isn't it?
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

The price of those babies. First off to know exactly how many other animals there are out there and how many will be made available. Also to judge just how productive the albinos are as opposed to the normals or if there even is a difference. From a business stand point if i was in the market for them that is one question that i would demand be answerd if i was even to even consider a purchase of that magnitude. I mean comeon $50,000 for a pair of hets and a visual female? That isnt exactly cheap

"Nuff Said"
John Peraza

I agree 100% about it being a fair question. If I were to spend 50k on a group and then found out that there were 50 viuals produced(exageration I know)I would be just a little upset, someone, be it the Burkes or someone else would be producing a bunch of them within 3 years and my babies would be worth much less. I do also think it is their right to keep it secret, I am pretty sure if you asked Kevin at NERD how many spider balls he produced this year or how many he had total, he would not give you an answer.If he did and say he produced 600, I think that would drive down the price considerably.You would pretty much guess if he decided to start releasing them all at once your spiders would be worth half what you paid for them. (price was 15k for males 2 months ago, now advertised for $7500). Just my .02. Craig Kade

If a T Positive Nic grouped with a pair of Hets is $50K, and Hets are priced at $10k pair, this makes the Visual T positive $40K each. Why are the Hets only 25% of the price of the visual, when in the past Hets have been priced 50% of the visual's cost???
According to the traditional formula of pricing visuals and Hets of other Morphs, this would lead you to beleive that either the Hets should be $20K a pair, or the T positive should be priced @ $20K each.
I would have to aggree that if one was interested in purchasing the visual, they would be entitled to know how may visuals were produced or on the ground. I spent over $20k on Motleys a few years back and was given any and all the info requested up front.
This is in no way a shot at the particular Morph (T Albino) as I have Hets in my collection and also have them available for sale.

What are any thoughts regarding the pricing of Hets vs the visual?

Regards,

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BASICALLYBOAS.com
'Specializing in True RedTails & Designer Boa Morphs'

.....rolled the scroller on my mouse while hitting enter! LOL
Did not mean to post a pic of a Peruvian!
Take care,
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BASICALLYBOAS.com
'Specializing in True RedTails & Designer Boa Morphs'

Maybe they don't want to sell the visuals, but if you are willing to drop 50k I would part with one trio too , wouldn't you?

Maybe thier plans are to breed them out as many times as possable to have as much unrelated groups to offer us down the raod? doing the gene justice.
just my O

Nick,
Your opinion could very well be true. I just personally think the price tag is ridiculous. They are great looking boas with a ton of potential, I just think they are not worth $40K each. People are aloud to sale, price and market their animals however and whatever way they please, they are theirs to do what they wish. Please keep in mind I do have myself involved in this project also.
From what I have heard and been told, not from Tom personally, so it can be view as hearsay, is that there are multiple packages available at that price range and up.
As far as:

Maybe they don't want to sell the visuals, but if you are willing to drop 50k I would part with one trio too , wouldn't you?

I have always been one to sale my animals for what I truly think they are worth, not for the highest price I think I can possibly get for them. I have offered up some of my personal holdback stock and special stock that I thought were worth a little more then average, but it is always just a little bit more then their littermates had been priced at.
It is one thing to set the market value at $40K and another to reach for a price of $40K. This could potentially upset a few early investors when they can not get that $40K or even close to that when they produce their own offspring. Also, to withhold the amount of visual offspring from the public eye can also be a way to make buyers or investors think that there are a lot less of them available and make it seem like a stronger or better investment for them.
Just my thoughts on the subject.
Take care,
Mike
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BASICALLYBOAS.com
'Specializing in True RedTails & Designer Boa Morphs'

if you REALLY want em , and be one of only 3 people to own visual T's you'll have to put your money where your mouth is.. nothing wrong with that. I don't understand why everybody is complaining , just like any other snake if you aren't gonna buy it buy it, then don't .... complaining changes nothing. 100K for a white ball python is pretty much the norm , and people are cranking those things out lately.

Well, I just got in, so I'll answer the most recent questions. You are right, people can ask any questions they want, but we can also choose not to answer until we're ready, if at all. I'm actually surprised though, that this is even an issue at this point, because although we really didn't discuss numbers when they were first born, we did tell some people in Daytona and others over the phone during conversations in which people inquired. In response to the questions about people wanting to buy them having a right to know, they most certainly can know if they don't know already. I did specifically say in my previous post that "we have answered this exact question."

As for the pricing, snakemannick has it exactly right. There is one litter of visual T positives in existence, and we don't especially want to part with them. So we set them at a price that we know is high. If somebody really wants to have one the first year that they are available, they can, but the price reflects our reluctance to sell them as well as their rarity. Since we're the only ones to have them, we picked a price that we felt comfortable selling them at. Simple as that. We have said this from the beginning, so this shouldn't be news to ponder.

Now I'm getting off the computer to enjoy the rest of my saturday night with my boyfriend who's sick of this snake stuff! lol
Amanda

Kinda a bad pic....but its one....

And one of your lipstick sunglows for lagniappe.....man these things are sweet.....

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Luke Martin
Bronze Serpent Reptiles