Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm planning on starting my own breeding projects (specifically snow and albino boas) and was just wondering what the prices will be for these morphs in five years or so. I imagine the prices will have dropped somewhat by then, but I'd just like to get more of an idea before I make such a large investment. I don't mean for it to sound like I'm doing this in order to make money, my greatest hopes are to be able to have my hobby pay for itself and expand my collection. thanks in advance for any responses, if anyone has any idea of what the price ranges will be like in a few years I would much appreciate their input. Joshua.

Depends on who you talk to and how truthful they are in their honest opions.Speaking with a few these last few weeks and they all seem to have the same tone on the subject.What was HOT 10 years ago is now dirt cheap,what was HOT 5 years ago most people dont even know it ever exsisted. Were pretty near half way (give or take a year on some specifics/projects) on yet another 5 year run with the current morphs so add your own measure of common sense here.
Morph`s are no different then any other recent Hobby Addiction to hit the world in the last 10 years and all have crashed with in 5 years or less
Examples of peak periods etc.
Pet Rocks LOL!! j/k
Baseball Cards 1975-1980 crashed !
Hot Wheels/Matchbox Collecting 1995-2000 crashed !
Beanie Baby`s 1997-2000 crashed !
Yes theres still hardcore collectors and traders and breeders dedicated to their hobby.Dont confuse them with the more money then sense flash in the pan Bandwagon riders out to keep up with the Jones'backyard fence jumper breeders.
With in every nitche theres items that still demand big bucks because they are in fact Rare and deserve the digits.

IMO a true Morph is a person who will responsibly care for a snake for 5 years or longer.
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You can Never Tame a Snake
The Snake Will Train You To Suit its Needs!

T/

I would have to disagree with the comparisons. Yes, beanie babies, big to do a few years back, then an immenent flop...couldn't see that one coming could ya??? LOL! But...here is one thing an "investment" animal can do that baseball cards, beanie babies, pet rocks, etc. can NOT do....REPRODUCE! Look at HOT morphs ten years ago, and then look at a lot of them today. If you paid the 10 Grand asking price for an arabesque over ten years ago, and bred them ONLY ONCE, and got 10 arabesque out of a litter of 20 babies, and sold them at TODAYS price of 1500 and UP, you'd bring in 15,000 dollars! That is 5 grand in "profit" not counting expenses, in just ONE litter. Albino boas are STILL getting 1,000 dollars each(give or take), given the number of baby boas in an average litter, the late comers of a couple years ago, can still look to make a decent profit, or at bare minimum should be able to make back their initial investment. These animals haven't even hit your average pet stores yet....how high do you think that demand will be at 150 dollars each? Albino burms are still selling at this price and given the number in a clutch, the breeders ought to be making a profit of some sort. I would give the advice that he should buy animals he likes REGARDLESS of their profit potential, so that even if he is unsuccessful at breeding, he will continue to care for the animals, simply because he likes them. But, at the same time, the more he likes a particular morph/animal, he'll probably put more effort into them, and should subsequently be successful to one degree or another. Bottom line...if you do it right, you can make a living on leopard geckos and corn snakes, hit a large show and see for yourself. So, can he turn a profit on albino boas this late in the game??? I don't see why not. Best of luck to you! Take care!

As long as you are dedicated to your collection and give consistant care to it.. the money is there and will be in the future. I have seen herptoculture "down times" with stride. The hobby is really just beginning to scrach the surface as far as morphs go. And there will always be a demand for good specimens of BCC.
Later-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula
2100 Stephens #116
Missoula, Montana 59801
406 541 9929

thanks for all of the responses. My personal opinion is that there will always be money in breeding reptiles, even if morphs do see a gradual (and probably in many cases rapid) decline. Of course, I would breed reptiles whether or not I would turn a profit, but it would be nice to see some reward for the years of dedication and hard work that it requires. I'm pretty much set on breeding snow boas, for the reasons that I love boas and I find the snows to be the prettiest of the lot. I'm not making plans to become a professional breeder, but it would be great to make some money so that I can provide top of the line care for my snakes, and expand my collection.

I'm not a professional, but I think that snows and albinos will probably drop by more than half in the next 5 years. I will hopefully be producing snows in 3 years...but I'm pretty sure the market will have fallen from 5k to about 3.5k or lower by then. If you can find the history of the anery morph, that should give you a pretty good indication. Super motley's, sunglows, and bloody mixes will probably be the hottest things the next few years. Unless something new comes along. Boas produce too many babies to keep a market as stable as the ball pythons. However, its a lot more stable than the retics and burms.

Thats all just a guess though. Its quite possible that the whole market could collapse. Snakes don't seem to be quite as popular as they were 5-6 years ago. Could be just like the beanie baby fad. Regardless you will either make your money back or be able to amass quite a collection for little to nothing...a win/win??

What are other peoples opinions on this?

>>I'm planning on starting my own breeding projects (specifically snow and albino boas) and was just wondering what the prices will be for these morphs in five years or so. I imagine the prices will have dropped somewhat by then, but I'd just like to get more of an idea before I make such a large investment. I don't mean for it to sound like I'm doing this in order to make money, my greatest hopes are to be able to have my hobby pay for itself and expand my collection. thanks in advance for any responses, if anyone has any idea of what the price ranges will be like in a few years I would much appreciate their input. Joshua.
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Travis Rose
(859) 582-7310
0.2 Normal Columbian
1.1 100% DH for Snow Columbians
0.2 66% DH for Snow Columbians
2.7 Kenyans (1.3 Anerys, 0.1 het for anery, 0.3 Possible hets, 1.0 normal)
0.3 Ball Pythons
0.0.2 Blue Tounged Skinks
0.3 Dogs (1 Full Pitbull, 1 Pit/Husky, & 1 Bernese Mt. Dog cross)
0.3 Cats (1 fat, 1 old, and 1 insane)
1.0 Ferret
0.1 Very understanding wife