Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings to all
I am compiling a database of reasonable prices for Rhacodactylus. Are any of this forums members aware of illogical pricing / gouging by individuals? I am not looking for $100 - $300 american over reason. I am only looking for the outliers. Please keep in mind that I am ok with anyone trying to sell their treasures for whatever they wish. This is purely an information / idealogical exchange.
Best Regards to All
Bette

this is tough because a lot of people have a different definition of what is "reasonable" for some a $600 dollar leachianus might be reasonable, where another hobbyist would refuse to pay anything like that.

The only online retailer I have ever dealt with for rhacs was Anthony Caponetto. I was very pleased with his customer service and what I got, and I do think that his crested gecko's are priced perfectly for the high quality that they are.

At first I thought this was a joke - I've hatched and sold olive geckos that looked an awful lot like this. Anyone can charge what they wish, but I think $5000 for an olivish gecko is nothing short of funny.

http://www.pangeareptile.com/id87.htm
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I am highly prized for my meat.

How about $10,000.00 for a Trachyrhanchus? Petacular has a great sale on them. Buy 5 for $50,000 and they will throw in a 6th for FREE.

I'm not sure what your question was or if there even was one, but it's a fun subject to talk about.

You will find that certain private breeders will ask more for their geckos, especially when they selectively breed them for rare and attractive patterns and/or colors. In fact, top end ciliatus can fetch $1,000, but they don't come around very often...which is exactly why they bring the big bucks when they do. The main advantage I've found in breeding attractive geckos is that I can afford to spend more time assessing the health and well-being of each individual. That means that my customers not only get a gecko that is above average in looks, but also in terms of health.

In other cases I've seen, breeders may have a rare color, rare species or even a very difficult to breed species that still won't fetch a high price. This is usually because it isn't desireable enough to the public to get that kind of money. It's unfortunate, especially for those with species such as trachyrhyncus, where the geckos are live bearing and only give birth to a baby or two annually.

And yes...in some cases, breeders are just completely out of touch with reality.
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

Anthony
You have shown class and understanding with your high quality animals. Beautiful and healthy geckos must bring higher amounts and market will bear it indeed. My question to see if there was others besides Petacular $10,000 us and above listed website for the green ciliatus for $5000 us. I do never understand how someone will risk reputation and perception by over inflating to such margins.Perhaps I am mistaken and they will recieve what they ask. Petacular afetr all has been referenced in the rhacodactylus book as an expert in Trachyrhanchus. Do they expect the people buying from them to have returns on investment at such insane figures? I see Petacular has dropped the price per gecko to $5000 us

As Anthony said, it's all about how desireable an animal is.

Quite frankly, I think those trachs are amazing, and unfortunately rare animals. $5000 does seem like a reasonable price to me, all things considered. I most certainly can't afford it, but I would love to see more people working with them.

On the same hand, I think those very rare and highly unique geckos are worth far more than a white ball python...but you will see people paying a price for those you could purchase a house with...based on scale color alone. But people still want them, and WILL pay...hence the price.

Now, I think the difference between the $5000 trach, and a $5000 crested is HUGE. I'm sorry but a) the color is not bright green, it is olive. And b) it is relatively common.
And most people know this, wouldn't pay, and think it's outrageous.
So again...desireability.
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I am highly prized for my meat.

breeders that sell them at three and four weeks old when their color looks great for allot but the gecko can go either way end up ugly or nice... but fetching a pretty penny for young animals (IMHO too young to sell) that have not even reached adult colors.... my babies hatch out fire engine red (body color) but they can go to reds, to oranges, to whatever... i feel to accurately sell them as this or that color morph you need to wait at least 10-12 weeks minmum ... otherwise you are just possibly misleading your customers