Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been out of the proverbial loop for about 4 years, but remember in 2001 that Kingsnake.com was going really strong, and there were many posts each day. I see that many reptile links for breeders and specialty shops are now dead...

Has the hobby of keeping reptiles as pets lost its popularity? It seems that here in Europe thinks have increased, especially with the prices of some animals becoming affordable for the average hobbyist. Albino L. t. nelsoni used to be about $800; now they're $120, and lots of hondurans are inexpensive as well.

Thanks for the input...

Absolutely not. The price drop in Nelsoni for example is due to them now being readily available when years back they were uncommon. To stay in the range of high dollars you have to stay cutting edge and constantly reinvest into the newest projects. Also remember there are many fly by night types who think they will make a fortune breeding reptiles. Some bite off more than they can chew, others get bored, and some are too impatient and bail out because cash is not coming in as fast as they'd like. There are more people into this hobby now than ever before. If you want to see for yourself go to the show in Daytona or Aneheim and see hundreds of vendors and thousands of people all going nuts for these animals. There's a lot of competition, this is a fact....but regardless I feel this is an excellent time to be working with reptiles. Just be choosy about your projects,....as in do not work with what 1000 other people are working with. Tom Stevens

The hobby has actually grown but many have left kingsnake.com and gone to other forums.
Thats probably what you have noticed.