Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This year as everyone was in a race to sell thier animals and dropped prices week after week. The people who did this actually made it harder for them to sell thier animals. Example: If I'm looking at making an investment and I see the price on a downward spiral, Im not going to put out the cash for that item. So not only are you getting less money for your snake but you lessened the demand for it as well. It is very simple economics.

Deal

and think before you reply. The market is far from crashing. It was a real dumb move for these individuals who dropped the prices week after week. Anyone who has some experience will tell you if everyone keeps thier prices at market they will sale. But when you have ten diferent people posting prices with 2-3k variance it makes buyers fearful.
Mike

i wasnt sayin it was or wasnt....just statin the nature of your post. i dont get involved in market talks.

Deal

You should probably be overjoyed. If you're just getting into this game now, you should be happy that these morph prices are going down. No one is going to pay someone who is just getting started with these morphs the prices that are out in the market now. That $$ is going to established breeders. And don't kid yourself, the prices fall to increase the demand, that's not there at the current price. Hey, get rid of inventory while you can, only so many people can drink the 'don't sell, and keep the prices up' kool aid until everyone has 2 or 3 year old snakes...you gotta get rid of them sometime if you're banking on an investment.

All this negativity about falling prices is amazing. You should be estatic. You're dreamin' if you think you're selling animals for the same prices as an established breeders 3-5 years from now. This is a bandwagon, and there are a lot of people on it, get in where you fit it.

Hello,

Great post, I couldn't agree more. Ciao.

Andrew Potts

these will also drop by 3-4k by the end of this year.

Have fun!!!

I think both of them yo-yoed all over the place this year last year Mojaves were running what $7K then they blew up to $20-$30K after they were found to produce white snakes Yellowbellies did the same thing - then within months they were down to $5-7K and slowly dropping. No big surprise with a co-dom they will plateau in the next year. The fact that they make a white snake as well as the fact that more people are working on mixing them and getting some really nice snakes from these two morphs they should hold a nice value.
-----
Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

7.33.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi - yeah I know but my kids love the book)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.2 frogs rescued from pool skimmer

My observation was Mojaves were marketing at about 13k -15k prior to them proven out to be het leucistic. Once it was proven by MK the market went up for about 2 weeks and was back to being advertised again for 13k - 15k.

It will be okay...lol

I hate to say it but... FINALLY someone understands this!!! What the original post says is beyond true!
-----
Thanks
Jon Dvoretz
Next World Exotics
www.nextworldexotics.com

The Hunters Guide to the Morphs
www.nextworldexotics.com/hg.htm

lol, Mike i didnt even relize that was you, Mike and i had a long conversation about this when he came by my place. Rushing to sell anything and lowering prices to much, creates a falling market which in turn causes people not to buy!!! So just dumping an animal will not help you sell it, patience will. Plus if you like what you breed, (like i do) you wouldnt mind watching it grow up anyways...
-----
Thanks
Jon Dvoretz
Next World Exotics
www.nextworldexotics.com

The Hunters Guide to the Morphs
www.nextworldexotics.com/hg.htm

I also agree with the origanal post and don't object to holding animals back for future projects.

It's all fun!!!

I agree,the original post is dead on it.

One example i see are female pastels.I mean,don't they see what the prices are for adults atm? ...did they take a second morgage or something?...Holding onto morph females for future breeding stock IS "getting ahead".Not by undercutting yourself so someone else can raise them and sell them later(or they just trade them all for that same new morph the others are scrambling to get with cash )...it's almost comical really.

I aquired my first female pastel this year.I traded for her.Now the actual prices i paid for the five females i traded off were irrelevent(since i raised them myself).
So by only keeping back normals(that i did not even hatch!),they grew in value enough to get me a nice(now 300 gram)female NERD line pastel!

...and god forbid any of the .7 "25%" caramel hets i hatched this year actually hits when i get them to breeding size!

...wow,i didn't mean to rant. lol
-----
Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Prices will over shoot both on the way up and on the way down ...same as with any financial market ... most co-dom Ball morphs are still great "investments" but just like any market this one is driven by fear and greed .... dumping a healthy morph just because you "think the market is crashing" is just plain dumb ... the Ball morph market is simply going through a bit of a healthy correction ... the biggest mistake many breeders make is they take too short of a market view (breeding snakes is not a get rich quick, short term game)... a slightly larger well established snake will always sell for more than a hatchling ... however some people need the cash so they will continue to "sell low" ... at some point all the excess inventory and desperate buyers will be out of the market and prices will start to rise again .... just try and buy any good co-dom in Jan/Feb next year for the same prices they are being offered now and see how many you can find ... not too many.

So if you are seller ...don't stress, if you are a buyer ... buy now !!

cheers, John
-----
John Berry Reptiles LLC

www.johnberryreptiles.com
www.investmentmorphs.com

Well said John. The market is full of greedy FLY BY NIGHT REPTILE BREEDERS and when they fear the market is crashing the dumb bail/sell out.
How many markets can give you a return on an investment like Ball Pythons?

I'm having fun and I'm not selling out cheaply!!!

I agree with some of what I'm hearing...that it takes time to sell these babies. But holding onto them just because you dont want to sell them at falling prices might just be a mistake. Holding onto offspring may actually not be getting ahead, but putting yourself majorly behind. Know one knows what's going to happen a year from now. If you can't get rid of 04/05 offspring because you dont like the current prices, I would be even more concerned about next year; whereas it seems that some take comfort in that they will just hold onto things for a while and everything will pan out as they think it should. I would be cautious with statements that predict that values will increase in the next few years. (and why not sell a bit cheaper? if people are so confident that prices will rebound, why not take that profit with next years offspring? ..IMHO, I think holding onto offspring has less to do with not wanting to sell at market, and more to do with that the market is extremely tight at any price.)

....like all stock brokers say, you havent made any money until you sell it. This is extremely important to remember. Anyone who tells you 'just hang onto it, the value will increase as the ball ages, and hey, it'll produce for you and you'll have more to sell!' is selling you kool aid you shouldn't be drinking. There are a select few who would love these prices to remain high, and it ain't the people on this forum....prices stay high and established breeders get the business, prices drop, and it just might make room for the little guys. Sometimes people just dont know what's good for them.

(This is just my 2 cents....and also a devils advocate view...which I think this forum needs. I'm not a basher, but I take a business like view to this stuff....this ball python phenomenom is incredibly interesting)

You are so right!! Every animal I have placed up for sale I have sold at market...It took me longer then one day but they sold. NEW CONCEPT, when they get older they are even worth more!!! I try never to sell hatchlings... wait and sell healthy sub/adults and you will eliminate the price crashers. I love when people call and tell me they saw spiders for less online but mine looked nicer so they are willing to pay more for quality! OH, I forgot to thank all you price crashers for my increased sales. So consider all of you THANKED. Keep slashing so my sales will still flow!

Mike

Thanks I knew I wasnt alone in my thoughts. Well I was at Jon's house this weekend and we did throw this conversation around a bit.
Mike
Link