Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just don't get it. On kingsnakes classifieds, the prices are outrageous. It is not a hobbyist market so it must just be big breeders selling to smaller breeders. What is the final outcome. When does the average customer get to buy a nice snake?

There are avid collectors that buy the high-end morphs too. One of the things about Ball Pythons that drives the current price is unlike other Boids, they have much smaller clutches and they stay a nice manageable size. Morphs come down in price as more are available, as to how fast that happens, it depends on how difficult it is to produce the particular type; we're already seeing price drops with Pastels. You can get a normal for $50.00 or less, which is very inexpensive for an animal that lives of 20 years. Best Wishes-
NorthernRegius

"One of the things about Ball Pythons that drives the current price is unlike other Boids, they have much smaller clutches"

BCI do produce a larger number of offspring, but male ball pythons will breed 10 females in one season.. A male boa will produce on average 20-30 offspring in a season, a male ball python can easily produce an equal amount in one season.. Plus you have to take into consideration it requires a minimum of 18 months for a male boa to become sexually mature, and females 3yrs or 6', whichever comes first.. And on the other hand if you pump a male ball up, he'll produce after 6-8 months.. Boa constrictor prices stay pretty consistent, once the HIGHER end stuff gets down to a certain price (5k or so), it holds out pretty well for a very long time.. In the last year I've seen 35k dollar ball pythons drop down to 2 for 8k.. I believe ball python prices are SOOO insane because the people at the top of the ladder know the prices will drop once they get public, and they wanna make as much money off them before "Joe Shmoe" is selling them for 2k.. Just my 2 cents.
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Joe Lydon

Now, I'm not a breeder (yet!) but personally I am very happy that ball morphs are so high priced. It protects them from becoming desposable pets like green iguanas and the dozens of other species that are doomed to become some kid or idiots pet and dieing a slow, miserable death.