Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Seems Black Milks have really lost their popularity. I see adult breeders every year on the classifieds of a snake that not too long ago was pretty sought after. I realize their price as plummeted but dont people like snakes just for what they are and not what they can bring them ? I shouldnt complian too much its these "Investors" that A. Help lower the prices and B. Eventually dump their adults for a reasonable price. I rememeber I had a breeder pair of Black Milks in the late 90's and I sold them but it was because of logistics. My apartment was way too hot and they seemed miserable. Now I live in a House and am getting some all over again. I guess my question is why arent Andeans and Black Milks and some of the other tropical Tri's more popular ? Thye seem to posses all the asstes to make great captives i.e. Color, size, ease of care and for the most part reasonably priced. I really applaude guys like Shannon Brown, Jeff Hardwick, Nthan Wells, Will Still, Peter Jolles and others who seem to keep what they like and dont let the markets dictate what they keep and breed. Ive been breeding Eastern Kings and I dont know how many friends have said why keep those they cost more to keep then they will produce in revenue. Fact is I keep what I like and thats what has kept me from burning out like Ive seen so many guys do trying to keep up with the Jones'. Okay Ill get off my soap box now lol.

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Great picture! What a beautiful kingsnake.

Also a good question....the hobby is changing, like many of us the hobby goes through cycles and phases....I think the difficulty with neonates stops many from triangulum subspecies in general...also without doubt many are driven by financial motives, few of us have the ability to spend frivolously...there is also I think the difficulty in attaing many of the species from south of the border legally...

Mind you the following is only thought and theory and no offense is intended to anyone:

The pet market used to consist of kids that wanted 1 of this, and 1 of this, and 1 of this.....somewhere that changed and the kid now wants 1.1 of something...then he sells to people causing a really odd thing to happen as a friend of his bought a pair from him, and then produced animals and sold a "pair" to someone else....bam all the line breeding threw a weird looking abberrant animal and whammo: morphism is born....it is now cheaper to find a breeder than buy from a store....but it is now more difficult to ascertain bloodlines and non-related status, it is also easier to flood a market, because when little bobby only wanted one of something he didn't produce offspring, so his friends didn't and the demand stayed up, I think what we are seeing is the demand for many triangulum species is truly held by a small percentage of the snake keepers in general, so when many jumped on a bandwagon to produce them in quantity the market dropped, because anyone who wanted on now had three....good news, people who want them can obtain them at a reasonable price, bad news much has been lost in their origins.
There are still those looking for many south of the border species, some of us arduously so...but alas findng legally collected animals is difficult!

I like the Black Milks alot! I pretty much got rid of everything except them. I don't want to keep a gazillion animals anymore. For me there is something about them that hits the spot even though they are yesterdays news. To each his own.

I'm not looking to breed neccessarily, I just wanted to have a colony of diverse solid black animals, perhaps for the future for myself.The headaches of Getting rid of babies, cleaning boxes etc. can get kind of old. Having a few nice rewarding animals to spend time with.... priceless....

Theres a lot of nice animals out there/ you can't keep them all. I wonder if there is any psychological similarities between the guys that keep hundreds of snakes and the ladies that have loads and loads of cats. The snakes are cooler ....but it makes you wonder.....Hmmmmm......lol..

Bob

How many Black Milks do you keep Bob? Are they all one stock ?

Keith
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Down to eight now.I have given some that weren't completely black to some freinds for "pets" (I don't want to breed any thing other than pure black animals)

Some are Sanantonio. Some unknown.

Zulich, Emerrick,Don Soderbergs(Barkers animals)and Dixon and Tennison. Hopefully a fairly diverse group. 4.4

Good luck with your Easterns.

Bob.

I agree,
Black milks kick ass. They naver refuse a meal, get to be a nice size, and tend to be very friendly. Not to mention that beautiful black skin of theirs. This snake is one of the easyest snakes I have ever worked with.
Their popularity will return.
Jason