Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm going out on a limb here, with this statement, maybe wishful thinking too I'm starting to think this year is going to be the year of the 100 dollar Conda! There are just so many Conda's out there now at breedable age....it's gotta happen soon! I've noticed the price dropping very fast in just this last year. This means to me, people can't move the 2013 stock that they still have...... the way the postings are poping up on FB all over the place this early with people breeding already......again still in January! Wow! I'm not talking high end ones.....just the plain Jane normal to low expression ones. Agree? or Disagree?

Price for them now is right at 300.....and this is still January!

You're putting the big hurt on me with this message. Two years ago I paid 2K for one male 100% het albino and was looking forward to using him with a nice female for some payback. Now you're talking about hogs turning into "albino corns". When albino burmese first came out, someone I knew paid over 2k for a pair of babies. Of course when he bred them the babies were worth less than $100 bucks each. Still love those turned up noses anyway.

Mike

imo, it's a possibility... maybe for the plain ones. the really nicely patterned or colored ones will still demand a higher price, at least for a season or 2.

in general, reptiles are not the place to invest large quantities of money and expect to make some serious cash. a few have done that, but many people have lost bunches and bunches of cash trying. usually, the people that make the most are the first couple that get them. they get pics out, people get all worked up, they sell them for high amounts, the next season or 2 they sell even more for a little less, and by the time those originally sold breed, the market is flooded... prices crash. seen it with many reptiles over the years.

dominant / co-dominant markets are not the wisest place to invest big time anyway. western hognose breed so easily and have such large double clutches that it's no wonder the prices are tanking. simple economics of supply and demand.

that being said, i have paid my share of cash for critters over the years. i don't even want to think how much i have put into my critter room in the past couple decades. lol i usually wait until the market is fairly flooded, and then get what i want at my idea of a decent price. that or trade and get what i'm looking for.

for me though, it's a hobby i enjoy it. i buy what i like to look at and keep. i have and have had the pleasure of keeping, raising, and breeding reptiles that i used to read and dream about as a kid 3 decades ago. i consider them my pets. if i breed them and make some cash back, then great! if not, then i still get to keep and raise critters that i love

Ditto bud! I like the way you stated it!

Well said!

Hey Mike,

Not meaning too, but there are just too many factors in play with these guys. Example, clutch sizes, multiple clutch's, so many ppl breeding conda to conda, these alone are the biggest factors to me!

When I first started seeing Supers come down to around the 1k mark....that's a major warning sign....ha! Now these old timers that's been breeding these past few years have been making a killing! But you gotta see that these hogs breed so damn fast and have such large clutch sizes it was just a matter of time before the market was just going to get saturated and fast! Look at how many are in the classified section even today 114 as of this writing. Still I'm only really talking about the regular Conda's and not the high end morphs....but even they are seeing prices falling with all the damn het's being sold so cheaply....it was only a matter of time.

I think Troy was one of the first to see this start to happen. With so many pushing their snakes to breed within 2 yrs instead of the normal 3 or more...it just puts even more hogs into the market that much faster. Look at how many people are pulling their snakes early, pairing them up in January, when normally it's around March or April. When you start to see the 2014 neonates popping up on here in April and May or even before as I predict instead of the normal summers months.....it will prove my point.

Once ppl learned that all they had to do was to brumate their stock early to get a jump on the breeding season...poof, that started a whole new way of doing things. Next there will be people brumating their snakes in the summer to get a jump on the next season even earlier...lol kidding, or am I?

Or maybe I'm just splattering out the mouth to be able to get one of those elusive hundred dollar Conda's

This has been going on for aprox. 30 years. nothing new. With any investment, there are winners and losers, or there would be no money to be made.

With morph investment, there are two areas that make money, the top and the bottom. The middle is what supports the top.

With popular morphs(visually appealing) the bottom of the market is the penny stock, You pay very little for your investment but have a much much larger market.

The high end has limited numbers at high prices, then it drops quickly to the low end, If you pick the right snake, the low end is where the money is.

But that's not all there is to it. Your approach, a lot of one type vs. a few of many types. its the same as stocks, to specialize or have a diverse portfolio, type of thing. Or the approach a large market, ship all over, vs. hitting a few local shows, friends and local shops. Etc.
ALso none of this has to do with the love of snakes or hogs in particular. As with all walks of life, there are those that truly love the animals and those who could careless. That has nothing to do with this. To make money is our culture, we are a capitalistic country, its our nature to commercialize. The advantage of being an American is the ability to make your living(money) doing something you love. My advice would be, treat this like anything else, be wise, make good investments, and enjoy the ride. The advantage of loving the animals is, your payback is immediate, the joy of keeping them. Any profit made is icing on the cake and that is a good way to approach mid to low level herp breeding.

First bred western hogs in the late 70's, when there was no market. Maybe I'll go back to 100% normals and corner the market of the forgotten. Whatever money I make goes back into rodents, bedding, and maybe a high end rack or two. mike

I think your right, under the skin, they are all normals. If you treat them that way, its all good. Even normals will support some if not all your husbandry needs.

Personally, I never cared if snakes made money or not. But if I got lucky and I did many times, and people would throw money at me. Well that's a good thing. If not, I still love the snakes for being normal or morphs. As folks can see, I love them for what they are, in nature and in a box.

I called it, "hitting a homerun" That is if I/we here produced a snake, lizard, morph of value, morph or otherwise. What I thought was important was when you hit a homerun, If your lucky enough to hit a homerun, make sure you run the bases. And tag each base well, as you go by. So keep at keep at it and I wish you luck and wealth(money or other)

"Two years ago I paid 2K for one male 100% het albino and was looking forward to using him with a nice female for some payback."

Better put that boy to work! And soon!

The albino conda's are still up there.....again, just the plain jane normals is what i'm talking about....hehee

I am still seeing them for $495 and up.

Oh I am too.....and much more! Just wait until the new hatching's become available. Come Summer there are going to be a bunch of good sales! (I hope!)

I hear a lot of people worry about getting screwed on reptile projects and some do for sure but if you pay 2K for an animal with the reproductive rate of a hog or corn and produce only ten a year from them? even at $100 you'll make your investment back quite quickly. You didn't get to cash in on the big money but are you really losing your arse?
I was temped to dump 5K on one conda early in the project but knew so many good breeders who had already invested that much and more that in hognose, the price was going to drop fast. And it has done just that.
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Steve Perry
facebook.com/StevePerryReptiles

Waahoo! Only April and here's a couple for 200! Come on down!

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