Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

[Lynne]

[Andy_V]

I do often look at posts (not anybody in particular or even on this forum) and i do wonder why they have 18 - 20 snakes and they have really basic care questions? How did these guys build up such big collections with such little experience? I personally attribute that to dollar signs and the morph market. I mean don't get me wrong when we made the decision to keep snakes again i chose to get into the royal market with the intention of hopefully producing nice snakes (working towards the axanthic bumble bee) but too with hope that the offspring will help fund it, outside of houses and cars there is nothing else i have spent this kind of money on. but i don't have two co-dom morphs and 30 females with dreams of porches and big holidays. If i recoup my investment or best part of it i will be more than happy. but the experience of keeping and seeing a breeding project through is what really got me excited. It's the diversity of genetic mutations that excites me and the possibility that you might just produce something that hasn't been seen before or a uk first. i know people are way ahead of me on the axanthic bumble bee but i still look forward to that egg pipping most every day!

[Lynne]

[rachel132002]

I think a lot has been done but i think honestly there is even more to come from this still. A lot of people bought in solely for cash and it's evident who they are when the money plumeted they went ahhh cack and sold up and out while they were still ahead not seeing lower prices just opens up the market. I remember a thread on another forum about 2years or so back with someone saying they'd love to breed albinos and sell them at £300 a piece and they were laughed at and told to jog on because the albinos will never see that price but here we are 2years on at £600 for one so that day is ever approaching. Sometimes i wish i'd got in earlier but also sometimes think later for example in 2006 i spent £1500 on an albino and again on a mojave and now they're £600-900 each but hey hum i'd keep them still if they went down to £10 each it just means those animals we could only dream of yesteryear can now be ours soon so it's all good.

Also i love all my snakes especially the royals and in 2years i hope to have crossed my bee with the cinnamon i'm getting and that clutch will be MENTAL and i honestly can't wait for the mix that'll come out of that just wondering what each egg contains and waiting to see what nose pops out.

I think we still have so so much to do in the market/sector/industry that the 'decline' as some have seen it is just the climb to the best part of it!

Time will tell but i think we have a lot to look forward too pesonally.

Rach
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20 Corns
30 Royals
3 BCI
2 BCC
2 JCP
2 Leos
1 Beardy
2 Cresties

[Central Scotland Reptiles]

This topic seems to come up fairly regularly.

As has been said previously, some people don't think twice about spending over £1000 on a pedigree dog, others will spend thousands on a a piece of jewelry or an antique vase, yet more are willing to spend hundreds of thousands on a painting. I guess it all boils down to what you, as an individual, perceive as a reasonable sum of money to pay for something you really wish to own. I personally wouldn't spend more that a couple of hundred pounds on a painting and at that it would have to be something VERY special, yet i would, and have, pay several thousand pounds acquiring an animal i really desired.

As far as making a living from breeding animals is concerned, I see no difference between someone who enjoys keeping reptiles wanting to become a breeder and make a living from it with someone who enjoys playing football in the local park wanting to become a professional footballer and getting paid ( well ) for it. So long as you remember that you are dealing with a living creature and that their best interests should remain paramount, i have no problem with people keeping animals with the view to making some cash.

I would suggest that very few people actually make a decent living from breeding reptiles, solely!!!!
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Fraser Gilchrist
Central Scotland Reptiles - "Finding Beauty in the Beasts"

[RegiusCo.com]

Interesting comments folks

The ones that are strictly in it for the money are the ones that fall flat on the arses! I've invested heavily into ball python morphs in the past 5-6 years and every penny invested as been paid back and then some...

In all honesty, I can't wait for the day (if it ever comes) that ball pythons become affordable to anyone, the get rich quick idiots will then move on to something else and the hobby will then be more enjoyable.

The international demand for Ball Pythons is HUGE, do not kid yourselves, demand far far outweighs supply. We've not even seen the tip of the iceberg as far as multiple crossing projects go, when do you figure we will see a Super Cinny Caramel Albino Piebald Triple Het-Hypo, GStripe and Clown, the answer, not many alive today on this board will see the day one of those hatches.

Look at the Corn snake market, the first Albinos were bred some 40 years ago and new crossing projects are still being hatched every year, fortunately, Royal pythons do not produce two clutches of 30 eggs in a single season.

Sure Pastels, Spiders and many others are dropping in value, is that a bad thing, absolutely not, it opens the door to an all new array of Royal enthusiasts. I truly enjoy working with genetics and creating living art

My 2 pence's worth

Happy herping to all

Marc
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Marc Bouchard
www.regiusco.com

[vetdave]

Morphs as a business: The two keys to this are buying sensibly ie don't overpay for your stock and then breeding them. There are still comparatively few Ball morph babies UK bred each season compared to the number of animals at breeding age. They are not as easy to breed as some of the other species out there and some people buy in to the morph market and then fail to breed pretty much anything. The Ball python morph market isn't what it was 5 years ago but is still strong.
Morphs as pets: I love some of the colour morphs eg albinos/spiders etc. There may not be much money in breeding them any more but they are so nice and when the price gets lower this will open them up to the pet market and Ball Python morphs will become increasingly popular for many years to come. This area will only increase.
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For more information on all my herping activities please visit the new website at www.prestigepythons.com

[Rad]

i can only agree with most

for me it is a hobby and if prices do go down it alows me to get more, and if i do suceed to breed then what i sell will only give me more money to spend on others.

[SBP's]

We are looking into getting our export permit. We were contacted by a business in Japan that wants to buy our inventory each season. Doesn't matter what we produce they wanted it all.

Make no mistake, the ball market is still alive and strong. They may get cheaper but that means more can buy them.

One thing that I didn't mention earlier, here in the US a lot of states are starting to adopt new laws that prevent people from owning large constrictors of any kind. That is why you can pick them up CHEAP right now. Bob Clark just sold Fluffy (his most famous and prized Burmese) to the Zoo in my home town for 30K. He is getting geared up for the law to hit his state and moving all his large constrictors. Watch him turn into a huge ball python breeder in the next few years. All these big constrictor owners that are affected by this new legislation will most likely replace their animals with balls. Once reptiles are in your blood it's hard to get away from them. Huge market influx of new buyers.

Right now we have an agreement with several pet stores to sell some of our animals. Mostly what some would consider low end. (normals from cod-om parings, pastels, spiders, YB's, and even a few mojos) We take pics into the shop and post them on their wall of all of our morphs and breeding's. Gets a huge interest up in them. Once we get to a certain point we are going to have one of each morph that we can supply them with in the store for display. I think it's the Bells that do this with Prehistoric Pets now. I cant remember exactly without digging around a bit. But this does help drive up sales and interest in the hobby.
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[SBP's]

Sorry about that, it was 35K he sold it for not 30.