availability and price of HOT snakes

Guy's & Gal's
I have had something eating away at the back of my head for some time now
WHY!!!!!!!
Why are egyptian cobras so easy and cheap to get are they really something beginers should easily get there hands on I mean come on this is a HOT!!! snake and as aggressive as it gets I have not heard of to many easy to manage egyptians not to mention beginers useually have this superman Diehard attitude and I know from expeiriance trust me that when I first got into hot's I wanted a cobra and god know's it was only my forth hot snake that was that first scary egyptian which let me tell you only lasted a couple of weeks before it became someone else's cobra LOL come on I only paid $100.00 for this 5'+ IMPORT and the price please egyptians should be expensive solely based on there attitude and I have paid as low as $60.00 for one at a show

Why are Canebrakes so inexpensive I mean come on this is not a mild venom these animals are HOT HOT HOT
I have bought canes for as low as $5.00 and they seem to average $25.00 at show's what is this coming to and not to mention how easy they are to get your hands on almost every table at a hot show useually has them on it

Black neck spitters I shouldent even have to say anything here people these guy's spit they are COBRAS and I have bought them for as low as $20.00 though I find they average $50.00-65.00

copperheads sure they don't have a real toxic venom but they are still VENOMOUS and I have seen vendors sell these to the completely ignorant for penny's on the dollar

and worst of all why must we degrade and lose value of our beautiful animals to were we are selling them for price's like these to compete with vendors I have stopped breeding some species because of price and availability to the public I mean they are all still beautiful animals in my eye's and worth more than what they are going for people think of some of these animals as throw away pet's just to feel cool they don't care about the animal you just get some yocale screaming to there friends "hey man I got this rattlesnake" if a canebrake was $150.00 (which they are worth every penny) most of the ignorant wouldent even consider buying
wow glad to get that off my chest sorry about the spelling ya'll
PEACE
Joe Lesh

Maybe one reason on canebrakes and timbers ?...

that you see cheaper than should be ( in my opinion ) in many states they are very illegal to keep. In my own state and my other state to the east of me you cannot own any snake that has the scientific name of horridus legally except for a lot of paper work and documentation. I understand that several other states has the same legality problems and more proposing the same soon. So would this be an reflection on the price of these animals ? I think so. It could go the opposite though as i have seen on some price list. AND I think it will go that way where the price will climb as to if the other states require a permit system. But remember that the 2 states that I'm talking about has either a very stiff restriction with proof of documentation of purchase or just a no keep law period. Personally, with the hot shows that i have been to in Missouri and with the requirements of listing your hots with law enforcement, I have never seen the price of canebrakes THAT cheap !

IT'S just sad really

I have strong feelings about the price of animals especially hot ones it kill's me to see such majestic creatures such as canebrakes and copperheads go for such low end prices like I said I stopped producing canes and coppers because of such things I can't justifiy breeding any animal that is so beautiful and letting them go at shows for such a low end value and this does not stop with venomous look at corn snakes $5.00-10.00 at shows please these are some awesome colored animals with a beautiful temperment and because of greed our community has made them a disposable pet

I guess if I ever do start breeding my horridus again I need to start setting up at other show locations across the country

anyway
PEACE
Joe Lesh

I fully agree with you. I think these snakes deserve more than to be priced like cornsnakes.
What bothers me the most about it is it makes them so easily available. I have seen western diamondbacks for $25, and I have seen vendors who would happily sell an atrox to anyone who happened to have the 25 bucks on hand. The same goes for the low priced cobras and even gaboons which I have seen for $50.
Not all the vendors are irresponsible of course, but there are a good number who will sell a very deadly snake to anyone with the cash just to turn a profit.
I keep a few venomous, but I know my limitations. I am not comfortable with nor do I feel I have the skill level to keep spitting cobras or gabbys etc, so I do not consider buying one. I see too many cases though of people on an ego trip or just purely ignorant of what that animal really is and when they meet up with one of the vendors described above they can obtain some of the most dangerous animals out there for less than it cost them in gas to get to the show. These cases are creating situations that can jeopardize the entire hobby.
There's thousands of dog attacks every year and they rarely make the news any more, but any venomous snake bite is headlines across the nation.
I enjoy keeping the hots I do work with, and I know there are thousands of capable hot keepers in the country, but the state of the venomous market stands to endanger everyone's ability to keep not only hots but many other species that get caught up in the eventual legislation.
The few vendors who do sell to anyone are threatening us all. That's not to even mention the whole mail order hot industry. That scares the hell out of me because one day that will blow up on us all. Some 16 year old will steal his mom's credit card and order a cobra via email and it will kill him. That will be the death toll for us.