how much would you pay?

How much would you pay for a snake? Let's do this in two parts
1. How much would you pay for a morph you want?
2. How much would you pay for a powerful male to breed to your females?
3. Average you would pay for a morph?



I would say I would spend somewhere around $4,000 on a snake I desire and about $10,000 on a breeder unless it is something new. Average is $1,000-$1,500.

For me it depends on money. I don't have any at the moment, so...nothing.
Win the lotto?
A lot.

Originally Posted by Randy F

How much would you pay for a snake? Let's do this in two parts
1. How much would you pay for a morph you want?
2. How much would you pay for a powerful male to breed to your females?
3. Average you would pay for a morph?



I would say I would spend somewhere around $4,000 on a snake I desire and about $10,000 on a breeder unless it is something new. Average is $1,000-$1,500.

Don't people usually pay around market price? I don't understand the $4000 figure. If you wanted a particular snake and it cost $250 why would you pay $4000? Likewise, if the going price was $6000, your $4000 wouldn't buy the snake.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question?

I agree with Luke, it's all about how much money I can spare. This year I did pretty good. I managed to snag a male calico and a couple of exceptional dinkers. Perhaps it would be better to have a dream list? If so, these are the following snakes that I would really love to have in my collection:

1. Male firefly
2. Another adult female pastel
3. Another female mojave
4. A female enchi
5. A pastel yellowbelly female
6. A pied

Randy I don't buy females very often. I only purchase males to breed to my girls so it depends. This year I bought a pastel leopard male. He'll get to meet most of my girls and the calico will get the rest. Last year I bought a male mystic, a male calico, and a female yellow belly. That female is the first female I've bought in 4 years??? She was 250.....the mystic was 1100 and calico was 800. The pastel leopard was way more, but hopefully I (and all of us) will have a good enough season to spend double what we did the year before on our newest additions!

Originally Posted by Lucille

Don't people usually pay around market price? I don't understand the $4000 figure. If you wanted a particular snake and it cost $250 why would you pay $4000? Likewise, if the going price was $6000, your $4000 wouldn't buy the snake.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question?

Lucille while I see where you are coming from, market value can be a VERY flexible thing. Who you know and where you are buying can cause a pretty substantial difference.

Also, while some people would "want" a $250 snake, I don't see Randy being one of them. Once you get to a certain point in your collection, you don't really want a $250 snake anymore. That is NOT to say there are not nice, cheaper snakes out there...it just means when you have some of the stuff Randy has, you are working well away from the $250 stuff.
Randy, please correct me if I am wrong.

Lastly, with your example of a $6,000 snake, this is where the "who you know" can come into play. While the general market value might well be $6,000 both online or at shows (again, market value is very hard to say for each individual) but let's just say we agree it is $6,000...If you know people you might very well be able to get said animal for $4,000. Or you might spend the $4,00 since you already convinced yourself that is what you are comfortable spending and then you might trade for the rest.
Again, I'm only guessing here, but I think he was just asking how much cash you would be willing to spend.

I am also guessing he was asking "what would you prefer to spend?"
So, $4,000 might be his answer but he still might spend more once in a while or for the right snake.

^ Just my guess at what was meant.

As for myself,

1.) I will usually pay more than average for a great example of a morph. No real dollar amount for me, just that I am usually happy to pay extra for quality.

2.) I would pay whatever I can afford for a powerful male. I know what their value is and what I can get back out of them. I know how important a powerful male is. I would say where I am right now in life, around $5,000. (I would pay more in a second if I could though)

3.) Average I would pay for a morph is definitely 4 digits now. Last year I was still messing with single gene stuff. At this point though, I am really beyond that and looking to only buy powerful combos. So at the cheapest for a high quality, powerful combo is easily $1,000 +.

Interesting subject Randy

Originally Posted by Lucille

Don't people usually pay around market price? I don't understand the $4000 figure. If you wanted a particular snake and it cost $250 why would you pay $4000? Likewise, if the going price was $6000, your $4000 wouldn't buy the snake.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the question?

I meant what is the most you would spend? Its like a limit. Every one of us has seen snakes we drool over. There is a point we will pay cash, then there's a break out the credit card, then there a drool and walk away. What is that limit? I have been at that few hundred dollar limit so its not judging people. Its just trying to see where people are, everyone can benefit from this. Why should anyone make $5,000 snakes if people only want to spend $250? I have a buddy that just hatched a pair of babies that everyone is telling him to sell for $20,000 each. He would take $13,000. This is more of a market question for people to judge it.

This year 2500........next year hopefully 5k!!!

My limit depends on sales, which can be good and bad.
Good that so far I cant complain on my sales. Bad because I dont produce much. I only aim for 5-6 clutches a year. It keeps it fun and not overwhelming.

I will like to say that I'm passed the stage of buying $300-$500 single gene animals but that is not true. There's still many morphs out there that I do not have and buying a single gene morph female is never a bad choice.
My last few purchases were from 1K to 2500. I dont see myself spending more than 5K on a single animal (there goes my ghi dream) I rather buy me some toys. I did spend 8K last year on multiple animals.

see I think this is good to find out because there are people on here making some great snakes. Some of the smaller breeders might not be able to unload stuff. I think they will keep the better of the snakes, but what about the rest? This gives people ideas about maybe looking to trade instead of selling, and maybe think before making a big purchase. I hope to hatch snakes that I give away for free up to $20,000. I do not expect to sell a snake for $20,000, rather trade or discount heavily. Lets face it, if you have five 8 egg clutches thats 40 babies you need to feed and house. That is a realistic number for most so having an idea befor you run out of space would help a lot of people on here. I usually wholesale a bunch to my buddy, but not everyone has that luxury should tubs get packed. I just hope this thread helps someone