What's with the price crashing?

Prehistoric Pets does breed and produce a large number of retic morphs. I've never bought from them myself, but they're most certainly a big name for the retic market.
As far as wheeling and dealing...*shrug* hey, if you can why not? I don't mind saving some money on an animal if I can. Negotiations over a 50 dollar BP are kinda chintzy, but asking about discounts on pairs or groups of higher end animals can save non trivial amounts of money, particularly if you've bought from someone before.

Originally Posted by RidgeTop Reptiles

Speak for yourself Ramiro.... Balls will never attain the colorations that you can find in corns... and that alone makes them more desirable to me. Show me a fire engine red BP... and you'll have something.

The rest of what you posted I do agree with. As to the brand name... chances are those breeders either got very lucky and stumbled on something new..... or they spent years improving on existing morphs. Take Alby... he turned a $75 tangerine leo into a $800 leo... and he sells out! That is what sets breeders appart.

I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility that balls eventually have just as many color variations, it would just take longer than corns seeing how balls aren't as variable as corns are in their native ranges, takes longer for them to mature, and have smaller clutches. Eventually the morphs we see today will sell for the price of a pastel.

Well it may increase or decrease depending upon the availability and needs in certain geographical area.

I find this thread, or rather the fact that this thread was started by Donna, complaining 6 months ago that Lessers were down to $400 each rather ironic, in light of the fact that I was so shocked at the time, when she placed this ad last month.

When I first saw the ad posted I was shaking my head at the price for a PAIR of lessers, and then today I happened upon this thread here in the General Business Discussions and actually chuckled.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-Platinum-Pair!

It seems like today the only balls that are still worth some money are morphs crosses seeing how there haven't been many new morphs recently. I suspect someday if we have very pretty line-bred morphs of ball pythons they'll be worth quite a bit.

There are 99 low ballers out there trying to rake breeders over the coals on a daily basis for every one buyer who wants to buy a quality animal and is willing to pay what the animal is worth.

I just saw someone offer $175 for a 16' albino green burm. Its insulting offers like that, that are ruining the hobby.

People are forced to sell animals for way less than they are worth because the economy has been hard on most of us. In fact, I have gotten out of selling reptiles altogether and have focused exclusively on producing rodents. I produce a few clutches of animals every year as a hobby, but in no way am I trying to run it as a business anymore. The market is a tricky hooker and I just can't keep up with it. I still laugh when people try to lowball me on a $2 rat. "Will you take $0.75 for it mister?"

There are a few people that will make money in the current state of the reptile trade. The guy who makes the first morph will make money because he can name his price and people will pay it. On the other end of the spectrum the intensive farming breeder will make his money too. He will produce hundreds and hundreds or maybe thousands of something counting on only getting paid the bare minimum, and he will survive on that slim margin by operating on such a large scale.

Other than that, the guys like most of us, who produce between 20 and 200 snakes a year are pretty much just in this to watch our wallets get thinner.

My advice is to look at this as a hobby. Don't mind losing money and have fun with it. If you make a dollar every once in a while be happy about it LOL.

price hip and drop is related with demand and supply, more demand less supply raise in prices, more supply less demand decrease in price, simple.................

if they don't sell for a price, during a time period you're ok with, they weren't worth that price...

Originally Posted by paulWTAMU

if they don't sell for a price, during a time period you're ok with, they weren't worth that price...

Exactly right.

Hey Remero'check out the mamosa ball,its one bad cookie.