What happened with the piebald market?

Originally Posted by The BoidSmith

Just like the song. I'm really puzzled. To me it is one of the most beautiful morphs out there and there is currenlty very little demand if at al. Well known breeders are offering hetero pairs for $2,000. Awesome looking visuals are offered for $8,000, best offer, or trades. What's going on? People got tired of them? Yellow bellies (with all the genetic doubts they offer) are being asked $15,000; for what... to produce a leucistic snake? A white snake with black eyes??? No doubt about it, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

regards.

I like the pieds
and i like the leucistics also
But im not in it for the money and i would have a hard time coming off 5k for 1 animal

Pieds are among the most beautiful snakes. Just the contrast between the pure white, copper, black, yellow and tan is mind boggling. Regrettably I can’t get that exited about a pure white snake. Give me the choice between a Mojave and a leucistic and the first one will always win. But then again and although I agree with you that the money is not what matters (who am I kidding) if someone here in fauna gave me a free leucistic (come on Ben Siegel have a heart! )…I would probably sell it and buy a pair of pieds and a pair of mojaves. No, money doesn’t make happiness, but we have to give her the credit, it tries really hard!

Originally Posted by The BoidSmith

Pieds are among the most beautiful snakes. Just the contrast between the pure white, copper, black, yellow and tan is mind boggling. Regrettably I can’t get that exited about a pure white snake. Give me the choice between a Mojave and a leucistic and the first one will always win. But then again and although I agree with you that the money is not what matters (who am I kidding) if someone here in fauna gave me a free leucistic (come on Ben Siegel have a heart! )…I would probably sell it and buy a pair of pieds and a pair of mojaves. No, money doesn’t make happiness, but we have to give her the credit, it tries really hard!

LOL...Don't get me wrong Money Matters
Its just that i am a small hobbyist and I invest elsewhere
I guess what I'm saying is i cant justify buying a pied for 5k at this particular point in time
But for those who can i say breed them and by the time i can justify it maybe the price will come down a bit and i can but 2...lol
Wow ... i don't believe you don't like leucistics

Wow ... i don't believe you don't like leucistics

Nope. Although I would like to have the money to buy one (and then buy something else with it!)

you and me both...lol

Originally Posted by bpc

But guys like you and me will NEVER be able to compete with the big guys, the Bells, the Clarks, NERD, etc. They will always be able to produce so many more babies, sooner than us and cheaper than us (because they have so many hets to work with) that we will never make "big money" on our investments. Could we break even? Sure, probably even make enough to take a nice vacation. But, we aren't going to make the kind of money they are, when we're buying their stock to do it with. Remember, they aren't going to sell more than what they want to. You probably don't get the "pick's of the litter." Best way to get new breeding stock is to produce it yourself, at least in the high end game.

The only way to really make "BIG CASH" is to to either be the person who hatches/ or imports the "next big thing," and then actually know what to do with it. Or wait until these animals come down to earth, buy tons of them, and then start producing them when the price gets low enough that the "general" herp buying public can afford them, so that you can either sell directly to them or wholesale tons of babies to supply that market. One person w/ $10,000 to spend is much harder to find than 1000 w/ $100 (again IMHO).

Great Post BPC,

I however feel that there is quite a lot of money to be made in this business. it is unique even among other animal breeding businesses- it seems to yield the lowest overhead.

The big breeders are ones that I honestly have trouble buying from. They are the busiest, usually the furthest, and typically the quickest to get off the phone.

I do feel that there is a special niche that is always craving penetration. I personally feel that it would be quite plausible to sell on the level that Bob clark does, or VPI when planned out properly. What it really comes down to is the investment you make and the time you give it. I dont think anyone is looking at overnight success, but investing $20,000 in this business is going to yield far greater returns than an $8000 one, and allow you to meet your goal sooner.

Originally Posted by CherryFive

I dont think anyone is looking at overnight success, but investing $20,000 in this business is going to yield far greater returns than an $8000 one, and allow you to meet your goal sooner.

And also obviously a far greater risk. A 20K investment which maxes one person out may be of far less consequence to a larger breeder.

In short there is only a 3-year lag between albinos and piebalds in favor of the first morph. The question then is, will piebalds hit $3,000 by 2006? It is possible if we assume similar rates of captive propagation in the US. Is there a difference in popularity between both morphs? or is the fact that albinos are necessary to produce snowballs what is sustaining there cotization.

One way or the other it seems as if investing $30,000 in a pair of 2003 piebald babies with the intention of breeding them and selling the first clutch (maybe 6 babies) 3 years from now for $18,000 might not be a very good investment.

Well it seems we were not that far off with the price drop estimated right here over three years ago. Bear also that the animals posted are 7+ months old! This was posted earlier today:

*'05 PIEBALD FEMALES $3500.00 EACH!*

XXX has for sale these beautiful piebald females that I hatched on 12/16/05.
The one with the lower white weighs 239 grams and the one with more white on her weighs 229 grams.
Both are eating live fuzzy rats every week.
They are $3500.00 each.
This price will include shipping overnight to your home or work.
We accept Paypal or cashiers checks.
Email with any questions.

Male heterozygous pieds from well-known breeders are going now for $150 or better yet!

No doubt about it the best measurement that a morph’s price is dropping really fast is when we get to the point where we might consider its purchase!

Co-dominants are a different story altogether. Look at the Spiders! Today males are offered at $2,000, they were twice as much a little over a year ago. Mojaves are the other ones going downhill. It might be speculated that their downfall will not be as great as they are currently used to enhance the appearance of some of the newer and more exciting morphs.

Regards