Do people really buy $3k+ boas?

I've been relatively successful with breeding lower end morphs of BCI and Rainbows, with whole sale, and local classifieds.
Maybe I'm just getting over confident, but I feel ready to dive into some really high quality morphs that are priced into the 3, 4, and even 5k range, but I'm worried that people just arent interested in buying boas that are so expensive. Can anyone give me some real experiences on how you have done with your own high end morphs?

I've got the cash in hand for a 1.1 pair of boas with the hopes of creating sharp dream pastels, and sundreams, but im worried. I'm going to end up buying them either way because i just LOVE the way they look, and want to breed them to have a sundream in my own collection, but... yeah. you get the picture.

I guess if i can't find people to buy them at value, you all can expect to see REAL sun dreams on the boa classifieds priced at $100 a piece lol

Originally Posted by enharmonic

I've been relatively successful with breeding lower end morphs of BCI and Rainbows, with whole sale, and local classifieds.
Maybe I'm just getting over confident, but I feel ready to dive into some really high quality morphs that are priced into the 3, 4, and even 5k range, but I'm worried that people just arent interested in buying boas that are so expensive. Can anyone give me some real experiences on how you have done with your own high end morphs?

I've got the cash in hand for a 1.1 pair of boas with the hopes of creating sharp dream pastels, and sundreams, but im worried. I'm going to end up buying them either way because i just LOVE the way they look, and want to breed them to have a sundream in my own collection, but... yeah. you get the picture.

I guess if i can't find people to buy them at value, you all can expect to see REAL sun dreams on the boa classifieds priced at $100 a piece lol

take my info lightly as i am very new to high end morph world as well.

but yes there are people out there spending 3-5k even 10k on a single snake.
granted it takes a very special morph to achieve that kind of value, and a lot of the times breeders are biased ( im sure ill be the same ) and feel there morph is worth more then it may really be worth because of the amount of time and generations it took to create. and the fact that it may be the only one in the world. I personally think that anything over 5k for a boa is excessive, even a one of a kind. but that doesnt mean i wont advertise my bloody albinos at 10k for the first year or so.

something to consider when getting into high end morphs is the type of genes your dealing with, recessive genes the market moves A LOT slower allowing for the price to come down slowly over the years where as dominant and co dominant genes can flood the market very quickly bringing your 3-5k boas down to the 1-2k range before there of age to breed.

and another thing to consider is wether or not sharp strains are actually worth more then kahl strains. and i only mention this because you said you wanted to create sharp dream pastels
i personally have not dealt in sharp strains but have heard people struggling to sell them and my thoughts on that is its because most people cant justify spending 1000$ on a sharp sunglow when they can find a kahl sunglow for 3-400.

ohh and patience patience patience when it comes to high end morphs. dont let it go for 100$ lol just sit on it, may take a year or more but youll find someone willing to pay your price as long as its reasonable.

again please dont take anything i say to heavily, i am new as well and just trying to share the little knowledge ive gathered from breeders far more experienced than me.

Originally Posted by jk.mrdck

and a lot of the times breeders are biased ( im sure ill be the same ) and feel there morph is worth more then it may really be worth because of the amount of time and generations it took to create.

Everything you just wrote was awesome and very helpful, but this line seems particularly true. I'm not trying to pick on him specifically, and don't get me wrong because I'm a big fan of his boas (as you can tell from my original post with the dream pastels), but Doug of the Boa Basement is a PERFECT example of this. He holds his snakes so highly above everyone else. I'm sure that every breeder feels the way he does to at least some extent (I sure do feel like my BRBs are a cut above most), but he is so vocal about it- just cracks me up. Reason I bring him up though is that he charges crazy prices for seemingly unimpressive snakes. My theory is that he prices them not exactly at market value, but rather at the value that they hold to him personally. I once had a BRB that I posted at $350. She might have been worth that, but really I was just secretly hoping no one would buy her and that I would be "forced" to keep her as a holdback LOL

Whew, that little story is taking me a bit off topic though.

Thanks for mentioning patience, and to sit on my price and not give up (within reason). I think I needed to have someone tell me that, rather than just telling myself, because I'm really an impatient person sometimes.

I guess if i can't find people to buy them at value, you all can expect to see REAL sun dreams on the boa classifieds priced at $100 a piece lol

Yeah, uh, not sure if that was sarcasm or not, but for the sake of those of us who are actually really into sharps and have invested a lot into starting nice projects with them, please don't do that. Thanks.

Originally Posted by Addie_P

Yeah, uh, not sure if that was sarcasm or not, but for the sake of those of us who are actually really into sharps and have invested a lot into starting nice projects with them, please don't do that. Thanks.

Well, it was indeed sarcasm. But the way you worded your comment caused it to seemingly imply that I, unlike others, am NOT actually into sharps as a serious breeder. This may have been unintentional, but it did seem that way, and I'm really not trying to cause any bad feelings here. I'm a serious breeder, looking for serious advice, and just want to be light hearted about it. If you have any actual advice or input that can help me, then please help, but not in a negative, or insulting way.

Your avg Joe isn't likely to fetch those kind of prices. Takes time to build a name and reputation.

My two cents.

First, Jake, there's a huge difference between Sharp and Kahl and the price difference is fairly well justified. Sharps on average are just much nicer than Kahls.

Second, good luck to getting 10k for a bloody albino. That's a price reserved for the first of a morph like that. There are wayyy too many out there to justify that price for one medium rarity mutation combined with the most readily available recessive mutation on the planet.

Third, while Addie's comment was slightly snarky, she is voicing the concern of a lot of people who spent long periods of time looking for very specific animals to do high level selective breeding. The boa market is fairly volatile right now with prices all over the place. The on stable factor in the market is high end selective breeding. If your stuff is way nicer than the next guy's, it'll sell for a hell of a lot more and a hell of a lot quicker.

Me? Snarky? Never!

Alright, yeah, admittedly, your sarcasm was completely lost on me. My bad.

I'm definitely not pretending to be some expert, but my humble advice based on observing successful hobbiests is to follow Chris's lead. Pick something you really like, then focus on breeding really nice animals with other really nice animals. You can't usually go wrong with carefully thought out selective breeding. And even if they don't sell fast, you'll at least appeal to the right kind of buyer if you're breeding for quality rather than quantity or moolah.

Originally Posted by JCCS

First, Jake, there's a huge difference between Sharp and Kahl and the price difference is fairly well justified. Sharps on average are just much nicer than Kahls.

Second, good luck to getting 10k for a bloody albino. That's a price reserved for the first of a morph like that. There are wayyy too many out there to justify that price for one medium rarity mutation combined with the most readily available recessive mutation on the planet.

Third, while Addie's comment was slightly snarky, she is voicing the concern of a lot of people who spent long periods of time looking for very specific animals to do high level selective breeding. The boa market is fairly volatile right now with prices all over the place. The on stable factor in the market is high end selective breeding. If your stuff is way nicer than the next guy's, it'll sell for a hell of a lot more and a hell of a lot quicker.

I'll quickly throw out on the table that I completely understand the quality differences between kahl and sharp, even though I know that comment wasnt pointed at me ;]

Moving on from that, I think that the 10k bloody albinos may have also been an exaggeration, just playful like how my original post was.

To the three section of the post, I agree whole heartedly with this concept. I'm pouring a ton of money into getting one of the nicest high white sharps i;ve ever seen from the boaphile, and getting my dream pastel right from ground zero with Doug. The idea is to have the strong genetic background, and paperwork to help offset the truth of me being a "no name." I still wont get the prices that they charge, but i can come much closer to those prices then I would by getting snakes that are from the same bloodlines, but not "big name" breeders.

Originally Posted by Addie_P

Me? Snarky? Never!

Alright, yeah, admittedly, your sarcasm was completely lost on me. My bad.

I'm definitely not pretending to be some expert, but my humble advice based on observing successful hobbiests is to follow Chris's lead. Pick something you really like, then focus on breeding really nice animals with other really nice animals. You can't usually go wrong with carefully thought out selective breeding. And even if they don't sell fast, you'll at least appeal to the right kind of buyer if you're breeding for quality rather than quantity or moolah.

Thanks for the input =] thats what I'm doing with the sharp and dream. The opportunity presented itself to make a ton of money off of the nice sharp i have on hold and some awesome key west females, but I passed it up, because i honestly just dont feel as passionate about them.. I just LOVE the picture of the Dream sharp on dougs website and know that I wont be happy till i breed my own =D