Hi there,
To my knowledge most pieds are selling for more than $1200. The 100% het pied pairs are selling for $1000 at the cheapest I've seen. You could get a 100% het male and a couple 50% het females for probably $500, but consider that would take you at least a couple years to raise the male to breeding size and that would include at leats four years for the females to all get big enough, plus you would need to buy cages and heating and food for all of them.
So if all you want is a pied, consider the cost of raising these animals to their breeding size, versus the cost of saving up a couple gradn over the next two of three years. If you only want to breed to get the pied, you might want to just save up for one.
If you love bp's for what they are without the pied, go the breeding route. I am planning on breeding my hets once the female is up to snuff, but it may end up costing me the same amount as waiting and buying one. I am ok with that because I want to breed snakes, or at least give it a good try.
Not trying to be discouraging, but while hets can seem less expensive, depending on how much time and money you want to invest in a non morph animal, it may not neccessarily be the option you want to take. However, if you think you want to give raising and breeding a shot, it is definately fun watching little snakes grow up, and if you get a 100% het male and some 50% or 66% het females from reliable breeders, you have a pretty good shot at getting what you want-in about three or four years, unless you are lucky enough to find a cheap female het that is older than '06.
good luck!
