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Market Values Now!
This is an excellent thread, I wish I would have seen it sooner. For the most part, I agree with all of the previous post, especially Harald's...I think his post our spot on. However, I think we are also missing (2) big factors as well.
Of course "items" are going to drop in value when there is more supply and less demand. This occurs in any business. I personally started breeding ball Pythons in 2007, I am not a pioneer in this industry but was able to get started sooner than the majority of those breeding or attempting to breed ball Pythons today. I have spent over 100k in acquiring animals over the years and currently have about 150 animals. I have easily made back my initial investment by selling off babies over the years and I am proud of the animals I currently own. I do this as a hobby with my kids. I have my animals, they have theirs.
The market has changed drastically over the last year. Does that mean it is time to run and bail out....NO. We will be seeing some substantial changes over the next year, maybe two. The large breeders, (Those that do this as their primary source of income) will be hurt the worst and many will fold. Why? because their labor cost, rent, electric, insurance and feed bills will continue to appreciate with inflation while the value of their animals and offspring has declined.
I see a new direction in the near future. The medium size breeders that do this as a hobby will become the (new) large breeders. They will be able to control the market better than the (large) breeders because they do it as a hobby and not to feed their family's...they are not forced to sell off animals at a low price just to cover their rent payment or feed bill!
(2) other MAJOR problems that have hurt our industry:
1. Facebook Snake Auctions- The majority of these guys are not breeders, They buy and resell (sometimes the same day they acquire new animals)! They are making all the money now. They buy from hundreds of different breeders (both large and small), All of the animals are housed at the same facility! There is no-quarantine, Some if not most of the animals are not even there long enough to be fed (or to see if they are eating) before they are auctioned off. The animals are purchased for $.40 - $.50 on the dollar and end up selling (on average ) for $.70 - $.90 of true market value. Some of these guys holding Auctions have over 100,000 followers! How can our Fauna Classified Adds compete with that type of audience??? Why would a potential buyer pay me or any of you retail price when they can bid on a similar animal and may win that animal at a 20%-40% discount? Auctions are a poison to this industry and they will continue to be a poison until breeders start to wise-up and look at the big picture. (If they stop selling off their animals at a substantial discount to feed these auctions, then there won't be any animals available to auction off!)
2. The importation of (normal) Royal Pythons from Africa... If we ALL already know that the current supply of animals is far greater than demand...Then why in the heck would anyone consider importing thousands of baby ball pythons from Africa??? They advertise them as " Unopened 10-lots directly from Africa" come on people, Really?? The African exporters know a lot more now then they did 10-15 years ago. They know what YB's, Fires, Vanilla's and all other subtle genes look like now and they are set aside as (special/ select animals). They do not go into the bulk bags of $3.50 animals. What are the people that end up purchasing these so called un-opened bags going to do with 10 normal looking ball python babies?? Sell them on CL? raise the females to make more low end animals and more normal?
I still think the ball python Industry will continue to grow strong. It all depends on what the expectations are of those that look to get involved are. The days of making a quick buck are long gone and will probably never return. For those looking to acquire a small collection of higher-end animals to be able to produce some magnificent looking animals for their own personal gradification, those individuals will succeed!
The days of purchasing 30 (breeder size) normal females and a few multiple gene males are over. Mass production days are over. Snake Farming for the sole purpose of making money is over!
Change is coming and the smaller collectors that breed for quality and for the true passion of the hobby will end up winning in the end.
This is an excellent thread, I wish I would have seen it sooner. For the most part, I agree with all of the previous post, especially Harald's...I think his post our spot on. However, I think we are also missing (2) big factors as well.
Of course "items" are going to drop in value when there is more supply and less demand. This occurs in any business. I personally started breeding ball Pythons in 2007, I am not a pioneer in this industry but was able to get started sooner than the majority of those breeding or attempting to breed ball Pythons today. I have spent over 100k in acquiring animals over the years and currently have about 150 animals. I have easily made back my initial investment by selling off babies over the years and I am proud of the animals I currently own. I do this as a hobby with my kids. I have my animals, they have theirs.
The market has changed drastically over the last year. Does that mean it is time to run and bail out....NO. We will be seeing some substantial changes over the next year, maybe two. The large breeders, (Those that do this as their primary source of income) will be hurt the worst and many will fold. Why? because their labor cost, rent, electric, insurance and feed bills will continue to appreciate with inflation while the value of their animals and offspring has declined.
I see a new direction in the near future. The medium size breeders that do this as a hobby will become the (new) large breeders. They will be able to control the market better than the (large) breeders because they do it as a hobby and not to feed their family's...they are not forced to sell off animals at a low price just to cover their rent payment or feed bill!
(2) other MAJOR problems that have hurt our industry:
1. Facebook Snake Auctions- The majority of these guys are not breeders, They buy and resell (sometimes the same day they acquire new animals)! They are making all the money now. They buy from hundreds of different breeders (both large and small), All of the animals are housed at the same facility! There is no-quarantine, Some if not most of the animals are not even there long enough to be fed (or to see if they are eating) before they are auctioned off. The animals are purchased for $.40 - $.50 on the dollar and end up selling (on average ) for $.70 - $.90 of true market value. Some of these guys holding Auctions have over 100,000 followers! How can our Fauna Classified Adds compete with that type of audience??? Why would a potential buyer pay me or any of you retail price when they can bid on a similar animal and may win that animal at a 20%-40% discount? Auctions are a poison to this industry and they will continue to be a poison until breeders start to wise-up and look at the big picture. (If they stop selling off their animals at a substantial discount to feed these auctions, then there won't be any animals available to auction off!)
2. The importation of (normal) Royal Pythons from Africa... If we ALL already know that the current supply of animals is far greater than demand...Then why in the heck would anyone consider importing thousands of baby ball pythons from Africa??? They advertise them as " Unopened 10-lots directly from Africa" come on people, Really?? The African exporters know a lot more now then they did 10-15 years ago. They know what YB's, Fires, Vanilla's and all other subtle genes look like now and they are set aside as (special/ select animals). They do not go into the bulk bags of $3.50 animals. What are the people that end up purchasing these so called un-opened bags going to do with 10 normal looking ball python babies?? Sell them on CL? raise the females to make more low end animals and more normal?
I still think the ball python Industry will continue to grow strong. It all depends on what the expectations are of those that look to get involved are. The days of making a quick buck are long gone and will probably never return. For those looking to acquire a small collection of higher-end animals to be able to produce some magnificent looking animals for their own personal gradification, those individuals will succeed!
The days of purchasing 30 (breeder size) normal females and a few multiple gene males are over. Mass production days are over. Snake Farming for the sole purpose of making money is over!
Change is coming and the smaller collectors that breed for quality and for the true passion of the hobby will end up winning in the end.
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