A change in direction on selling animals....

I can entirely see where you're coming from Rich - I can't begin to imagine how you cope with what you do.

However, I've bought a pair of GoldDust het Mots from you - they were cheaper than the full GoldDust Mots, and at UK prices that really did make a difference.

Don't suppose I'll be buying any more as I'm at capacity for Corns (at a paltry 14!), so future purchasing isn't an issue for me. However, a Corn with a couple of unknown hets could really cause issues for someone working on a specific project, that turns out unexpected results three years after purchasing. Then again, I guess they have the choice of purchasing elsewhere. And I'm sure plenty of people will be happy with "free" hets.

Just my two cents.

I mean I am sure you would let the buyer know that the snake could be het for other things right? Or are you just gonna sell it if they seem to just like the look?

Originally Posted by TandJ

Elle mentioed..



I love customers like you Elle.. Of course when I hold back clutches for future breeding, generally speaking a few of the homo animals will more than pay off what it has cost me in the two to three years of rasing them, thus allowing me to catapulting into more projects etc..

Regards... Tim of T and J

Shall I start saving now for your first clutch of lavender bloodred stripes? I would rather pay more for an animal thats already well established in the UK but I know you will give me mates rates and importing wouldn't be difficult these days with the amount of people bringing over yankee corns

Rich,
I'll come right out and say that I think you are making a BIG mistake.

I think that selling on a "PURELY VISUAL" basis is a BAD idea. What happens when something looks like one thing, and turns out to be another?
I think that if you think that there are headaches now, there will be bigger headaches, when the hets are unknown. Selling for homo, is fine, until the visuals become too close to call. How will you know a Silver Queen from a ghost from an Anery Ultra, from a ... (well you get the idea).

Hets are a roll of the dice, to begin with, and ANYONE dealing with hets should know this. Personally I view hets as a 50/50 chance. You state that you are worried about your good name, and the good name of your company. I think you are moving in the wrong direction to protect it. I think that maybe hiring staff member or 2 would be a better idea. What were your monetary profits over the years from hets from the lines of Bloodred, Lavender, and Ashy? (Hypothetically) Would the profits alone not have paid for a "bookkeeper" or 2? (As an independent contractor).

You are concerned, about 1 clutch of Amber motleys? That you could have "Hypothetically" Pre-sold? That did not turn out right. What if the clutch of eggs had been infertile? Same deal.

I believe that a "No guarantee on hets" or something to that effect, OR NO Pre sales? Or... I think these would be, Much better policies.

Just my .02¢

Rich:

Are you planning to stop selling hets for the high end new morphs - like ashy - or soes this just apply to most of the "run of the mill" stuff?

KJ

Well I'm glad I bought the amel stripe het caramel from you last year now! I wanted it for the het. I wouldn't have wanted an amel stripe that wasn't het. She's doing great BTW.
I know it's a lot of work and you have a lot of snakes to keep track of but I agree you should either hire someone (I'd work for snakes if I lived closer LOL) or just state no guarantees on hets in your terms.

I think you'll do what works for you, as you should. There will be some buyers who will go looking to smaller breeders because they're really interested in hets. But, there are also buyers who go looking to smaller breeders because their prices are a little lower, and their shipping charges lower, or because they can get a picture of the clutch and hand-pick their baby. You might lose some portion of your business because of this decision, but only you know what portion of your business it will be, and only you can decide how that weighs out for you.

And of course, even if this policy goes into effect, there's nothing preventing any one of us sending you an email asking if you have any known het ashy corns you'd sell as such.

Originally Posted by KJUN

Rich:

Are you planning to stop selling hets for the high end new morphs - like ashy - or soes this just apply to most of the "run of the mill" stuff?

KJ

I think this is the question that alot of us have. Like Dean and KJ mentioned, it is hard to afford the really high end stuff, so we have to settle for hets. For the low end stuff (homo animals < $200) who cares but if homo animals are selling for much more than that it would probably be worth while to list the hets.

If you have any hypos or amels het for ashy, I wouldnt mind paying $15 for them.n

Thanks for the input, but I think some of you don't realize the entire situation. Connie and I are getting older and the workload we have been maintaining just is not possible to continue. Earlier this spring I was laid up in the hospital for only a couple of days and it dumped ALL the workload onto Connie, which she was fortunately able to do because of the lucky (comparatively) timing. At either breeding season, or right now with babies hatching out that need to be sexed and labeled, she would have been completely over her head. And there is absolutely no one I could call on who could possibly handle those sorts of details. So basically, with bad timing, such a thing as an extended hospital layover could put us down for the count. And not just ME going to the hospital. Connie does so much around here that if she were laid up, it would be just as bad as my being laid up. I honestly could not do everything that we BOTH do around here to keep things running.

I would be extremely foolish to continue thinking that this just cannot happen. So it's either cut down the work load in any way possible, or get taken out of this completely by something that forcefully takes me out of it. This is one method I have chosen to cut back the work load. Some will like it, and others won't. Sorry, but there really is little choice in the matter. Please trust me when I say that unless you are in my shoes, you probably can't comprehend the total situation. I seriously doubt anyone who is 30 years old can grasp the changes in life when you start getting past the half century mark. I really like working as much as I do with the corn snakes, but not enough to watch it kill myself and/or my wife in the process.

As for hiring people, well one of these days I will write a book on the trials and tribulations of just trying to hire people to take care of the adult corms. Hiring someone to do "detail" work to handle aspects of the business that I have to handle is not something I am likely to entertain. I have already had workers come REAL close to closing down the business by the mistakes they have made. The idea of hiring someone to handle that sort of thing as a book keeper for the details around here is laughable in a very sad way.

Sorry guys, it's just not possible for Connie and myself to kid ourselves that we can continue the workload we have been under for what seems like forever. So this is a necessary step in a transition that is inevitable.

Seriously, you all really didn't think I would live forever, did you?

Besides, it's only about hets. Just about everything going out of here for the last couple of decades whether labeled as such or not were quite likely het for something anyway. I'm just making it official policy now that I'm just not concerned with them. If I lose some sales because of it, then that will certainly have the slack taken up by the wholesale orders. Honestly, I get dealers ALL of the time wanting to take the het stuff if I will lower the price to the visual only. And they don't mind if I take off the labels to identify the hets. Which quite likely means I will be able to sell out early and maybe have a few months with some REAL down time. Seriously, I have gotten to the point where selling something right away for $20 is MUCH better than keeping it around for 9 months and selling it for $60. Both Connie and I are just tired of working nearly every day on the calendar. We haven't had a vacation for more than 3 days since the mid '80s.

It's just time I started taking steps for us to live a little (while we still can) rather than work all the darn time.

Darn, I really should have put this time into my price list.... But I felt I needed to explain some things further. Certainly rambled more than I had intended though.... See what I mean about this old age stuff?

Originally Posted by Rich Z

It's just time I started taking steps for us to live a little (while we still can) rather than work all the darn time.

As you should! Because once it's all over...you certainly can't take the snakes with you! You'll never make everyone happy, so you need to do what is best for you...and it sounds as if you've made a relatively sane compromise for yourself. I envy your level of energy with all of the breeding & hatching & so forth going on, and I am one of those 30-year olds! I hope that you actually get to go on one of those vacations that you & Connie sound like you really need, soon...