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The ball python madness

chris68

chris68

Arundel Reptiles
Just catching up on some light (lol it's not) reading over on our sister site. Does anyone else find the whole "snakes for $40K" a bit....much lol...I like ball pythons, they are also the wife's favorite snake. But alot of the different "morphs" just look like subtle variations of the same theme. I like the piebalds and some of the pastels are really pretty, but the rest...mehh :shrugs: I know I know to each his own...
 
I think ball morphs are 'status' snakes in a way. Without the $40K price tag I wonder if as many people would keep them. I'm with you colubrids rule lol
 
i agree with the sentiment on browns with all my heart. I was considering a ball for my first snake, but the price tag for patterns that all seemed remarkably similar in my eyes was a little steep. to be fair, I think that we can get a little overexcited ourselves about very small differences in color and pattern. They're all hardy little corn snakes, right?
 
obboi34 said:
i agree with the sentiment on browns with all my heart. I was considering a ball for my first snake, but the price tag for patterns that all seemed remarkably similar in my eyes was a little steep. to be fair, I think that we can get a little overexcited ourselves about very small differences in color and pattern. They're all hardy little corn snakes, right?
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We do the same thing here in regards to pricing. If it's a new gene or combo, or it's a rare combo made up of 4 or 5 genes, then yeah, the price tag inflates. However, Don's palmettos for 4K are the most expensive corn I've ever seen. And that's ten times less than 40K, for those who are bad at math.
 
Well can't agree more. I started out with Corns years ago, got the sirens call of the mighty dollar and got into BP's, needles to say I didn't get rich, I didn't get a 4-5 bangs 40K$ animal. Working with the balls was a chore, not a passion anymore. Plus the "morph" rage is crazy, 1 diffrent black dot anywhere on the body of a BP makes up a new morph... So a year ago decided i had enough, sold off everything, rack and all! Went to an expo, got a couple corns to keep as pets only....Well that didn't last long, I have 24 adults/sub adults now, 36 neonates feeding and shedding. I will probably never own a 3k$ corn, but a 20$ snow is alot more interesting and fun snake than a 900$ pied that stays in it's hide and is not even interested in eating.... Corns RULE!!!!
 
I will respectfully disagree.

The price tag stays high because clutches are very small compared to corns. 4-10 with 6-7 being average. No chance for a double clutch. So the market is not constantly flooded.

They are not all brown either. :D

You can stereotype them any way you want and I guarantee people will have the same counter points bagging on corns.
 
I like the corns myself. I see so much more variety in their colors and markings. I also look at the balls and agree I can not really see a difference when it comes to the morphs too much but I am by far no expert. I think balls might be like that new rage in dog breeds like a snoodle or skippidoodle or something. Someone had mentioned that in another thread about mixed breed dogs which you could pick up at a kennel for nothing are now going for big money as "designer breeds". Maybe its the same for the balls.
 
I get the small clutch thing. And I also get that you have to start out high because most of their genes are co-dom and you need to keep that monopoly for as long as you can. But 40K? Kiss my ......!

However, I will acknowledge that my other snake love, green tree pythons, can be even more ridiculous than balls. The general consensus among the community is that a male albino green would be valued at about 50K. Granted, there are only 2-5 alive at the time. And they were all yellow babies. I imagine a red albino baby would fetch close to 100K.

edit: a red albino was produced last year, but it died. Which is no surprise to me.
 
Not hardly in regards to the designer breed comment.

I don't understand why people pay 40k for retics, nor do I get why certain people think sand boas are awesome, but I'm not going to dismiss what they do.

Loads could be said about corns, boas, balls, burms, whatever, but the nice thing about reptiles is there is something for everyone. Just because it's not for you, does not mean it can't be for someone else.

Also, barely any balls are truly 40k. Just some breeders showing off.
 
Are we all seeing the common thread here? Ball pythons, reticulated pythons, green tree pythons...

Clearly python people are greedy.
 
So far I agree with EVERYBODY!!
I don't understand the attraction of balls, I had them once and rehomed them. I don't understand the morphs and they do all look the same to me.

I MUCH prefer corns, and I also like most species of King.

But Autumn is right, that is what makes reptiles as a whole so wonderful.
Something for everyone. :)
 
fyrefocks said:
I am pretty good at giving things away.
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Pretty Pretty Princess approves. :D

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I had some regular balls years ago. They are such a pain in the @$$ to get to eat and keep eating. Even the adult and sub-adult was the same as babies that I have delt with. I guess this is also where some of the ball price tags come from. Not only do they have small clutches but I bet there are alot more problem feeders then any corn breeder/hobbiest has to deal with. Even though there are not that many true 40K balls there are plunty of 4-6K balls which is still rediculous in my eyes. Yes I wanted a Pied when they first hit the market but what were they then 5K.

Yes the morph crazy of balls and many reptiles has gotten out of control. Besides when I go to a show and I look at the ball tables seeing the same snake after snake I think to myself that people just keep coming up with different names for the same morphs to make a buck. Between this $500 Brown Stripe whatever and this $5K Brown Stripe whatever. How can you tell you are not getting one over on you when both look just the same to the untrained eye.

Now I will admit there are some balls I do like Pieds, bee anything and especially Pied Bumblebee's.

Also look at Leopard Geckos. They also fetch a pretty penny and many look the same. I have seen some going for 4K.
 
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