A change in direction on selling animals....

[CaptBogart]

You know, every snake I've purchased was for the hets except two. One of those happens to be an awesome Lavender Motley from Rich, and is also the only one I didn't get to hand pick in person or by picture... and he's still my favorite of the collection. I think there's a market for both, Morphs and hets, which I'm sure Morphs move much faster as opposed to waiting for someone who wants a project...
Now, on the flip side, for those that want a project... Will someone be able to purchase pairs from the same clutch? I know when I wholesaled some to the local shops I mix matched the sexes so anyone getting a pair can't produce what I am.

 

[cornmorphs]

I can see WHY you'd decide to do this, Rich. But I think you'll be re-thinking this with some project animals. Caramel het Amel? Yeah, who cares. It's not worth the $5 - $10 het surcharge. But Lavender het Hypo, Blood, Stripe? I dunno. Those hets could double (or more) the cost of the animal. And I'm sure there's demand for those hets. Are you going to wholesale Keys het Hypo, Ashy as $10 normals?

I'm sure you've given the whole thing CONSIDERABLE thought. And there are marketing advantages to your new system too (as I'm sure you're aware). But you'll sure be at a disadvantage when it comes to the "roll-your-own" bargain-hunter market. But with your numbers, I guess there's a distinct trade-off between your time and the bottom line, so maybe this will be good for you. Time will tell. Good luck!

man i hope not, i got those for $1000 last year

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

I agree with KJ and Dean about the higher end stuff. I can see not labeling caramels het amel and such, as those are just run of the mill type things. Buying a butter isn't that much more if it means that much to someone.

Seems to me that it would still be good to label hets with the higher end stuff (or at least prioritize that). Are you really going to possibly sell a normal for $15 that is actually het for hypo cinder bloodred? But I can definitely see where you're coming from with the work load involved...

 

[TripleMoonsExotic]

but so far once I do get into breeding I'll hopefully have some nice normals het for anery and some nice anerys het for zig zag, motley, and stripe...

There's no such thing as het for Zig Zag.



Rich, you do what you need to do. I don't think anyone will truly fault you for having to decrease your work load. You've done this a LONG time and have given us all many exciting new morphs to work with.

 

[Cam5]

For what it's worth from someone who stricly is a pet snake owner...no breeding down the road...
I think it would be kind of neat...like going to a party and getting a grab bag of goodies that you get to be surprised by. Or like when you go to your Cmas stocking as a kid-no coal expected-so then everything is great!

It is the Rich Z Heinz 57 Grab Bag Morph

And as long as you are upfront...as you are...no harm done...

Take care...glad to hear corn snake breeders have a life outside of their rack rooms:cheers:

 

[Rich Z]

Are you really going to possibly sell a normal for $15 that is actually het for hypo cinder bloodred?

No. They would get thrown in a bag and bulked out to a wholesaler for $10 a head along with all the other bulk animals.

Actually, thinking about it, I don't recall really selling many hets from something brand new. With the Ashy line, I sold off a few that were hets, but as far as the more interesting combos, very rarely. I just don't do it that way. For one thing, I take a long time to grow up my animals, so why sell off a bunch of multi-hets involving a brand new gene to people who will certainly get them to market before I will? Holding them back till I'm producing fully multi homozygous animals to sell seems the most effective way to do something like that to me. We've all seen what selling hets with wild abandon did for the ball python market. Why no one could predict that, or could but just didn't care, astounds me. In the rush to be competitive they killed the goose that literally was laying the golden eggs.

 

[Tula_Montage]

Would you take requests for specific hets if you had them? Ie someone wanted to pay you $500 for a pair of het hypo ashy's. Would you accept that?

But then if you did, you would probably be inundated with other requests so I guess I know the answer to this question lol.

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

No. They would get thrown in a bag and bulked out to a wholesaler for $10 a head along with all the other bulk animals.

Maybe I should buy some 'normals' off you this year and hope for the best!

 

[Tula_Montage]

Maybe I should buy some 'normals' off you this year and hope for the best!

I have a feeling serpenco normals will fly off the shelf in the future. Perhaps Rich is clever man indeed

 

[Weebonilass]

Maybe I should buy some 'normals' off you this year and hope for the best!

I'll leave that up to you I don't have the room currently to hope for the best, which is why I have to choose carefully what I get... and why I only have six snakes currently and one will always just be a pet.. unless I can find a really, really hot Ghost before my pet gets too old

 

[Rich Z]

I have a feeling serpenco normals will fly off the shelf in the future. Perhaps Rich is clever man indeed

My bulk animals are always presold to wholesalers in advance. I no longer sell Normals, Amels, or Hypos retail. :cheers:

 

[Tula_Montage]

My bulk animals are always presold to wholesalers in advance. I no longer sell Normals, Amels, or Hypos retail. :cheers:

Didn't know that Rich. That must make life so much easier.

So say you got a clutch of normals het ashy lavender bloodred hypo stripe. Would you bulk sell them or allow other hobbyists to get in on the project... OR keep them all yourself because the chances of a quint homo animal is soooo low lol.

 

[Stephen29]

Rich,
you 've got to do whats best for you and Connie. Many of us will have NO IDEA what the work load is like. We aren't promised tomorrow, so try to get that vacation in sooner than later. I would like to say " THANK YOU " , for ALL the great corn morphs you have provided to the corn snake community over the years. I have several of your animals in my collection.

Speaking of hets; I bred one of your 02 Normal females with an 02 Amel het Blizzard male this year. And yesterday that clutch hatched, and out came some Amels ! Had no idea that normal was het for Amel. Just a neat surprise:cheers:

 

[Rich Z]

Didn't know that Rich. That must make life so much easier.

So say you got a clutch of normals het ashy lavender bloodred hypo stripe. Would you bulk sell them or allow other hobbyists to get in on the project... OR keep them all yourself because the chances of a quint homo animal is soooo low lol.

I just wouldn't intentionally breed anything to get normals het all those genes. Those long odds are really a waste of my time and efforts, as has been proven time and time again. A more reasonable approach is to plan for the long term and try to get multi genes common in both parents and try for a MAX of double hets for the target. Might be longer term, but the number of animals you wind up have to work with at any one time will be a lot less.

Yeah, it does take more planning, but I've learned to not bother thinking luck will be on my side. Which probably explains to a lot of people why I am never in any hurry to sell the newest things I produce. Nearly all of them are merely steps within a larger program.......

Do you know the best way that I know of to get that 1 in 1,000 animal to hatch out? Produce 4,000 babies.......... :laugh:

 

[cornspot]

I understand what's it's like to have a hobby turn into burnout. You should do whatever helps keep this interesting for you.

But almost all of mine were purchased with their phenos and genos in mind for future projects. For me, that is more fun than just buying a couple of visuals & putting them together.

 

[tricksterpup]

Rich,
I think what you are doing is fine. With your numbers of animals that you produce, i would have done what your are doing years ago.
You need to sit back and have something cold with that lady of your and relax.
Heck, what you need is an intern who would come to your place just to feed, and clean snake cages. That would make your life so much easier.

 

[El Jefe]

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.

Great plan there! Congrats and striving to live life in more than a snake building!!!


Hope at least a few of the "het labeled" deli cups will be around at Daytona! There are a couple I still need. I'm a het guy and most of what I've bought from you has been hets...then again, they weren't your average hets so maybe I'll be able to request a few of the nicer things here and there? :shrugs:

 

[Kaleidescope_Eyes]

Well maybe it's just because I'm a novice at the breeding thing, but I'm all for hooking up some good looking snakes and seeing what I get. And you know what? I work with some men and women your age at the animal rescue and they were saying just about the same kinda stuff you are; they have too many bottle babies, special needs rescues, etc. I think you can't live forever so you have to do what makes you happy. I hope you get to the point where you can take a nice vacation with your wife. =)

 

[Shannon Hiatt]

Trust?

I am a long time forum lurker, but this thread made me pause a moment and think about WHY I buy hets and from whom?

Although all of my recent purchases from Rich are homozygous corns, a few were hets for other genes with which I am working--like the lavenders het bloodred. Many years ago I bought a few hets from him because I knew I could TRUST that they were, indeed, hets. He is a man of his word.

That seems to be the real issue here. Rich wants to maintain his reputation; the one he has worked years to establish.

But . . . this thread did make me rethink hets of any kind. I only buy hets from folks I trust. And, of course, there are always hidden genes to contend with. Some are pleasant surprises and others can "mess up the works."

But thanks, Rich, for being the man I can buy hets from and know that they are hets.

Shan

 

[El Jefe]

I am a long time forum lurker...

Holy cow! I'd say so! 9 posts since 02...that's gotta be a record!

And for what it is worth...I agree. It's been very nice to buy hets from Rich....you know you could trust them!

Sad to see them go....but I understand that too.