I feel like this goes not just for breeding, but any aspect of the hobby that could impact others in the end. There are far too many people who think their actions are insignificant, they’re only one person, how much damage could they do? The answer, realistically, is a whole heck of a lot.
Good recent example not in BPs but another species, there was a well-known breeder who was selling a morph that required a permit in their area. This breeder is anti-regulation, and so let their personal beliefs “prevent” them from getting that permit. Keep in mind, this breeder was vending NARBC which has that permit requirement listed in their vendor rules. You’d think that person would keep their nose down and not bring attention to their rule breaking, right?
You’d be wrong. Instead a good portion of this breeder’s animals contained the permit-requiring morph. They had even publicly announced a possible world’s first combo including the morph on their social media. As of right now, this breeder is still listing animals they don’t have a permit for on MM itself.
Until people start realizing that their selfish actions, even as insignificant and innocuous as they might assume them to be, end up hurting everyone in the long run, notably the animals involved, we’re stuck in an endless cycle of this kind of thing.
Might be a dumb question, but can I ask what morph were referring to here? I didn’t know that there was such a thing as a permit being required for a specific morph of a species, and not for the normal species. I’m intrigued now
Was trying to keep from saying too much as idk whether said breeder may retaliate in any way as there wasn’t really any publicly available news stories or anything. I only found out because I saw the breeder’s post on FB. The reason the permit is required is the morph is considered a hybrid animal with a protected state species due to the supposed breeding that it came from. It’s not just one morph, it’s any that result from hybridizing with the protected species, but there was one that was the problem for this person.
Yeah, you’re absolutely correct that those attitudes exist outside of ball pythons and outside of breeding in general. Heck, there are loads of people like that outside the reptile hobby. I think that for the whole of human history, there have existed arrogant jerks who think they know best, refuse to listen to anyone else, and think their actions somehow exist in a vacuum and won’t negatively impact anyone else (and/or simply don’t care if and how their actions impact others). I should know, I dated such a person for 7 years.
MorphMarket leaves all the legal responsibility of permitting and being within the law up to individual buyers and sellers. I assume unless they’re made aware of the violator, there’s nothing to be done.
Seriously though. I have a hard time accepting ignorance in the case of BPs. I mean all it should take is one look here or one visit to an expo to immediately know how saturated the market is. You would almost have to be willfully ignorant in this case. Or simply not care. Neither feels like a good excuse. Maybe I’m being too judgy and expecting too much.
My personal question here is, is there any species that actively sells enough snakes (in which case you won’t have hatchlings for 8 months+ Waiting to be sold) that’s not over saturated like ball pythons? I love me some BPs and they’ve been fun to breed but at the same time, it’s hard to rehome any because of how many people produce in my state! Sorry if it’s slightly off topic
Unfortunately this is an instance where change needs to come from the top. The BP market is completely run by big guys who are producing 100s+ clutches a year - the smaller breeders are a drop in the bucket in comparison. There are some really great smaller breeders out there trying to mitigate the issue, but in order to really see a change in the market we need the big guys to cut back and do a lot more quality control and education. And as a hobby overall, we need to change what we expect in terms of standard of care and responsible breeding.
Didn’t pair any snakes this season because of lack of demand. Hard to not pair when you’re excited about a project you have been passionate and investing money in. Unfortunately I think the only thing that will scale it back enough to correct this issue is extreme devaluation. we only have a few animals and it’s just fun to have them around so we won’t be selling them off but I do worry about the animals that may soon be unwanted.
I’ve wanted to breed BPs for the last 6 years because I thought they were awesome animals- and they are! It’s just the market is really ruining this for my hobby, and I don’t want to end up with 20+ snakes that no one wants to purchase. Im heavily thinking about moving onto another species but I feel so passionate towards BPs
I would think so. I’m a startup breeder of colubrids, just had my first year last year, and while I only had five animals listed, they all sold within a year. That’s without any advertising, minimal social media presence, and no expo vending. The best thing you can do is go to herp events, talk to people, find out what folks in your area are looking for that they can’t seem to find. Also, learn what people are looking for, specifically, in the species they want. Find a niche you can fill.
Agreed. Way too many considering the economy currently.
Although I sold all mine from last year before more hatched, it took almost the whole year, even with the benefit of a little reputation. Its alot of work.
I have decided to cut down a bit on breeding for this year.
The BP market is self adjusting just like any other market. It’s simple supply and demand microeconomics. Just scroll back and look at the number of posts from people saying they are going to scale down breeding next season. It’s already adjusting right there.
It actually isn’t, if you look at the history of the BP market overall. Just because a few people here say they plan to scale down, the issue is most of the breeders here aren’t large scale producers. Those folks and some old school breeders have never shown any intention of cutting down their production numbers.
we only have a few animals and it’s just fun to have them around so we won’t be selling them off but I do worry about the animals that may soon be unwanted. 
