If you just want a pet sure, ABSOLUTELY anywhere you find an animal you like as long as you can tell it’s healthy etc or worth the risk of health, I say go for it
But to me with the plans I have for my future in this hobby it is Not. Worth. It. To save a couple hundred bucks and buy a “mystery morph” (great term btw).
Everyone says they want to produce quality but then a lot of us jump at the chance for a cheap o deal. Just smacks of not having a plan to me. It should be about so much more than the money and cutting corners.
This is not meant to be an attack at anyone but seriously. If you have respect for the hobby, for the species itself…basically if you care about anything except the bottom line then there are no shortcuts.
Yes some “bad genes” could die in eggs or in captivity but it’s our responsibility to pass on good genes. Like a hunter needs to practice conservation.
It’s very possible to find good genetics anywhere not just on MM but when I see these threads I see zero info about that. I see a price and “what morphs do you guys see? Should I grab it? I might go for it. Such a steal!”
It might be, but that’s not the important info for making a decision. Just as possible to buy cr*p on MM I’m not hating on CL just to do it but yeesh.
People are so quick to hate on some big “successful” breeder for being “money focused” and using basic caging etc but the same people will scour for bottom of the barrel prices on anything that looks like it might be a bargain and make the decision on price and morph not is the info available to show this is a breeding quality animal.
That’s all. I’m not “poor shaming” anyone. I started in this hobby with nothing at a time in my life when I was the poorest I’ve ever been and hopefully ever will be. I probably shouldn’t have even started honestly! But I still made a plan and have stuck to it and am slowly getting there one step at a a time.
TLDR if you want a pet knock yourself out. If you want to breed there are no shortcuts.