If you use this site as an indicator how many of us have ultra high end genes? I would say the vast majority of ball pythons posted on here are snakes that are 500 and below. By here I mean the community site. One more point with super high end once people start producing them the price point goes way down. If you buy high you may end up selling them for way less than you purchased them for. Bels are constantly 400 to 500 that price point has stayed pretty steady.
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I’m am gonna start breeding next year. I bought 6 babies to start practicing selling and shipping. Super Russo white wedding male and female, albino het pied male and female, banana het pied male, banana pied male. Around 1700.00 in those babies. I bought 5 sub adult female pieds ranging from 700.00 to 1000.00 each. Some are two gene.Then a pastel yellowbelly pied male adult at 1000.00. Then I bought some younger clown combos to grow out. Male banana clown, female blade clown, male clown, female lesser clown. Which were around 1400.00. I spent around 1500.00 in tubs, shelves, scale, table, and other supplies. It’s not cheap and I’m still not sure what I can recoupe my first year.
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Don’t expect to recoup much from your first year. I didn’t even put a dent in what I spent and I already spent almost double what I started off with just this past year alone
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Reading through one of the most successful ball python breeders website, Ozzy Boids, I came across another interesting perspective/experience written about a month ago, in favor of focusing on the “high end”. Just thought I’d share it here:
One of the most exciting and encouraging facts about the market is this… the highest demand I’m seeing is for higher end animals selling between 8-20k. Many of these animals never even hit MorphMarket. They’re being sold that fast! Try to find a male Desert Ghost Clown, Axanthic Desert Ghost or a triple Homozygous combo. It’s damn near impossible. I can’t tell you how frustrating it is to know if I had 20 OD DG Pied combos I could sell them all for 10-20k. The problem is these animals are not easy to hit. I predict lower end animal sales may slow in 2022 as the stimulus and free money dries up, but higher end sales will remain strong and especially if you have the right projects. Double, triple and even Quad recessive combos will be in big demand for years to come.
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Has a huge established market. He’s been around since the beginning and founded many morphs of his own.
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I truly think a lot of people forget about this aspect. It’s so easy for someone like him with a massive following/reputation to sell 10-20k snakes all day long. Someone else with no reputation or minimal previous sales is going to have a harder time selling for anywhere near the money these other guys bring in. Of course the likes of ozzy and jkr (now kinova) didn’t get where they are overnight, but I think it’s a risk telling new breeders to go right to those super high end combos.
Just my two cents.
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No breeder, established or not, is currently sitting on 10-20k snakes. For example, if you have desert ghost clowns right now it doesn’t matter what your name is they will sell. Especially over the major covid boom of the past 2 years.
The best approach depends on your end goals and potential investment capital.
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But you don’t need to sell them for a premium like they do. If you start with quality stock people will see and purchase them. You might not be able to sell a 10k snake for 15k but you can still sell it for 7-10k, which is very good.
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Still a large risk, because if you’re selling snakes that are the same genetics for that much of a lower price, I think it can throw red flags.
I get both sides; I just think (obviously) more risk is involved. I know the whole “more risk more reward” but I think there’s some difficulty just going right into high end.
Could also be me just being stubborn because I can’t afford to go drop 5k on a snake right now to breed, so I can’t justify it lol but I think lower price stuff can work if you have a market locally as well.
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So your selling for way less than your buying for. Doesn’t seem like the safest option to me huge risk imo. Buy high sell low is not a good business strategy.
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I think it’s easier to sell higher end than lower end. At expos the clowns and double recessive snakes are the ones that sell while the spiders and pastels are usually still there.
You don’t need to make a profit your first year, or even your second year for that matter. If you produce 6 egg clutches per year with a 1/15 chance of hitting a 10k snake (so maybe your third year) and the average value being 1k after investing 10k you still end up with a profit. You won’t make a profit your first year and your second year will be barely a profit. But, if your third year you hit the jackpot then you make a huge profit. If you don’t hit the jackpot you still make a big profit.
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Rough numbers: 10k snake bred to a 10k snake producing 5 snakes valued at 5k each. Even if you had to accept 3k each due to lack of established credibility you’ve still made back 15k of that 20k investment in the very first season. Maintenance cost per animal remains the same. Season 2 and beyond will be big profits. Got to look at the long picture.
I wouldn’t advocate advertising lower than market value prices as that devalues the market but being open to offers opens the door to moving the animals and eventually making far more profit than what is possible when dealing exclusively lower end animals.
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Some good advice here but saddened to see it mostly focused on turning a profit. Focus more on the mutations you love, breed to better your collection if you are only starting out and worry less about ‘the market’.
Produce great animals, remember that quality in equals quality out really does ring true, and remain passionate.
Why must everyone be so quick to address ‘the market’? We are losing sight of why we love this hobby so. If you can cover your food and power bills and maybe add a couple new genes each year you’re doing great!
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Don’t you think it would be a good idea to try with lower end animals. Lots of people are unsuccessful with breeding ball pythons m. Just look how many fire sales you see from someone who thought they would be the next big thing. While it’s possible to be successful with higher end animals I don’t think the odds are in your favor. I’m not advocating for people who have never even produced a ball python to spend 20 to 30 grand to start out.
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This is more of where I’m coming from as well. Sure if you’ve been into breeding for a couple seasons and you really know it’s what you want to do, then go for it, shell out the money. But starting off I don’t know that I agree that the risk is worth it.
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This is a great way to look at it as well. Why breed something just for profit? Find genes you love, genes you want to explore and get more involved in. That’s what keeps the passion alive for some in the hobby. It’s unfortunate that money is always a key motivator, but it is anymore.
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I agree but I don’t think anybody is going to buy 10-20k worth of snakes without making sure that they are likely going to get most of it back. You have to love what you’re doing but you have to avoid losing tens of thousands of dollars.
For me personally when planning projects one of the first things I do is plan out the expenses to make sure I will be able to afford everything and not lose too much money.
If I were going to advise someone to get into breeding I would recommend they start with reasonably priced (to the person) high quality snakes. Once they raise them up, get experience, and get a clutch or two then they can decide how much they want to put into it, if anything at all.
I completely agree.
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You would be surprised how many people spend this much money only to never even produce a single ball python.
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Spot on in my humble opinion
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Why is this part of the conversation at all considering the OP stated the budget was around 400USD?
Where is the advice on this thread even aimed? The OP wants to produce a mutation they love on a modest budget. They did not ask for a business plan aiming to be the next Bob Clark. Love you Bob 
Stop with all the 10K this and 20K that. It isn’t needed in this thread.
We would be better discussing subtle variations in BEL combos and what compliments BELs best. What do we like? (I love me a Cherry Bomb! Shout out to Garrick DeMeyer, much under appreciated dude I feel) What combos has the OP seen that inspired the interest in producing a BEL.
Hobby first in this instance, it was not a business advice thread. Inspire, encourage and support these new adventures, don’t tarnish this fresh excitement with profit, profit, profit!
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