I think the market is steady not booming like 8 years or so ago when there was so much new stuff hitting the market in a short period but its flowing nicely. Sure if your producing the latest greatest hot stuff its probably flying out where if your trying to sell single gene animals it will take you a bit to move them to there new homes. So my take is its on a slow trend upward with more people at home and less places to travel and do things that cost cash more folks are buying in again just my opinion and i’m no where near an expert.
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I think it’s doing pretty steady, even for a new breeder like myself. I’ve never had any issue selling my ball pythons, at least. It’ll sometimes take a bit of time before I get any buyers, but they’ve always sold eventually.
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The idea of an impending market crash has been prevalent for 20 years but the hobby continues to grow and thrive regardless. People love to keep animals and ball pythons have numerous unique advantages over other pets. The market has changed but it is still quite strong, in fact it has thrived during these unusual covid times. Many breeders are selling out and prices are actually rising with some mutations. With a perpetually increasing number of mutations and potential combinations it becomes more complex to predict what will or wont be valuable and for how long. Understanding the function of each mutation and how they interact or may potentially interact is essential as is business professionalism. Social media is also a powerful tool. Some successful YouTube breeders sell out of their animals before they can even post them to morph market. The market has certainly changed but it is far from “crashing”. I dont see that happening. These animals are simply too awesome 
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Well, I guess we were due for this question - which has become an annual discussion point in the industry.
Some of the top tier breeders are reporting crazy sales. Tune into some of the more popular podcasts and these guys will talk about how busy they have been the past 6 months.
I don’t know have a good handle on what the ball python “supply” is compared to previous years, but some of the basic mutations such as albino have been selling for $50-100 higher than they have in the past. This suggests that the supply is much lower.
Let’s not forget that there were several months this year when many people in this country were getting an extra $600 a week on top of unemployment benefits. In my opinion, this probably contributed somewhat to a surge in sales.
Prices are somewhere between “steady” and “going up.” Where we go from here is not clear, but are definitely not experiencing a crash.
Some folks have chimed in on this thread and reminded us that this market, like any other market, is cyclical. So if we do experience a crash in the near future, I can tell you that I will be scooping up recessive females like its going out of style.
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I’m new to the whole thing and the idea of the market is scary but that’s not why I’m here. I want to produce some cool snakes and have some cool snakes market or not. I’m a positive stat to the market this year. I’ve added to larger breeder sales and smaller hobbyist sales. I want to make a positive impact to help support the market forward by making smart decision in purchasing and what I put back into the market. It’ll crash if people keep making poor decisions in what they put back into the market. That’s basically where I’m comming from.
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I cannot comment from experience as a Ball Python breeder but as someone with several other hobbies. And yes, I hope to breed my snakes when they are old enough, big enough. Anyone who jumps into any hobby thinking it’ll be easy to make money off of without a true passion for it will generally fail. As with anything, there are exceptions. Some people do get lucky but luck is not something to count on. I’ve seen this in tournament fishing, competitive shooting, bird dog field trials, etc., etc… It takes dedication and drive to succeed. It is also not too difficult to look at some people and predict the outcomes of their endeavors. As a manager, it isn’t that difficult to spot certain traits. Along the lines of a surge of new breeders over the past few months, we’ll, I’ve seen a lot of growth in quite a few different hobbies due to Covid-19. People can not socialize as they used to and are finding new and different hobbies to keep them busy. Snake/reptile keeping is a great one.
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