What happens when the market becomes oversaturated?

I plan on offering any normals I produce for free to a checked out home. The reason is that I could bring more people into the hobby that might not have paid for a snake. The possibility of me producing a normal is low but if I do I have a plan to find it a great home and expand the hobby using it to entice them to buy more in the future. Checked out meaning they have a proper setup and understand how to care for it appropriately.

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With all of the above comments questioning mostly an over quantity of “normals” and all of the morphs/alleles/combos that already exist as mentioned with such commonality that they’re difficult to positively distinguish yb/gravel fire/vanilla etc.

Do we really need to continue importing? Is there really the next 100k gene out there? Seems like the $ these days is in the combo morphs. Less impact on the natural species environment and more customers needing your normals to fill their demand.

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I don’t know. Maybe. When I got my first ball python 18 years ago, we didn’t have Banana, Sunset, or Scaleless. Whoever thought that mutations like those would ever be discovered?

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Reading these logical posts full of love and respect for snakes and other reptiles is seriously heartwarming and has restored my faith in humanity. I feel as if I’ve found a sane part of the internet and I freakin LOVE it.
Also, I agree with the fact that snakes are like chips and you can’t have just one. I think I just spent $1000 in the last few months on 3 new setups for snakes… and that’s not including the snakes themselves. 1-2 trait Banana ball pythons and a hypo corn snake. I think there will always be people who are eager to own a snake or two or ten just as pets, even if their genetics seem simple or have been around for awhile.

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This marketplace is fundamentally about valuing the information encoded in life…and I think it’s obvious that the people who succeed see that value at a level much deeper than the dollar price on a visible gene. They overwhelmingly have a deep natural curiosity and love for the animals. I remember asking some very successful breeders about a listing that seemed to be exaggerating genes, and I was struck by the universality of the ‘nah, that gene’s not there…but wow what a beautiful creature’ responses towards a pretty standard morph.

That is why they succeed as shepherd of life - they value life higher than the market price, and are thus willing to use their man-hours and dollars to keep and cultivate it. They choose to invest in life itself. To disregard the value of any snake would betray a gross misunderstanding of the role this market and its participants play in society. Certainly people will try, but they will fail fast - their competition is already successful and properly aligned.

This is the way.

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Agreed! Local pet stores and other local markets (we need Expos back!) will always be a potential outlet to encourage and then support new hobbyists, and young people who want a great pet to get started with! Don’t overlook the importance of enrichment activities like visits to local schools, scouting groups and other opportunities to share the hobby and encourage new people to recognize the fun of owning ball pythons!

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Just hope we can spread the love and respect we have for our animals so that they get the respect they deserve from the general man in the street. I’m in for only a little over three years and was a late starter, and discovered that from all the pet types I had in my life these are in the top two best ones. It was a total surprise. A lott of people in my surrounding are now already getting more used to them as nice pet’s. At least three are considering themselves to get a snake…and we all know…ones you get one…so try to spread the love to as many people as you can.

There are more snakes being produced than ever before, but there are also more people buying them than before, at least here in Europe. It might even grow because there are enough people who would love a pet but don’t have the time for a dog or cat or an other animal that needs everyday care.
I also think there will always be people that don’t have hundreds of dollars in their pocket for a five or more gene animal and will equally be happy with a affordable beautiful one or two gene animal. I think most of us started with a classic or a nice one or two gene one. Mine was a pastel enchi for 85 euro and I still really like her looks. And combined with a three gene male she can still do a lott in breeding.

When I look to a snake with breeding in mind I see the genes and consider what they can do for me. People who start with snakes or only want a pet they just want beauty. So I really believe there is a market for almost all. Although I agree I would try to prevent getting classics even though there are really nice ones out there, because if you let them choose between a 35 euro normal and a 50 euro more special one most choose 50 euro more special one. The only thing we should really worry about is gouvernment laws that block us from keeping reptiles, so for all Americans here, give your love to USARK and for Europeans, support Lacerta and/or the European Snake Society.

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Wholly agree with this sentiment. I’m not yet on the breeding phase of the hobby, but I’m already planning to have extra space for the little ones that don’t find new homes or the ones that need to come back for whatever reason. I’m of the view that I am responsible for any lives I help create and I should do what I can to make sure they have a good home.

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I was thinking about something like this. Offer it free but they will have to get the setup. this would also be a great opportunity to educate proper husbandry. Instead of people getting puppy mill snakes and incorrect info.

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Great post.I think you will always have breeders trying to make snakes with more genes in the hobby as it should be.i’m not sure how much this will effect “lesser morphs”.If you start this hobby to make money quickly,you eill be disapointed unless you have a huge initial outlay,even then it takes years.I admire people such as Kinova pushing the hobby,i personally only brred in the hope of covering my feeding and heating costs.I actually still really love normals,they look as good as any morph in my book.I think to extent the push for more genes has led to many people selling normals far too cheap,after all the are still ball pythons and without these we would have no exicting morphs.I dont believe many peo-le would cull normal’s etc,when they could be re homed at a nominal cost or for free,at least i hope this is the case.

Why I’m looking at investing in a 4-5 gene male with maybe a visual recessive or super to slap with my normal females… then I won’t be as likely to produce more normals like I did this year

At least all the normals I’ve produced are het for something, so there’s that

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Oversaturated or the just the economy, either way there are benefits.
.
1, I have been able to get some previously too expensive snakes that were out of my range before.
2, the slow down has made me keep hatchlings longer, so I have had a chance to see how the colours develop and changed my mind about the best hold backs.
3, So it benefits the cognisor more than the money maker.

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An interesting angle to see it from.

I think in the last couple of months I’ve noticed a similar thing with my collection and listings. Prices of snakes competing with mine have been dropping and I’ve had to try to stay competitive to make the sales that need to go.

But actually on my very highest end stuff I’ve been increasing the price! Realizing that some I have listed I don’t need to sell to survive and have space for the coming year. I’ve become much more willing to hold the good stuff back patiently, especially my females. So anyone wanting them has to pay the price to convince me to sell

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