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expensive or not?

L

louis

New member
Do yall like to buy really nice expensive snakes with great genetics and stuff or go to herp shows and catch real deals? Personally I hate spending money so This is my SNAKE history (i have way more lizards than snakes):
Anery at herp show: $20. I sold this one to my friend who was gettin into herps.
Motley from serpenco: by far my most expensive snake. God, I loved this snake soooo much. It got out of its cage a few months ago and I moved and never found it.
Snow from same herp show: $10 (great deal) and I still have this snake and it is turning out to be great looking and growing fast. It has this yellow stripe going down its side which is what I wanted so I got lucky.

Cheap or Expensive?

Cheap of course has no indicator of quality as anything! Alot of backyard breeders breed two snakes and sell their snakes for insane prices. Just check out the snake THOURGHLY before you buy esspecially for this low price and if its just one snake because that would be an indicator of "hey, I have this snake and I want to get rid of it for some reason."

I can understand why you like expensive stuff but Im just too busy to have 10 snakes and spend WAY too much money on guitar, paintball, and other things (but buying food isnt a concern of course, anyone with that problem doesnt need a snake.)

later, this should be interesting...or not.... could be dumb....
 
Nobody wants to spend more then they have to but if all you want is any old snake then cheap is fine.

Speaking from a breeders point of view, it is really irritating to do a show and have someone offer a rediculously low amount for a snake that I already have at rock bottom price. They see a snake on my table that they really like but there is one for $5 less elswhere so they pass. A pack of smokes or a big mac and fries! Dang, we spend $5 for a large tub of pop corn at a theater.

I guess I'm willing to pay more for the quality I want. If I see several snakes on a table, price is not what I look at. I look for qualities in the snake. Oh don't get me wrong, price does enter the equation but it's not my main focus.
 
I'm with Clint on this one for the most part. I've never had the opprotunity to go to a show and experience the hysteria a snake addict must feel.

But, of the 21 snakes I own, 90% of them came from big-name breeders. To me if all you're looking for is price, then you more often than not, you get what you pay for.

I would rather pay a little bit more at Rich's table (or Don's, or Kathy's, or the list goes on) because I know he has the reputation to back up what he sells. I know that he wouldn't knowingly sell me a defective snake or a snake that's hiding emoryi genes in it.

For the most part, I buy what I like. And since I'm female, that tends to be the most expensive things (naturally). My most expensive purchases would be:

Female Hypo Lavender (survivor from "Sale" pair) from Rich - $200
Female Pewter from SMR - $130
Pair Bloodred het Pewter - $95 each
And from then on I have the common garden variety corns: normals, charcoal, snow, blizzard, motleys, amels, etc.

I don't bargain shop when it comes to pets. I save that for the mall when I'm looking for jeans. All Levis 501's are the same, some stores just have them for cheaper. Snakes aren't as simple. Bargain shopping lands you with subquality animals more often and people who won't back up what they sell. Bargain shopping leaves you with a purebreed dog from the pound that has problems so profound you end up euthanizing it because of aggression problems. True story that one.

Some of the amel motlies I produced this year are just as good looking as sunglow mots that SMR has, but I sell mine for $20 instead of $90. Why? Because they're not sunglows and I don't have the reputation Don has to fetch such a price.

So for me, I'd rather pay a bit more and know that I'm getting what I pay for, than spend $5 less and take a chance on something I know nothing about.

Interesting topic to bring up though.
 
Taceas said:
I'm with Clint on this one for the most part. I've never had the opprotunity to go to a show and experience the hysteria a snake addict must feel.

But, of the 21 snakes I own, 90% of them came from big-name breeders. To me if all you're looking for is price, then you more often than not, you get what you pay for.

I would rather pay a little bit more at Rich's table (or Don's, or Kathy's, or the list goes on) because I know he has the reputation to back up what he sells. I know that he wouldn't knowingly sell me a defective snake or a snake that's hiding emoryi genes in it.

For the most part, I buy what I like. And since I'm female, that tends to be the most expensive things (naturally). My most expensive purchases would be:

Female Hypo Lavender (survivor from "Sale" pair) from Rich - $200
Female Pewter from SMR - $130
Pair Bloodred het Pewter - $95 each
And from then on I have the common garden variety corns: normals, charcoal, snow, blizzard, motleys, amels, etc.

I don't bargain shop when it comes to pets. I save that for the mall when I'm looking for jeans. All Levis 501's are the same, some stores just have them for cheaper. Snakes aren't as simple. Bargain shopping lands you with subquality animals more often and people who won't back up what they sell. Bargain shopping leaves you with a purebreed dog from the pound that has problems so profound you end up euthanizing it because of aggression problems. True story that one.

Some of the amel motlies I produced this year are just as good looking as sunglow mots that SMR has, but I sell mine for $20 instead of $90. Why? Because they're not sunglows and I don't have the reputation Don has to fetch such a price.

So for me, I'd rather pay a bit more and know that I'm getting what I pay for, than spend $5 less and take a chance on something I know nothing about.

Interesting topic to bring up though.
Click to expand...


hahaha yeah right! The reason that animals are cheap at shows is:
1) it eliminates the middle man. Which is usually the retailer petstore.
2) people breed just for fun! When they get these baby snakes they take just as good care of them as any big name breeder would. But they arent in for a profit so they basically give them away.

When you buy a expensive snake from rich or don or kathy or whoever your not paying for a well taken care of snake. Even though they are well taken care of. But your paying for genetics and a known history. You wont find a $10 snake at a show that has the last two generations listed.

You just gotta sort out the good with the bad breeders.

Yeah this could get interesting.
 
2) people breed just for fun! When they get these baby snakes they take just as good care of them as any big name breeder would. But they arent in for a profit so they basically give them away.
Click to expand...

I'm not a big breeder by any means and I do do it just for fun but DANG! I'd love to be able to pay for some of the expenses. Profit? :awcrap: I'd be happy to break even!

There seems to be a BIG misconception that all of the $$$ that you hand over for a snake is pure profit. Not very many breeders can actually profit from raising snakes. The ones that do have definately paid thier dues.

P.S.
When the "for fun" breeders start investing time (3-4 years or many more) or money in morphs like hypo Lav, you'll find they are less likely to be giving them away.
 
When you buy a expensive snake from rich or don or kathy or whoever your not paying for a well taken care of snake. Even though they are well taken care of.
Click to expand...

Oh but I am.

When I buy a snake, even though I quarantine all animals very thoroughly, I am still concerned for my current collection. I buy a snake usually with the intention of breeding it in the future and so it will eventually be mixing with my current collection. All the money I have even spent on the snakes I have is theoretically at stake with each purchase.

When I go to Rich or Kathy, or any other well-known, established breeder, I am paying the extra because I know that their snakes are their livelihood, and they will have taken care to keep their animals healthy and infection-free. You can lose a reputation you have taken years to build real fast if you just sell one or two sick or infected animals. I want to buy from someone who hasn't just got into the game; who hasn't had some of their animals long enough to see potential problems; who hasn't bought up a few breeder snakes from a variety of sources recently to make a quick buck.

I will always pay more to get a snake that I feel is a safe purchase.

Skye
 
I'm afraid I'm with Clint on this one. Bargain hunting for snakes tends to be like playing slots. Yeah, you have the chance to get something good for a low price. but there's an equal chance that that snake you've picked out is harboring some disease that will cause you to pay far more in vet bills down the road, and in the worst scenario (if you don't quarrantine them), could spread to and maybe kill your entire collection.

As far as the deals-too-good-to-be-true go, I've had about 50-50 luck in getting decent specimins... and I'm the sort that unless it's -really- something I want, I'll pass. Call me nuts, but I'd rather have a guaranteed healthy snake than a hit-or-miss snake for dirt cheap. (Note that I don't consider Rich's sale to be part of those 'deals', because with Rich, I know I'm getting good stock.)

Aaaanyway... Different people have different tolerances for risk. I, personally, prefer lower risk.

-Kat
 
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