The future of the ball python market explained!

[@rodkirt9273]

In Holland many years ago a fad came about with specialty tulips. The tulips had a colorful change that people started breeding . Some tulip plants started going for $40,000.00 . After a while all the plants started dying. It came to light that the unusual colors were not genetically connected. It was a disease that people were breeding for until all the tulips died in the end. It was like the Great Depression; people lost their businesses , families, homes and committed suicide. Not related to the true genotype crossings that you use to produce a specific phenotype; just an unusual story. I am a budding king-snake enthusiast. Watch your every posting. Thank you for all the snake related information. I enjoy and learn a lot from your expertise.

[@leslie417]

Rod Kirt Wow, that’s sad and educational, thank you for sharing! I love Videos from Chris too!

[@mastercommanderdragonsir679]

You know I always thought it was crazy that people would spend 30-40,000$ on a ball python but to spend that on a plant... man that is crazy you can literally make money with anything.

[@soarrefly]

You keep coming out with just the right topics at just the right time. I'm glad I found your channel.

[@benjenkins6395]

I honestly believe (and as you have stated) for someone starting out, it is best to start with better mulit gene (3 or more genes) rather than buying single gene bps. I started watching you as I was contemplating starting a breeding program. It took 4 months for me to set a plan in place. I could have 25 bps, but I invested in 4 and 5 gene ball pythons. One pair I have will produce 64 different combos. Somehow I do believe that I will unintentionally BEL heavy. Thanks to you Chris for your vids. You are not flashy and have all of this techno music. You let your vids speak for themselves. I appreciate your presentation techniques because I can really enjoy the vids with no added bs. Keep it up man!

[@benjenkins6395]

I am really going to focus on the GHI gene as well. My first clutch will be an isolation project with a GHI, MOJO, YB, HIDDEN GENE WOMA x a female normal. I am going for quality over quantity.

[@A6Legit]

Like anything there is a point of diminishing returns. Yes you have 4-5 gene balls but itll take you forever to make every one of those 64 combos. If theyre not something people are looking for it doesnt matter how many genes there are, plus like chris said too many genes and it gets muddied up. People looking for pets or an aesthetically appealing snake arent going to be interested in a bland looking snake thats packed full of genes.

[@lorimcelroy7464]

I think that's why I'm thinking about staying on the low end of starting out

[@GrapeApe2018]

You forgot one... Adoption😁 Get yourself adopted by a breeder so you can get a snake for Christmas.😁

[@rdizzy1]

I actually think the opposite may be true with ball python breeding, that the knowledge is becoming so common, and there are so many people able to breed them and jumping into the market that the market will be overpopulated with snakes causing the prices to crash. I think this is why over the past 5-10 years the bigger breeders have been breeding other snakes as well, like hognose, rat snakes, or various other boas/pythons.

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

The only thing that keeps the ball python market alive is the huge variety of morphs and the new ones that pop up all the time. Without that the entire market would crash in no time at all. I don't think that will ever happen the way it's going.

[@jasonsteinfort8503]

Show the geckos. Love your style of videos.

[@nathanmccook133]

The big thing is the ball python market didn't "crash" but rather changed. It went from a super high end elitest market to a broad market. The big trick to be successful in the new age is to NOT just fallow the new hottest trend but rather take a look at what's out there, think about why it's popular and find something new that will cause a similar reaction. JKR and the redstripe is a huge example of that. They were sitting on the market for $150ea. Not selling then Justin hit the redstripe clowns and other combos and now that Gene shot up. spotnose had a similar climb and chocolate is now having it. Find something over looked and unlock the unseen potential it has 👍

[@SouthWestIron]

Awesome, I need to get back into reptile breeding. Ball pythons seem like a great option. Years ago I had my own tangerine line of leopard geckos. Did some bearded dragons outside and really enjoyed the mixed lots of cornsnakes I hatched out. Thanks for the video.

[@JSPADED81]

Great upload..... bravo

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Thanks!

[@The_reel_archer]

Just curious are you making enough money to cover cost breeding or are you actually making profit doing it?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Oh yea, I'm making some really good money. But right now I'm putting it all back into the business with cameras, lenses, lighting, enclosures for my big snakes, bigger displays for the shows, etc...

[@The_reel_archer]

Chris Hardwick awesome just getting into it and starting really small just curious if you can make your money back at all and invest in other equipment, snakes etc without coming out of pocket a lot. I enjoy your videos a lot thank you

[@suzystone244]

My foundation and Morph kids: M Pinstripe. F Mojave. M Blackback Cinnamon. F Cinnabee. M Lessor Platinum. F Banded Albino. I love what I have so far.

[@matthewpraayjr.9797]

I’d invest so you have 4 females per male I have 1. male yb hetpied 2. Female yb hetpied 3. Female sable yb 4. Female blackhead hetpied het lavender albino

[@elite_thinking3765]

I learn alot from you!! Thanks I'm more of a newbie and still trying to pay out my pythons but I not really looking for the money (yeah it would be nice to get money from something I enjoy) I'm just looking to have fun and enjoy my projects.

[@Kizmitglass]

Why is no one talking about Nidovirus. I’ve had 3 snakes come from 3 separate parts of the country within a month and when they get in, they are all tested right away and came back positive for nidovirus. My other snakes are tested negative but this seems to be a unspoken or unknown poroblem.

[@PreacherBoyRonP]

How much is the most You ever paid for a Ball Python and what morph was it?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Probably my Bamboo male for $1,200 and my scaleless head male for $1,200. The most expensive I produced was a lemon blast scaleless head, those were selling for $6,000 when I hatched them out, they are much less now.

[@wifioregon2349]

What’s your opinion on the “Sterling Fire” Morph?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Not familiar with that one...

[@wifioregon2349]

Chris Hardwick check it out on world of ball pythons! www.worldofballpythons.com/morphs/sterling-fire/ I would love to hear your opinions on what would pair great with it. I have a female. Sterling fire - Super Pastel, Fire , Cinnamon. Oh great videos btw! My wife and I love watching them

[@leslie417]

I love the pretty female snake you are holding today in your video. Chris What morph is that and what kind of snake is that one?I love all the pretty snakes like bananas or anything with light with pretty colors but I’m a girl so that’s what I like personally. Chris you have many pretty snakes! I Love all your videos, very educational!

[@snakepurcell4939]

Hey the same thing happened with horse and dog breeds. There were people spending ridiculous amounts. Not now.

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

The difference with ball pythons is that there are new expensive morphs coming out every year, you don't see that with any other animal.

[@SouthWestIron]

Are those prices on the bins? Do you have a current availability list?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Those were the prices from last fall, I'll pretty much raise them all a bit since the snakes are a lot bigger now. I only sell at local reptile shows here in Colorado and I price them just before the shows. The next show is Reptilian Nation in Denver, June 8-9, 2019, just four weeks away!

[@SouthWestIron]

@@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures Ok gotcha, I didn't know if you shipped via FedEx.

[@icegoddess1308]

I just got my Coral Glow Mojave Pastel at Petco for $120. Yay wholesaler for cheaper selling and labeling your snakes as “fancy”

[@ballpythons6776]

How do you feel about people selling higher end morphs like batman for much less than they actually are? Say about $3-400 less?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

A lot of newbies try to undercut everyone. Usually it won't affect the market too much, the low ones sell fast and the prices go back to normal. Most people will price them as usual knowing the cheap ones will sell fast and they will still get market price instead of going for the price war strategy.

[@Kaged_Aquatics]

I have a super Mojave and a banana fire. That are babies. So I am still a way out from selling anything but I am courius on what's to come with my two.

[@hhhserpents5495]

Back in the day (18 years ago) a friend’s husband was into ball pythons... I thought it was insane. He quit before it paid off

[@dvlexotics2177]

Once the albino was imported I knew there would be more to come. I got into the albino project the pastel project and the spider project shortly after they came out. And it worked out well. Now I would like the Cypress sunset red stripe and a few others they are all great investments and new world's first are being hatched every year.

[@jimmyheidt1250]

My first pet reptile was a ball python, he's going on 14 years now and also have 2 other ball pythons now. Hoping to start breeding next fall.

[@mikesworldtv]

Hey where can i find the ball pythons you have for sale?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Here's the link: www.morphmarket.com/us/c/reptiles?store=cchardwick

[@mikesworldtv]

@@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures what's the best size rack system to use for let's say a 2019 baby hatchling ball python I'm new here trying to buy a proper rack system that will house the ball pythons. I know they grow i already know about the adults and how big they get and the proper housing but i need to know about the hatchling ball pythons. I hope i didn't make this question confusing Lol big fan by the way

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

I use ARS racks and move them up from one size tub to another as they grow. If you only had a choice of one tub I'd go with an ARS-7010, maybe use a hide and increase the hide size as they grow until they are big enough to be in there without a hide.

[@mikesworldtv]

@@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures awesome chris thanks for the advice and answering my question

[@deniseatkins9407]

The many morphs make me dizzy unfortunately. I am getting a woma they are on the at risk list

[@dvlexotics2177]

The woma also has the wobble not sure if you are aware of that

[@richcorbett6491]

Where’s bobby

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

He's not in my older videos

[@shortybrimm656]

By any chance do you have a website that I can go to to see what type of babies do you have for ball pythons

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

No, I only sell at local reptile shows here in Colorado.

[@davidswenson8933]

I know this is an old video but we had a banana pied in our local petsmart and the worker there thought it was a female I told him I'd buy it if it was a legit female banana pied but he wanted to pop her and I said well if she's a female I'd probe her and I learned how to probe through your videos but he wouldn't let me do it myself so I sat in petsmart teaching the worker how to probe thanks to your videos 😁

[@chasingthefish9042]

Heres my thoughts on the future I believe it's going to be much less a rush to the worlds first and more about the best and highest Expression of the genes present. This comment was typed before the beginning of the video I am not sure what you plan to say yet

[@ivceballos]

What about gold and silver?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Gold has pretty much been stagnant for the last five years, in fact if you compare that with the loss of the value of money from inflation about 3% per year unless you are making 3% year after year you are actually losing money. I bought gold at $1,500 and ounce, thought it would never come down. Then it crashed. I sold all my gold and bought snakes LOL

[@yankeeredneck7229]

I have a couple ball pythons I used to have 14 ft Burmese python what I was a kid is my dad's butt I mostly took care of it he was so cruel to to him he wouldn't upgrade the cage or anyting and then he said it a two-day-old dead guinea pig with fleas and it kill it kills him but I had to iguanas when I was a kid and I eventually build a huge cage for him after my dad left

[@rebelfoxmonster]

Hey chris. How can i get intouch with you?

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

Just leave a comment under any video and I"ll see it!

[@rebelfoxmonster]

@@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures im coming out to Colorado this month on the 23rd and was wondering if i could come out and see your collection

[@buffalophil3630]

I got my first pastel for $20 bucks

[@haydenv9611]

I want a bumblebee so bad bro!

[@yankeeredneck7229]

But I would love to own a dwarf reticulated python they are just so intelligent retics it's so crazy how smart they are I definitely don't have the space to keep a full size one but I would have enough space to keep a Dorf I definitely can't afford one of them no matter how cool it would be maybe one day if you ever need a home for one let me know

[@dvlexotics2177]

There are very few true dwarf and super dwarf reticulated pythons. Reach out reptiles is probably the best breeders and sellers of them.

[@tristawhitedove6027]

I am starting to invest in breeding in the future.Ii have a normal male, pastel poss desert ghost male, and a genetic stripe het orange dream female.

[@brandonallison122]

We gotta start thinking about the "image" of the industry. showing the un-educated breeding with rack systems is the biggest threat to the market. I know they're totally comfortable and fine in tubs but new comers dont, and most wont do the research. Idk what could be done just worries me

[@dvlexotics2177]

Brian Barczyk new outlook isn't helping those who keep in racks. Infact it's unintentionally tearing the hobby apart. And people are going to see an increase in price if elaborate enclosures become the "industry standard". Take somebody like Kevin Mccurly of nerd that has thousands of ball pythons alone that would be a huge investment and as a business man somebody has to pay that cost and it's gonna be the consumer.

[@A6Legit]

If theyre uneducated they shouldnt be buying a python anyway. Its ridiculous for a business to switch to realistic enclosures. Theres no logical reason to do it. Seems like bragging rights just to show that you can do it even though its not a practical investment. The only reason to have display cages is if youre going to display them.

[@jamesperry459]

Are the days of 10 k ball python pretty much gone yes is the market dead no where near

[@ChrisHardwickanimaladventures]

You can still buy 10K plus ball pythons but it's not like it used to be where people were lining up wanting to buy all you could produce. If you sold just a few per year you could do really good.

[@ogalbo4435]

There are still plenty of people buying ball pythons and even other reptiles for 10k. But these days 10k ball pythons usually have a few rare genes in them unless it’s a new gene like a sunset which sells for about 10k right now.

[@deadinside4889]

Tips on keep white snakes skin looking fresh

[@ssserpentarium5968]

It's not dead but it is dying

[@yankeeredneck7229]

You shouldn't sell something for that much you shouldn't sell living creature like that hope someone with $5 someone worth $20,000 know they're all creature they're all worth the same amount weather wild-type or pie balls yes I understand the work that has to go put into this the time in the energy and time of growing these snakes out the remotes multiple hatchings

[@buffalophil3630]

Just stop now really what was the point of commenting

[@ogalbo4435]

You have to understand very simple supply and demand. If there are hundreds of people that want something and there is only 1 then guess what it’s going to go for a lot of money until the supply goes up to meet the demand.