saturated market

[captaincaveman]

Originally Posted by Montage_Morphs

Another point I forgot to make was that I am somewhat uncomfortable with the idea of the market. When someone complains of the market being saturated, they are usually referring to their market. IE their speciality or point of interest. The entire market cannot be saturated, or else nobody would be making an effort to breed anything on the premise that they could never sell anything. I believe particular aspects of the market are reaching saturation point, but that's what happens when a particular species is easy to breed and easily attainable.

well since i started this thread, and am a keeper of mainly fat tails, then royal and retic morphs arent my market, dont think anyone has actually mentioned the whole market being saturated? or atleast not the majority

My reason for this thread was from seeing the amount of people purchasing royals and retic morphs in larger figures with the intent of breeding, being in the hobby for a few decades and seeing royals the whole time, i just see a potential problem hitting the hobby in the future, when 1 - the fashion moves on(not meaning everyone by the way) and 2 - when(and if) all these potential hets andf visual animals becoming of breeding age the market will be saturated as many people DO breed even if there is no market and the market for said animals is smaller than the market for corns and leos

Im not the only one to notice this trend, even outside this forum, the potential problem could be a real headache for the hobby as a whole

My other point was its a shame that so many people are breeding 5-6 species and the market and hobby is less diverse than it was 10-15 years ago

[Montage_Morphs]

Originally Posted by captaincaveman

well since i started this thread, and am a keeper of mainly fat tails, then royal and retic morphs arent my market, dont think anyone has actually mentioned the whole market being saturated? or atleast not the majority

My reason for this thread was from seeing the amount of people purchasing royals and retic morphs in larger figures with the intent of breeding, being in the hobby for a few decades and seeing royals the whole time, i just see a potential problem hitting the hobby in the future, when 1 - the fashion moves on(not meaning everyone by the way) and 2 - when(and if) all these potential hets andf visual animals becoming of breeding age the market will be saturated as many people DO breed even if there is no market and the market for said animals is smaller than the market for corns and leos

Im not the only one to notice this trend, even outside this forum, the potential problem could be a real headache for the hobby as a whole

My other point was its a shame that so many people are breeding 5-6 species and the market and hobby is less diverse than it was 10-15 years ago

That was my point too

You know me, I like weird species, and it's just such a damn shame people focus on the big 3 (Boa morphs, royal morphs and corn morphs). All that effort and experience could be put to good use like establishing breeding programs for boelens, candoia, xenopeltis, tropidophis, locale boas etc etc etc...

[captaincaveman]

Originally Posted by Montage_Morphs

That was my point too

You know me, I like weird species, and it's just such a damn shame people focus on the big 3 (Boa morphs, royal morphs and corn morphs). All that effort and experience could be put to good use like establishing breeding programs for boelens, candoia, xenopeltis, tropidophis, locale boas etc etc etc...

Exactly, if i had the money id be investing in angolans, love the prices on them to drop, also love a few others like boelens to be cracked too

[STReptiles]

The leopard gecko market is completly saturated imo, every shop i go in they have leo's for sale, theres even a rabbit, mouse type shop that are selling unhealthy leos in my local high street and i live in a relativly small town. I think royals are going this way aswell. I think breeders can say i love the hobby its not about the money but deep down we all know it is.
Corn prices are stupidly low now and they are sold to everyone and anyone in some shops, i dont think the hobby is heading in a good direction tbh, if the prices where kept higher then there wouldnt be people thinking wow a snake for 20 quid im getting one....board in a month and cba to change the water etc... what im saying is if prices where higher then people would think a little more before buying a reptile.

Disclaimer: THIS IS MY OPINION.

[snickers]

I left the hoby 10 years ago. People were saying exactly the same thing then. Corns were #5-10 to a shop then and still are.

I see part of the problem is specialization, both at an individual level and as hobby. We specialize in corns, royals and precious little else. Bairds rats are quite difficult to find now, and trans-pecos rats almost non-existent. Children's and Spotteds are still quite difficult to get too. Kings and milks are far less common now than 10 years ago.

There are a few groups that are very slowly becoming available and there must be an opportunity with asian ratsnakes. If someone could crack how to breed Elaphe climacaphora subspecies it would open up a group of the prettiest snakes going

[Breadrun]

I totally agree that the market is saturated, i remember just a couple of years back corns were roughly £60 in a shop and Leo's between £40 - 60 and Bearded Dragon's were usually around £80-120 now the prices are rediculous (corns £20, Leos £20 and Beardies £40), there are some species which are still emerging in the UK market like URO's and many others, theres even the emmergance of the African Pygmy Hedgehog in the mammal world which are very expensive to buy, soon we'll probably see them at £20, the main problem (which has already been stated) is the lower prices cause impulse buys (like myself who when i was 12 bought a berber skink for £15 and my mum ended up having to buy all the gear for him) problem is many shops (not all) are well mis-informed or just want to get rid of the animal so they tell the potential buyer a load of crap about how they live and the problems then start.

I do believe the market will die down in about a decade due to the emmergence of new mammals coming on the market (because the APH has really opened doors to new and different exotic mammals) but there will still be a strong leigance for the reptile owners, more and more reptile shows are happening now and more and more people are learning about the fabulous hobby and one way to ensure quality is to bring the prices up and the only way to do that would be to have sensible breeders who dont just buy a reptile and think "as soon as she breeding weight ill breed her", we need to get back to how it was 10years ago because i feel the reptiles are being exploited because people think there easier to keep and breed than dogs and that just isnt the case, a reptile is one of the most challenging animals to keep (unless you have experiance or know wot your doing)

sorry to go on a bit feel like i deserve afor that

[purple-vixen]

Originally Posted by STReptiles

The leopard gecko market is completly saturated imo, every shop i go in they have leo's for sale, theres even a rabbit, mouse type shop that are selling unhealthy leos in my local high street and i live in a relativly small town. I think royals are going this way aswell. I think breeders can say i love the hobby its not about the money but deep down we all know it is.
Corn prices are stupidly low now and they are sold to everyone and anyone in some shops, i dont think the hobby is heading in a good direction tbh, if the prices where kept higher then there wouldnt be people thinking wow a snake for 20 quid im getting one....board in a month and cba to change the water etc... what im saying is if prices where higher then people would think a little more before buying a reptile.

Disclaimer: THIS IS MY OPINION.

I totally agree. Very good point, because I remember when I was 11, we went into a massive garden centre, and I was like "Dad, wow a snake!" and I remember him saying, "Yes, but you're not having one, it's too expensive and you're too young to look after it." I remember it was a corn snake, and £160.

I'm now 24 and absolutely shocked at how many people that are younger than 11 and have corn snakes, and as to how little they paid too. A friend of mine was telling me that a few weeks ago, his friends son bought a corn snake for £25 How much of a drop is that?! Especially when not 2 years ago, corn snakes were in excess of £150 for certain morphs...

It is saturated, and TBH I feel it could go a bad way.

[spider_mad]

Originally Posted by captaincaveman

I think only time will tell, still sub £100 albino royals wont be long off

I just so worry about the hobby sometimes, i was talking to a mate about years ago and the variety in shops, really miss those times, so many species that people will never experience

Tell me about it ten years ago when living in Ireland went to pet shop in dublin and saw a rosy boa yearling at 60 quid and the variety really was amazing to see, now hardly see rosy boas and when they pop up are pricey due to the scarcety (sp).
As for saturation and people jumping into the breeding side after a few monthes keeping a couple of snakes for this reason decided I no longer have interest in breeding reps anymore and what have now would only consider as pets. Tarantulas on other hand will still breed when they mature and get something worthwhile investing the time into.

[Jade01]

Originally Posted by purple-vixen

I totally agree. Very good point, because I remember when I was 11, we went into a massive garden centre, and I was like "Dad, wow a snake!" and I remember him saying, "Yes, but you're not having one, it's too expensive and you're too young to look after it." I remember it was a corn snake, and £160.

I'm now 24 and absolutely shocked at how many people that are younger than 11 and have corn snakes, and as to how little they paid too. A friend of mine was telling me that a few weeks ago, his friends son bought a corn snake for £25 How much of a drop is that?! Especially when not 2 years ago, corn snakes were in excess of £150 for certain morphs...

It is saturated, and TBH I feel it could go a bad way.

I already think it has and is. IMO, there's far too many people buying the 'cheaper' royal morphs and breeding them, all at the same time... why?! When they know there is half of the reptile keeping population doing the same thing.

The same situation with corns and leo's. You can't even give them away anymore, yet people still insist to breed their normal corns and leos to 'make money' its not going to happen. Even if they are doing it for the educational side of it, there's enough on the internet nowadays where you can learn without putting it into practise, I mean purely on the species mentioned.

People need to stop breeding for the sake of breeding, and trying to use it as a way to make a quick bit of cash.

(all my opinions, not saying i am the messiah or anything!)