Tegu prices rediculous, why?

[Sublimeballs]

So my girlfriend has wanted to get an argentine B&W for a few years now, from the stories I've told her about my male I had from about 04-06. He was an incredible tegu, I'd let him roam around my room for about an hour a day (be for anyone asks my room was reptile proofed in every possible aspect) and he would crawl up my chair into my lap and lay there while I pet him; arch his back with the movement of my fingers, close his eyes and lay there until he decided he was done(usually nearly an hour or more). Well I sold him in 06 to make space for an argusXflavirifus monitor for a breeding project. Now I'm in the market for another male arg B&W, but the cheapest I've seen was $160 for some really aggressive juvies; I bought mine for $40 at the Raleigh nc reptile show in 04. My question is why the price increase? Is it the fact they're running wild in Florida, or has supply decreased/ demand increased? Not that I'm not willing to pay out for one just curious.

[Starbuck]

probably cant import WC ones anymore, so shows etc can only sell CBB/CB >>> higher prices. Just speculation.

[smy_749]

Supply and demand, as well as what starbuck said. Dwarf moni's used to be less than half of what they cost now (around the same time you got your tegu).

Its all about how many people want them, and how many are producing them. Tegu's are fairly popular now, and monitors are on the rise.

[Sublimeballs]

I've noticed varanid demand has gone up but supply has gone down. I used to see mangrove monitors at every show for 80, timors for 60, and ackies for 100 haven't seen most of these in years and if I do they are like you said twice that now. I got my argus monitors back in the early 2000s for about 150 now they cost 300. I wish I could go to shows 13 years ago again, I only thought things would get better from there man was I wrong.

[Starbuck]

Now in many cases you are paying for the breeder to have properly housed, fed, bred the parents, and then incubated the eggs and started the babies. I don't think any of that husbandry could be done when you're selling babies for under 100 dollars. I'd rather think of it as an investment in that hatchlings parents and in the breeder themselves. You know you're getting quality.