what do you guys think?

emilsmee · 07-23-04, 07:55 PM

i've been offered a pair of 100% het albino balls that will be breeding age this year (if power fed until then), they come with papers and great lineage. they're $3000 CDN.
my problem is i can get a hatchling pair for $1200 easily though. is that couple years worth $1800??? i know the guy pretty well and i know he paid $2200 USD when he got them which is about what he's asking now (with the exchange as it is now). he's only selling them because he's focusing on boas instead of egg-laying snakes.

SO, should i get that pair and raise 'em up, with the market value probubly going down significantly by the time they're breeding age. OR should i pay more, buy the pair and breed 'em, getting my investment back sooner.

decisions, decisions...

thanks,
emilsmee

mykee · 07-23-04, 10:44 PM

Is it worth it to you? 'Cause at the end of the day, that's all that matters. BUT I'll give you my opinion anyways, because you did ask. Do you think an "almost" breedable het albino female is worth $2700? 'Cuz the male, even on a good day is still only worth a couple of hundred. I certainly wouldn't pay that. Hell, for that price I could almost buy a female albino! Also, IF you have to 'powerfeed' this pair to get them to breeding size by the winter, I would pass. Do it yourself and save yourself over $2000. Getting a ball to 1500g and 600 respectively doesn't mean that you have a "breeding pair". It means you have 1.1. There are other things to take into consideration. A good even weight gain is preferred, and if you powerfeed them for the couple of months right before you breed them just so that the scale shows you that "magic" 1500g, there's a good chance that you won't get anything. Then your $3000 pair of hets are useless (breeding-wise) for another year, and you lost out on a season, and $2000. I would invest in 1.2 or 1.3 hets now for the same price as this "iffy" pair, and in two years, you'll make your money back.

emilsmee · 07-23-04, 11:18 PM

thats what i was thinking, and for that price i can buy a pair of het pieds. i was just seeing if anyone had an angle i hadn't thought of and you did. thanks! i think i've decided to slow down new animals, and focus on my frilled breeding projects and just keeping my tarantulas. thanks mykee!

emilsmee