Being in the ball python business is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I love the animals and I love the whole yearly cycle involved in breeding them. I have also developed some good friendships with other ball python breeders and that’s something I would not have been able to do if it weren’t for ball pythons. Our paths simply would have never crossed without these snakes as a binding agent.

But being in the reptile business doesn’t come without sacrifice. You give endlessly of your time and money. If you allow it to do so the constant demands of animal husbandry can put tremendous stress on other aspects of your life. I own more than one company and there is a constant struggle to split my time between the two enterprises. I also have a wife and daughter who want to be with me and nothing in life comes before being a father and a husband. Nothing. But being so resolute does not change the needs of my ball pythons. They still have to have fresh water, clean cages and food. And they never stop requiring it. By the time I finish cleaning, feeding and watering it’s time to start again. To successfully balance all of these facets of my life is almost impossible but I’m not willing to give any of them up. Something must be sacrificed.  I sacrifice sleep. I seldom sleep more than four hours per night. I’m fortunate that I can still function very well on that little sleep. I’ve been doing it for years so my body is used to it.

Time isn’t the only thing that gets sacrificed in order to participate in the ball python business. Other things have to be given endlessly as well. Money is at the top of the list. To make a living on ball pythons you need a lot of them; a whole lot. While many ball pythons have become extremely affordable (their prices are falsely low, actually) it wasn’t always like that. Many of you know this all too well. An animal that cost multiple thousands of dollars a few short years ago is now in the low hundreds. Pinstripes, for example.  I get a little sick to my stomach every time I think about their current price.

Breeders who have adult pinstripes, genetics stripes, bumble bees, black pastels, ghosts and albinos paid a lot of money for them.  A LOT!  Some of you who are relatively new to the business don’t fully get that. What have you sacrificed in order to be in this business? Anything? Everything?  There may be a choice few who have jobs that afford them the opportunity to pay cash for their animals. But that’s a select few, I’m sure. Most of us have had to make many personal sacrifices of one type or another to build our collections.

The other day I was preparing to reinstall the operating system on my computer so I was moving my files to another computer so I could restore them after the rebuild. I always seem to come across interesting photos when I do that (I’ve got dozens of gigabytes of photos on my laptop) and it was these photos that prompted me to write this little article:

This was my 1996 Twin Turbo 300ZX.  Most car enthusiasts agree that this is a very special car.  I had wanted one for years but their $50K plus price tag back in ’96 put them out of my price range.  It wasn’t until several years later that I could afford one.  When I did get one I proceeded to put many more thousands into upgrading it; custom exhaust, upgraded computer, turbo timer, performance intakes, and beefier brakes.  I waited for several years to be in a position to buy that car.  And just after I got it to the the point that it was perfect for me, I sold it.  Why did I sell a car that I wanted so badly for so long?  I sold it to buy ball pythons.  Building my collection was worth more than having that car in my driveway.  The sale price wasn’t anything magical; somewhere in the $17K range.  But that was back in 2006.  $17,000 in 2006 didn’t go very far in the ball python world.

This isn’t the only big sacrifice I have made over the years to be in the ball python business.  I haven’t been on vacation in almost a decade for example.  I choose to take the money I would spend on a vacation and re-invest it into building my ball python collection.  If I were to give it some more thought I’d be able to come up with a long list of personal sacrifices I have made to be in the position I am in today.  When I look at the sacrifices I have made to have the animals I do I get all the more annoyed with people who say that all ball python morphs should cost $50 so everybody can have one.  You know what I say to those people?  Two words:  “Pack Sand!”  I gave up things that I wanted to get the animals I have and you need to do the same.

And it’s because of these sacrifices that I hold the line on ball python prices.  I am not now nor will I ever be the guy who sells ball pythons for a bargain basement prices.  I will never lead the way on decreasing ball python prices and I will fight against those who do.  I have put too much of myself into this.  I have made too many sacrifices in the form of time, money and personal relationships.  I will not discount the value of my investment simply because some guy on kingsnake.com is freaked out over money and is selling his animals for $100 less than the going rate.  I won’t do it and neither should you.  I love ball pythons and this industry too much to do it.  I won’t do it to myself and I won’t do it to my peers who have made many sacrifices similar to mine.  I’ve got your back on pricing.  You got mine?

Cheers,

Colin Weaver