Is the hobby on a downward spiral?

[PilbaraPythons]

waruikazi
I know exactly where you are coming from. These days my enjoyment is seeing them in the wild even if I have seen most species hundres of times over.
Getting back on topic, I have seen no sign in W.A of the hobby in a downward spiral. But realistically it isn't likely here anyway considering the legalised hobby is relatively new.

 

[da_donkey]

Especially since i moved from NSW to WA, so much more rewarding to join the local rescue team and be surprised with all sorts of wild snakes.....without any of the WA BS that goes with the turf.

donks

 

[Elapidae1]

Agreed I spend much more time in the bush learning and enjoying than I do with my captives, though I still have a lot to learn from them also.

What area are you relocating Donks?

 

[Waterrat]

Michael - can i ask why you dropped the price of your animals so much this season? Unless you had serious problems moving your animals last season I cant see why you would do it. I know I have no say in what price you put on your animals but dont understand the massive drop in one year.

David, price is no longer the issue. Some joker on here challenged me by saying: "why don't you sell your greens for five hundred bucks?" The answer is simple - it wouldn't make a smidgen of difference. I wouldn't sell any more for $500.- than I sell for $1500.- That's the trues. Many people are of the opinion that the lowest price is the benchmark .... I always thought that quality sets the benchmark but I was wrong. Not in this game.

 

[waruikazi]

That too, i've also started a rescue service where i live now.

Especially since i moved from NSW to WA, so much more rewarding to join the local rescue team and be surprised with all sorts of wild snakes.....without any of the WA BS that goes with the turf.

donks

 

[mrs_davo]

I think the over supply of reptiles at the moment hasn't just been about people wanting to make money. Over the years that i have been part of our hobby i have seen what i would almost call an arrogance (not quite, maybe a hiatus) amongst most keepers. It somehow seems to be that if you haven't bred your animals then you aren't an accomplished keeper. It was almost like breeding graduated you from noob to accomplished status. Which simply isn't the case.

My interest in the keeping side of our hobby has definately wained, i have given away most of what i have kept mainly for work commitment reasons but also because i don't find them that interesting anymore. My passion for feild herping in my area and the ecology, biology and evolution of my local species has grown exponentially. Now that i get out into the bush and watch these animals in the wild i don't feel like i need to keep them in boxes for my own selfish purposes.

This is why the hobby will survive, just because people don't find them interesting any more.
So here is one person that has gone off the list, is that right Wazza. There is many people to take your place as a pet keeper.
Thats why EXPOS are important, to keep the wrong people from buying them & turning them into a colectable item.
Mate I guess you go to university, is that right.

 

[da_donkey]

What area are you relocating Donks?

Broometown :lol:

 

[waruikazi]

This is why the hobby will survive, just because people don't find them interesting any more.
So here is one person that has gone off the list, is that right Wazza. There is many people to take your place as a pet keeper.
Thats why EXPOS are important, to keep the wrong people from buying them & turning them into a colectable item.
Mate I guess you go to university, is that right.

I can't help but feel there may be some hostility in your post. I hope that isn't the case. I certaintly don't see myself as the 'wrong people.'

I do still keep some animals, but they are the species that i find particularly interesting, i also only keep single animals and have no desire to breed... except for one species that i am still chasing lol. I also feel that i need to keep permit current (which can only be done by keeping reptiles) so that if i do decide i want to keep a certain animal i can. So no, i am not off the list but i do feel like i am more of a specialised keeper (although i'm not special lol).

I'm also cringing at the thought of calling live animals 'collectable items,' i don't see them this way.

And no i'm not a uni student???

 

[lizardsNturtles]

lol im not putting in any useful infomation but there are people like me who would like to buy but trying to find the right one comes troubling as there are tons on the market and when you contact a seller your still wondering if you should get it or not and it becomes too late and they are normally all sold out...

 

[D3pro]

I would like to know that my hobby pays for itself, but if not, then it will still be my hobby. Don't see people in the fish industry complaining, nor the bird industry. Many people that buy birds have no intention to breed.
Reptiles is still a fairly new animal to be considered as a "pet". Give it time.

 

[moose]

Price Dropping in any industry is a common thing all related to supply and demand -and in this case Supply is out weighing the demand.

If Breeders/Keepers what ever really want to make a difference to the Hobby then why not start recruiting locally , this may sound stupid but it works for me. Other than a couple of animals i have been able to move most of my animals locally, And i am in no big city i can assure You.

my 2c
Moose

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Interesting thread Michael - been off doing other things the past few days, so I've just had a chance to look through this one. The last 10-15 years has seen reptiles become commodities rather than the unique pets of the curious few who had the passion. I, too, am refining my keeping activities, after coming to NSW following a lifetime in WA, in 2005. I was like a kid in a toyshop for a while here, but now I am narrowing down my interests to those species which interest me, and this means fewer animals, but maybe more technical challenges in their management. The commercial value of the species I'm intereted in doesn't matter a jot to me (despite some recent smarmy comments to the contrary by my detractors) - I have been passionate about GTPs all my life, and never tire of looking at them and working with them, and for me, Boyd's Dragons remain one of the most subtly beautiful species of lizard I have ever seen. That they have dropped hugely in price in the past couple of years is of no consequence to me at all.

People are into reptile keeping for a whole range of reasons. I couldn't begin to apportion numbers of any particular interst group (financially motivated, simple passion, etc) but I think we all have something to contribute to the activity, call it hobby, industry or whatever you like. I feel very happy that I'm definitely not a morph man - albinos, RPMs, or whatever is 'flavour of the month' - couldn't be of less interest to me. (I could say that some of the GTP morphs bred by top breeders in the US are pretty spectacular, and I wouldn't be euthanasing a blue & black GTP with red eyes if it turned up in a clutch!). I paid top dollar for the GTPs I have, but it's not of the slightest concern to me that the prices generally have dropped, because I'm not considering selling them.

I don't think anyone can predict, with any accuracy, where the reptile keeping fraternity will be in the next 10 years... The biggest concern I have is the way in which change is managed - at the keeper level, and the bureaucratic level. The latter is a wild card about which we know very little, but I suspect that, like the US and elsewhere, keepers will be targeted by a more insistent and intrusive bureaucracy which will force changes upon us unless we insist on participating in change at that level. Some are worse than others, but the bureucracies in all jurisdictions are marked by their secrecy, and their attitudes that reptile keepers pose a significant threat to the national conservation effort.

Thoughtful and savvy keepers can do much to ensure that these attitudes change over time.

Jamie.

 

[Redtailed]

this is a passion, Not a hobby, and the people that feel the same way about this passion will stick through it thick and thin.. 90% of us are here due to a Sheer Love for these animals and their Protection.. If WE want this "Hobby" to last, we can make it last..

I Agree people will most certintly make it last

 

[Pythoninfinite]

I Agree people will most certintly make it last

"The hills are alive... with the sound of music..." Let's all get out there and share the lerve...

J

 

[Waterrat]

I noticed that someone pick up on this topic on other forum. Moo and TomB made smart comments, as one would expect. It would be nice to drop the nastiness - the festive season is nearing.

 

[Scleropages]

Well for me the hobby is only just starting.. defiantly not on a downward spiral... and getting quite awesome... Besides I have only been keeping snakes in OZ for the last 10 years.... and Micheal.. if you where selling your greens for $500 each I would buy 3 next week ( after I paid the rent rent)

Fun times ahead.. the next 10 - 15 years should be awesome!

 

[impulse reptiles]

Not all aspects of the hobby are experiencing a downward trend. You might be experiencing that with greens but in the mean time the morph market is booming. Food producers are also laughing all the way to the bank. Maybe you should breed rats instead of greens Michael?

my thoughts exactly....i don't think the rats would handle the heat up there , you could use fans but that would cost to much then that ''hobby'' would be in a downward spiral.

 

[fishead]

Hey guys, I just think the breeding and selling side of the hobby is evolving or "morphing" haha. There's a lot of factors involved of course. The global financial thing, supply and demand etc.
The IN things and their asking prices will come and go. Something new comes along for us to drool over and strive towards.
If you love and are content with the critters that you have then all is good in the hobby for you, no downward spiral to worry about there.
And if the breed, buy and sell thing is what you are into - which I think there is nothing wrong with, most of us fund our habit that way - then you have to move with the times and get in on the new thing. This in turn keeps the ball rolling for other breeders and the cycle / evolution of the hobby goes on.
Two of the species that bred for me this season are all sold before they hatch so it's not all doom and gloom.
That's my view on things.

 

[Waterrat]

Oh gosh, you're such smart man fusion, why didn't I think of the fans? You must have one switched on full blast right above your head to come up with such brilliant thought. You inspire me!

 

[mattmc]

Totally agree chase, more keepers will support more suppliers of herp products and that will be better for the hobby as a whole.

There will be albino GTPs available on the Australian market in the next few years and those will be the new "must have" pythons; then the whole cycle will start all over again until something more fashionable turns up.

then what the [deleted] is the point of a gtp being a gtp if it is white...? shall we change its name? to wtp. white trash python. honestly, why does man have to insist on genetically persueing the 'best'. if its one thing ive noticed, the reptile industry is equivelant to the nazi industry. when will people realise that the animals out there, from the wild, have evolved (or have been created by a being of unimaginable power) (whichever tickles your fancy) to be who and what they are. these lounge chair keepers are the problem, modifying and targeting a supreme genetic reptile which lures in young enthusiasts which arent cut out to keep reptiles.

once upon a time, i had some reptiles. bearded dragons. and i must say, they were interesting, they had character, they recognised you, and as far as im concerned listened to you and seemed intent with what was going on in the small world they lived in. (linking this to another thread on the run at the moment about axanthic bhps or w/e). people, if your knew to the reptile industry, go out and get yourself a bearded dragon, not a white trash python, because what you will get is a bearded dragon, something that has character. and yeh, it may not be the most flashy looking thing on earth, definately not to hitlers standards, but you will be able to appreciate what earth has spat out in her life time. and when you get bored of the bearded dragon, you have come one step closer to realising, "why the hell am i keeping reptiles, when i live in australia, the land of reptiles? i could be outside seeing so much more, admiring nature and the interactions of every single thing out there. and now ive also noticed that there is also much much more to nature than wild bearded dragons. there is a whole world to explore of flaura and fauna, and when i explore this amazing country, i will take only photos and leave only footprints"

which leads me onto my second rant, dont go out back and look at the real thing, because when i go, i want it to be pristene and untouched by people ahha!

which leads me to say, 53 minutes untill my hsc mark is released.

GOOD MORNING ALL!