What's going on @ SR

[ozimid]

Can anyone enlighten me to what's going on at SR... U used to ring up and Marelyn used to sort your queries immediately but now no one answers phone and they take forever to reply to emails... There not breeding BHP any more and didn't c Bredli thus yr nor Diamonds the last 2... Anyone know what's going in as all my snakes off them r top quality and was looking ti get more

[Pythoninfinite]

I think they're rationalising their breedings to reduce costs - breeding stuff like bredl's and BHPs (very labour intensive to get started) when prices have dropped so much ends up being a net cost rather than a profitable (or break-even) proposition. There are enough of the commoner species being bred by backyarders these days without the bigger producers adding to the glut. Reducing outgoings may also mean rationalising staff, hence the slow response time to communications.

Jamie

[euphorion]

as Jamie said.

[snakes73]

Bredls must be the least labour intensive snake there is. They are easy to breed and the hatchlings will virtually eat straight from the egg. Great snakes.

[Pythoninfinite]

I was talking about BHPs. Commercially, bredl's are pretty much worthless for those very reasons, especially so if you have to hang on to them and feed, house, clean & heat them for months.

Jamie

[saximus]

And the fact that Bredli have massive clutches generally doesn't make them easy to sell in the already flooded market. It sounds like quite an intelligent business choice to stop breeding the "generic" snakes and concentrate on stuff like the albino Mac and Olive projects.

[snakes73]

I was talking about BHPs. Commercially, bredl's are pretty much worthless for those very reasons, especially so if you have to hang on to them and feed, house, clean & heat them for months.

Jamie

You use the bredli to stop the BHP's being so labour intensive to get started as they make a great starter feed which also saves you from having to feed clean and house them for months.

[Pythoninfinite]

You use the bredli to stop the BHP's being so labour intensive to get started as they make a great starter feed which also saves you from having to feed clean and house them for months.

Sure you do... and see how long that can continue when it becomes common knowledge that you're breeding a protected species to feed other snakes. Great Idea... not.

It's a simple and effective business strategy - and anyway, generic BHPs are almost as difficult as bredl's to sell these days.

Jamie

[Manda1032]

me thinks it was a joke

[Pythoninfinite]

me thinks it was a joke

Ha! You never know around here

J

[Jacknifejimmy]

It's a simple and effective business strategy - and anyway, generic BHPs are almost as difficult as bredl's to sell these days.

Thats also because unlike Bredli's, standard BHP's still have a pretty big price tag on thier heads.

[Pythoninfinite]

Thats also because unlike Bredli's, standard BHP's still have a pretty big price tag on thier heads.

Not nearly as high as it used to be. Any BHP is going to take a lot more of the breeder's time than a lot of other species, so if you're paying wages to get multiple clutches of BHPs started, it burns the dollars...

Jamie

[mungus]

I was talking about BHPs. Commercially, bredl's are pretty much worthless for those very reasons, especially so if you have to hang on to them and feed, house, clean & heat them for months.

Jamie

Sorry Jamie,
dont agree with you on this one.
I breed a mixture clutch of hypo's and normals every year - about 20 on average every year.
I still get $125 - $250 per hatchie [ thats about $3000 to $3500 for whole clutch ] ALL sold this year.
That 1 clutch well and truely covers my feeding & heating requirements for my WHOLE collection.
Therefore, all my other clutches [ albino's, RMP, Diamonds etc ] cost nothing to produce, except my TIME which mean nothing
because its my Hobbie and i enjoy it !
So I dont consider Bredli worthless or any other python for that matter.

Aleks.

[Pythoninfinite]

Sorry Jamie,
dont agree with you on this one.
I breed a mixture clutch of hypo's and normals every year - about 20 on average every year.
I still get $125 - $250 per hatchie [ thats about $3000 to $3500 for whole clutch ] ALL sold this year.
That 1 clutch well and truely covers my feeding & heating requirements for my WHOLE collection.
Therefore, all my other clutches [ albino's, RMP, Diamonds etc ] cost nothing to produce, except my TIME which mean nothing
because its my Hobbie and i enjoy it !
So I dont consider Bredli worthless or any other python for that matter.

Aleks.

Hi Aleks, I wasn't for one minute suggesting that bredl's, or any other python for that matter, are worthless, but I know that SR has rationalised its output to primarily breed what it can sell relatively easily. Jungles are another species which are slow to move in reasonable numbers, and the last time I spoke to JW he commented that they are slow to move. By the time SR buys food, pays wages (which you don't have to) and all the other overheads, including GST, that go into running it as a business, they already have to put a premium on their animals that hobby breeders don't. They're behind the eight-ball before they even get their snakes into the market.

There is also the matter of breeder reputation - you may have a widespread and good reputation as a breeder, and many people who know you breed a certain species, even if it's in oversupply, will prefer to deal with you because of that reputation. I have a friend up here who has been breeding Antaresias for a decade or more, and usually has a waiting list as long as my arm because of his reputation. But I also know others who have clutches of similar animals who have trouble quitting them.

Similarly, there are members here who do have bredli that they've had for a year or more because they're slow to move.

Maybe it's a marketing thing...

Jamie

[FAY]

Thats also because unlike Bredli's, standard BHP's still have a pretty big price tag on thier heads.

And so they should...try spending 17 months on assist feeding one before it ate on it's own...