GTP revolution

[Franco]

Hi all.

Franco here ? long time listener, first time caller!

Given the recent breeding success of Roy Pails with his green tree pythons, I thought it worthwhile to point out the ramifications of this great achievement - although I'm sure you all know where I?m headed with this.
Firstly I'd like to personally congratulate Roy (although I'm fairly sure he's not a member of this forum) for cracking one of herpetology?s toughest nuts. It just goes to show that with a bit of time, patience and know-how that anything is possible.
I?m well aware that this accomplishment is by know means a first and has been surrounded by a great deal of controversy in recent years, however, judging by the comments made on the Pails for scales website it would appear that Roy has cracked the GTP nut (egg!!) in a monumental way. Looking at the titbits of information that Pails has been leaking to the public over the last couple of weeks it would appear that he has successfully hatched at least 102 of these beautiful serpents with more to come!. I for one will not be purchasing any of these hatchlings as the exorbitant price tag around the necks of these little beauties is presently a little beyond my means. However, given different financial circumstances I?d be lining up with all the other punters to secure a couple.
Irrespective of my current financial situation, I?ve been finding it hard to wipe the smile from my face of late. All of a sudden, these reptiles have been made available on a scale that I have not witnessed in all the time that I have been herping. For now (for me and probably most of you), I?ll have to sit back and wait for my chance to own what I consider Australia?s and possibly the world?s most prized python. I am however content as I know that in the not too distant future, these babies will mature and with the right care begin having babies of there own. Ultimately, some time down the track the price of the GTP may be just a little closer for you and for me.


I take my hat off to Roy Pails and would love to hear your views on this subject as I believe I?ve just scratched the surface!

Cheers
Franco

 

[AGAMIDAE]

agreed, with more successful breeding sooner or later the price will go down like most things, Congrat Roy on cracking open a little gold mined.

 

[Slateman]

102 new babies. That is great. I hope that if more people will be that sucsessfull, we will see better prices in the future.

 

[africancichlidau]

What's a GTP?

 

[Franco]

Sorry about that:

GTP = Gigantic tiger prawn

 

[africancichlidau]

Ah, OK, not into seafood though.

 

[Guest]

Its like with BHP and Womas they have both come down in price over the yrs so hopefully so will the GTP's

 

[serpenttongue]

I think prices will stay high for a long time yet, with only those who've bred them in the past breeding them in the future. Do you think the Chondro breeders will give away their secrets to someone whose just bought a pair of hatchlings from them? Lets just say a handful of people buy hatchlings Chondro pairs from Roy, they then have to wait a year before sexing only to find out they have 2 males or 2 females, and then what? Buy another hatchling and wait a year to see what sex it is? Or buy a yearling for an amount they cant afford. You really need 2-3 pairs if you seriously want to breed Chondros.

There's also the chance that first time breeders may fail. Low hatchling rates, infertile eggs and other uncertainties etc, while the top breeders continue to soar. Sure theres Greg Maxwells book to aid all those concerned, but there's also people out there still having failures with Childreni eggs, even with the info we have on them!

As for me, i reckon rough scaled pythons will be in my possession before Chondros are. I think rough scale pythons prices will soon drop faster than a guillotine!

 

[peterescue]

Im with you fisho, never been big on the prawns, bottom feeders you know. I assumed GTP was a new recycled paper product.

 

[BeardyBen]

Put me down for 3 kilos of gigantic tiger prawns please

 

[Vat69]

I'm with serpenttongue on this one. I also don't believe that the chondro breeders will want to let go of their monopoly by just selling everything to anyone and everyone. Well not yet anyway. But they'd be stupid to do that when they can make the money they can.

 

[basketcase]

if he really has 102 juveniles and he's selling them for close to 10k each thats just greedy imo. thats... one million dollars!

damn, thats just too much money imo.

i understand big business and pythons go hand in hand now, but when ppl have animals that are worth more than their cars its getting beyond the joke

 

[Vat69]

Basket, buddy, you honestly wouldn't rip off all the suckers you could if you had the chance?

....or maybe I'm just too cynical? :lol:

 

[basketcase]

i wouldnt double the usual price if i had that many animals for sale.

in the end theyre worth whatever people are willing to pay. if people are willing to pay 9,800, thats what theyre worth. imo its prices like these that encourage wild collecting.

 

[Jay]

LMAO. Yeah If anything id offer them up at $10, 500-$11, 000 depending on how many others were available at the time, and flood the herp keeping world and elsewhere in a way that protected my direct identity (less chance of thievery) but that brought in many previouly non herp keepers ^^
but yeah thats just me.....and my love of money ^^

 

[Vat69]

I totally agree. High prices encourages wild collecting no doubt (in my opinion). I'll admit if I lived in GTP local area I'd be tempted to just go pick up a free one. Not only that, with prices so high......and I have a pair from Pailsy and access to limitless WC......you know where I'm going :wink:

 

[Sdaji]

i understand big business and pythons go hand in hand now, but when ppl have animals that are worth more than their cars its getting beyond the joke

If you pay as little for your car as I did, it's not difficult to get an animal worth more than it!

I don't see how Roy is being greedy. If you had $1,000,000, would you give it away? If not, would you be greedy? He is just selling things for what people are willing to pay. If what he has is worth a million dollars, he will sell it for that much. People who complain are just jealous. I'd love to have a lot of things which I can't afford, animals included, but that's no reason for the people who own them to give them to me for free.

Zac: since when have black headed pythons come down in price? As long as I can remember they've sold for around $1,000 each. Womas have been around $4,000 per pair since way back with loose females almost never available and males selling for between $1,000 and $2,000 each for at least ten years. This season does seem to carry the first indications of womas coming down and there are predictions of black headed prices crashing, but it hasn't happened yet. Many things have risen in price, top of the range blonde macs, black and yellow jungles and bredli among other species have dramatically increased. Up until about two or three years ago, everyone was tipping chondros to crash in price, but they have doubled. I suspect they'll stay above $5,000 for a few years yet. Predicting price change of reptiles is a bit like the stockmarket I suppose!

I agree with serpenttongue about the price of rough scaled pythons crashing. John Wiegel seems to be attempting to breed huge numbers of them before selling them in any real quantity, just releasing a small number (two or three pairs so far?) to private keepers while sitting on his stockpile of hundreds of them. He must have several hundred by now as he says they breed easily and have fairly large clutches. He has been at it for quite a few years now, more than enough time for two generations, so the twenty or two babies from the first clutches should now have grandchildren... do the maths, it's potentially well over 1,000 that he is sitting on, with the number dramatically increasing each season. I'm guessing he plans to sell a heap all at once so he can get top dollar for them, with the small few he has let go so far released as a tease to get interest up and give the image of very few existing. It's quite unfair that one person has been allowed to get the monopoly on this species, but such is life. After a few rough scaled pythons hit the market, the price will crash as apart from a small number of enthusiasts, such as serpenttongue (and myself!) the general reptile keeping community doesn't seem to be too interested in a dull coloured snake with teeth which must give it an extremely painful bite. If Roy Pails is greedy for asking for a high price for his animals (which people are happy to pay) what is Wiegel, sitting on a massive stockpile of a species no one else has access to, not telling people all that much about how many he has, husbandry information etc etc and not letting people have them at any price?

 

[southy]

id be worried about them getting stolen, $1 million worth in snakes!! but agree with most people on here, prices will stay high for years to come yet

 

[basketcase]

good post sdaji, u should get into arguements more often

its a difference of opinion, i wouldnt do what pails is doing, but thats mainly due to the fact that i will never own a green python. we need some kind of ACCC for reptiles i rkn :twisted:

pails can do what he likes, theyre his animals. I think it's greedy, but that doesnt mean to say it is. just my point of view

 

[Vat69]

I think it's quite smart. As for Weigel, he's a very lucky man to have gotten where he is and to be in the position he is in now...in my opinion anyway.