Breeder/Sales ethics

[Cainschams]

Ok my first clutch of ambilobes are now 2 months old. I am 99 percent posititive I have 4 males and 6 women. The incubation media got a little dry and killed half of the eggs that is why there is only ten but thats besides the point. Of course I dont want to keep all of them and the clutches to come just a few. I have already made a few people some great deals and now I am wondering what exactly I should be asking for price wise.

To start off these guys all get at least 10 hours of natural sun each week. The crix are gutloaded with cricketfood.com gutload and lots of other fruits and veggies. Long story short the are fed with the best and taken care of properly to the best of chameleon keepers knowledge. They are also all seperated so I can monitor there behaviors and food intake.

Here is where it gets tricky, please bare with me. Both parents are CBB Ambilobe with the papers to go with it. The dam is a red body blue barXyellow body red bar and the sire is yellow body red bar. Since there is a lot of variations color wise they could have and I dont have a sibling to compare them with I would think this would have an effect on the price. Also this is my first clutch and I am doing this for fun, experience, and to provide quality CBB specimen but would like to get something for my efforts and money spent. I know ambilobes go for 275 at a show to 450 online for the redbody variation. I see new breeders selling them for these prices also but I dont really think that is that fair unless you can somewhat prove how they will turn out. With these circumstances I am wondering a good price to sell them at.

I have a few friends that want some and a couple members I have made deals with on here and those deals will stand as is. I just want to be fair to the customer and myself with the price.

These guys will be ready soon and then quite a few more in the months to come from the other clutches.

Thanks Cain.

 

[Cainschams]

No opinions, not even a smart @$$ free?

 

[Roni013]

Go with what makes you comfortable. You can never gaurantee how a cham is going to turn out, no matter how experienced you are they may live for a month or years in someone elses care. I think you have to take into account the time and money you've spent on them and what you think is fair. Thats my 2cents anyways.

 

[Cainschams]

Thanks Roni. Thats what I was thinking but just wanted some other opinions.

 

[BocaJan]

I don't think that a person having a clutch or two will ever make money selling chameleons. You would have to propagate them in bunches and buy your feeders in bulk to MAYBE break even. So, I would also say whatever you feel comfortable with and don't ever second guess yourself over price. Selling to friends and making them smile is a great feeling. Good luck.

 

[Cainschams]

I don't think that a person having a clutch or two will ever make money selling chameleons. You would have to propagate them in bunches and buy your feeders in bulk to MAYBE break even. So, I would also say whatever you feel comfortable with and don't ever second guess yourself over price. Selling to friends and making them smile is a great feeling. Good luck.

Yeah I am not in it for the money just the experience and I want to keep having a few clutches here and there. You are dead on. Thanks

 

[Jeweledchameleons]

pricing can be difficult...

The two forces that do battle over price is the customer that wants it "phree"
and the breeder that wants to get rightfully compensated for their efforts.

The basic guide is that you keep the price point for what you got the sire and dam for.

As long as it's apples for apples and not apples and oranges - you maintain the price.

Saying that someone is selling an animal at a show for XXX isn't a fair comparison.
you have to compare breeding lines to breeding lines (if all other things are the same).
There's a big difference within what we have self defined as "locals" to keep in mind.
some are WONDERFUL ANIMALS while others are certainly below average to be kind.


[edit: if you're going to be breeding only a few clutches then ignore most of what I say here ]

IMO, pay No attention to what people say about show pricing
unless you actually see the animals yourself.
They are NOT produced off an assembly line... Each individual is unique
and should be priced as soon as those differences show themselves.

Seems you mixed two different color forms from what we can assume
were true to color lines from a breeder that has supplied you with paperwork.

Now if you got the breeding pair for $350.00 each
then you should do what you can to keep that price point.
IF you mixed the lines in an effort to do what you thought
would improve the new generation
I would make sure to relate that and price accordingly.

IF in doubt, raise them up until their colors start to show
if they look like trash then you can unload them to friends
as a mixed color animal.

There is NOTHING wrong with selling an animal for above $500.00 or more
if the colors and breeding warrant that.
The price should only go up the longer you care for any hatchling.

 

[ciafardo 4]

i believe they are worth no lower than 250 any lower than that you start under cutting remember you sound like you have a good product so you should be compansated

 

[Cainschams]

Thaks for the input guys. Jeweledchameleons great answer.

 

[AFH]

Cain, Jeweled probably has the best point to date. In my opinion, you should sell them for what you think is fair for now. But, if you have keep some holdbacks (like you plan), and those turn out a super kick ass color morph, you may have reassess the value of future clutches. But until then you don't know what you have and it would be hard to sell them as being 'special' without even knowing yourself.

In my situation, I have a veiled son of Ming from Kammerflage (Baltazar). I've had multiple comments on his tell tale "spot" marking. Plus, my guy has developed a casque that in my opinion is totally unique from any other veiled I have seen on this forum. Therefore, I would probably price his offspring higher than I would offspring from my other veiled who is a "typical" turquoise veiled - no 'spot' and a regular looking casque. But I will probably price Balti's first clutch regular until I can confirm his unique genes were passed on.

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