Is the AFT market dead/dying?

[Carinata]

I was talking to a good friend of mine today who is a ball python breeder, and I was comparing the AFT market to the Ball Python market and he said the AFT market is dead. Now to my knowledge it is still alive and well, but I want to know if I am getting into the wrong market. As much as I love AFTs I really do want to work with an animal that will pay for it self to some extent. What are your thoughts on the market? And do you think it will continue to grow?

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

The AFT market is just getting started IMO. We have figured out all the base morphs. There may still be more to come who knows. Now we are in the stage of doing the combos. Whoever your friend is, well to be a blunt as a possibly can is a moron. You can't have an opinion on something you know nothing about, and apparently he knows nothing about the AFT market

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

FYI there is no mocha or mustard phase AFT's. You have normals and tangerines.

 

[Carinata]

Duh! I just have those set aside, I have classics. BUT line breeding can produce a chalky yellow animal, a orangy animal. Its all line breeding. Is a Tangerine not a normal? Or a granite? I see literally hundreds of AFTs a day and there are so many variations that I am taking advantage of it. Taking Mustards to Mustards. Mochas to Mochas. Tangs to Tangs, Granites to Granites to create a line. And a Mocha is a darker Tangerine. I have some Tangs that are true Tangs.

 

[Ga_herps]

I do believe we are on the verge of seeing some very amazing morphs in AFT's. I in no way believe that the AFT market is dying or dead. We just really started tapping into some base morphs. In the next few years I believe that a multitude of combo morphs will become available, and I would not be shocked if a couple of new morphs pop up in the next few years. I also breed select ball pythons and I am here to tell you in no way would I even compare the bp market to the aft market.

 

[M_surinamensis]

I think context matters a bit.

The general market has trended away from species diversity over the last decade and a half or so (maybe a bit longer or shorter, kind of an indistinct starting point), focusing more and more tightly on color morphs and captive combinations of color and pattern mutations in a smaller number of hardy, easy to keep and breed species.

What that means is that african fat tails are far less a percentage of the sales dollars flying around than they were twenty years ago, there was a point even into the mid-late nineties when they were just about as popular as leopard geckos. Every pet store had fat tails, all the time, always. Lots of customers owned them. They were frequently mentioned in magazine articles and on the (pretty different) web communities. They are nowhere near as common as they used to be, nowhere near as popular. They got elbowed out by leopard geckos, since they share similar market niches as a small, docile, easy to care for lizard pet.

On the other hand, one thing that tends to spark interest and attention and sales and production* are the introduction of additional genetic traits to combine and manipulate. That is what caused balls and leos to explode and take over the way they did. It is why corn snakes remain a constant favorite. If new and more diverse easy to map and manipulate genetic traits become available, then the species will see an uptrend in sales.

So... far less popular and easy to market and sell then they once were, but perhaps more than they currently are.

I don't know if they are dead or not, but a whole lot of really amazing, really diverse, really beautiful and interesting animals are and have been ignored as time has gone on. It would take something pretty significant for AFTs to dethrone the leopard gecko in popularity and sales. A little bit orangey is not gonna come anywhere close.

*to my constant dismay

 

[HepCatMoe]

i have seen aft popularity shooting up like crazy in the last few years. other breeders noticed this and started producing tons of afts and making lots of money.

but more recently due to that giant bump in popularity and production the market has become saturated with afts and their price is coming down. for somebody like me that is a good thing. i just like keeping and playing with my afts.

as far as animals that pay for themselves, unless your gonna be a major breeder its probably not gonna happen.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

i have seen aft popularity shooting up like crazy in the last few years. other breeders noticed this and started producing tons of afts and making lots of money.

but more recently due to that giant bump in popularity and production the market has become saturated with afts and their price is coming down. for somebody like me that is a good thing. i just like keeping and playing with my afts.

as far as animals that pay for themselves, unless your gonna be a major breeder its probably not gonna happen.

Popularity is certainly going up. Alot of morphs are coming out and thats what people love. I myself am working with a few special imports that with a little bit of luck should be proving out this year and I also have some that wont be breeding till next year. However, its inevitable that there will be a price drop, especially in Co-dom and dominant animals..however, recessive mutations have held their prices fairly well. Now breeders are working with designer morphs (combos).

I do disagree with the "market saturation"...I can count with my two hands the number of known breeders selling on kingsnake and working with high end morphs...Can you do that with leopard geckos, ball pythons, boas, beardies, corn snakes???? The list goes on and on...

The market is still fairly young and i dont think its fair people are already shooting it in the foot. Fat Tails are on the rise and will certainly continue to grow.

 

[gixxer3420]

I think AFT are on the rise. As for only seeing a few on kingsnake, I dont really think that says anything. I know of a lot of breeders that are working with high end fat tails that do not use king snake.

 

[Carinata]

In a way you could compare them. Corns are easy to produce, and breed. They are hardy and you can incubate their eggs in just about anything. Balls are more difficult to produce, and breed. They are a bit more touchy than corns but still easy, their eggs are easy to incubate but not as easy as corns.

 

[T-ReXx]

I don't see the fattail market as having any problems. It's a young market still. What I see is less animals being released generally due to morph development. There are still plenty of animals being test bred, and a lot of breeders working on combo morphs. I think as things develop you will only see more and more animals becoming available. Lack of animals on sites like KS is not an idicator of a market being "dead." On the contrary, I only see that as an indication of a low supply VS a fairly high demand. Fatties sell quickly and will continue to do so for a long time I believe.