Popularity of Fat tails

[Treefolk]

Is it just me or does the popularity of this hobby seem to be decreasing? Is it just the off season, so nobody talks? Seems similar with leopard geckos as well. Seems crazy that people are having such a hard time selling geckos that I saw raptors on morphmarket.com selling for $35. I remember when they were a $200+ animal only 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[acpart]

Here are a few of my thoughts:
--I don't think the hobby is getting less popular. I think it's actually more popular and a lot more people are breeding so there are too many gecko on the market
--when a new morph develops they are always initially expensive. Once people buy them and start breeding them (especially if they are co-dominant or dominant), the price will drop rapidly as the supply increases.
--Especially for morphs with fancy names (like Raptors), the quality of then specific animal can determine the price. I can imagine a $35 raptor (may have advertised some myself) and a $100 Raptor and they are not the same animal!
I think with the new AFT morphs that have been developed they are becoming more popular but I don't find them as easy to breed (i.e. to get viable eggs) as leopard geckos, for instance, so you may not see as many.

Aliza

 

[DrCarrotTail]

I breed both leos and AFTs. Most of my AFTs are sold before they ever hit my website as they are quite popular at the moment. I believe, like Aliza said that the leopard gecko market is a bit saturated at the moment so only high quality animals are moving well with an overwhelming number of good to mediocre animals selling at a pretty low rate which drives prices down as people need to clear up space for the upcoming breeding season.