Hello from Atlanta GA

[SethD]

Like I said $20 dollar frogs whether pure or hybrid are continuously being looked at like a throwaway frog. Take Auratus for example. Have you noticed how in just the last year or so the average new member gos straight into thumbs and pums and all but says the cheaper beginner frogs are worthless. That is what I meant by throw away frogs. I think frogs are frogs and Im probably the least greedy frogger in the hobby if you want to know a bit about me.

Auratus has been in the 20$ range for many, many years, sure sometimes you would see them for more than that but you could always get them in the 20$ range if you kept any eye out. Prices for those have not come down a great deal. As far as beginners going "straight into thumbs" I think that is fueled more by snobbery in the dart frog community than anything. There is a perception(and it tends to be accurate) that if other people in the dart frog community don't think what you have are "advanced" level dart frogs you won't get any respect and will be looked down on. Beginners want to fit in, be accepted and be respected so they are often influenced by what gets the hype rather than picking what they would pick if they were not influenced by what others thought was more "difficult" or rare. They think if they have pums thumbs or what ever else happens to be "in" people will respect them more and that indeed is often the case. You fuss about "throw away frogs" in the dart frog community but in reality it is peer pressure and a desire for respect within that community that causes a lot of those problems. You want to change that? Get a lot of already respected members in the dart frog community to start singing the praises of "common" species like auratus and pretty soon everyone will be doing it. That is how it usually works.

When I see hybrids pop up why do they aways charge so much for them if its not about greed? Even the idiots that think we buy it when they post up oops my frogs bred on accident the frog all of a sudden gos to the highest bidder.

They don't, fantasy horned frogs are usually around a 30$ frog. If it was so easy to do that "idiots" could "accidentally" make a lot of money off hybrids you would see a lot more of it. I could just as well say new dart frog species or morphs coming into the hobby are "all about greed" since they tend to be considerably more expensive than any hybrid frog. I don't complain about greedy dart froggers and say that breeding rare darts is all about money though because I recognize it is just capitalism at work and if someone can sell a CB histo for a thousand dollars more power to them.