I think there are five things at play
1. Local clubs seem to be shrinking and vanishing, and frag swaps evolved into frag sales
2. Indo/Fiji ban
3. The number of LFS seems to have shrunk. There used to be a dozen stores within 20 miles of me, now there is one (and a couple of horror shows)...and I am in the SF Bay area.
4. Smart vendors watched other vendors go out of business, and realized being in business is actually about money, so they raised their prices in order to stay in business. Selling at shows is also not cheap.
5. Livestock prices were never what they really should have been. Stuff was cheap, some still is, because the people doing the collection were/are doing it for pennies. Some of them are no longer willing to do it for pennies.
It always amazed me that the animals were so cheap, while all the equipment was not.
1. Local clubs seem to be shrinking and vanishing, and frag swaps evolved into frag sales
2. Indo/Fiji ban
3. The number of LFS seems to have shrunk. There used to be a dozen stores within 20 miles of me, now there is one (and a couple of horror shows)...and I am in the SF Bay area.
4. Smart vendors watched other vendors go out of business, and realized being in business is actually about money, so they raised their prices in order to stay in business. Selling at shows is also not cheap.
5. Livestock prices were never what they really should have been. Stuff was cheap, some still is, because the people doing the collection were/are doing it for pennies. Some of them are no longer willing to do it for pennies.
It always amazed me that the animals were so cheap, while all the equipment was not.