Yeah, my impression is that the influx of newbies (I joined during a 24 hour registration window) caused a huge uptick in the number of dragons being bred, and so they flooded the market and drove prices down. In comparison, the number of people farming for battle loot is less, and some of it is in greater demand. Also it's possible to auto-sell some kinds of loot for a decent profit, whereas the only way to "sell" dragons back to the system isn't particularly economical -- you should be able to do better selling them to other people. But sadly it doesn't always work that way.

Sadly T seems to have come down with a cold. Fingers crossed that he'll be feeling well enough for otters!