BP investments.

[mykee]

C.I.T.E.S. II (for bp's) and you're fine.
A real hassle though.
I personally just stick to shipping within Canada.

"There is an amazing amount of money to be made from the reptile hobby, period. You need a basic understanding of the market, economics, and your animals, and you will do great.
For Ball Pythons- invest in what you like"

Words to live by. Buy what you want, because if you don't, you'll hate cleaning, feeding, watering, etc. in a years time and it will be work, not fun.
I have seen SOOOO many breeders come and go in this hobby in the past 12 year it isn't even funny. The three things they all had in common are:
1. They did it just for the money.
2. They produced what they thought the customers wanted and not what they like to keep.
3. They didn't have a plan.

You're not going to be rich overnight, those times have come and gone, but if you're smart, plan ahead and truly love it, you'll do fine.

[dshin963]

I am thinking about maybe breeding bloods in a few years first gotta figure out what i need

[Ch^4]

Originally Posted by mykee

C.I.T.E.S. II (for bp's) and you're fine.
A real hassle though.
I personally just stick to shipping within Canada.


Words to live by. Buy what you want, because if you don't, you'll hate cleaning, feeding, watering, etc. in a years time and it will be work, not fun.
I have seen SOOOO many breeders come and go in this hobby in the past 12 year it isn't even funny. The three things they all had in common are:
1. They did it just for the money.
2. They produced what they thought the customers wanted and not what they like to keep.
3. They didn't have a plan.

You're not going to be rich overnight, those times have come and gone, but if you're smart, plan ahead and truly love it, you'll do fine.

Very wise words to follow. I've been building my breeders for a while and don't plan on seeing a cent for a couple years (and don't care). I just want to make pretty babies for my personal collection! (With the rare chance of producing something that is yet to be produced...). I've been keeping for 15+ years and it was only natural to transition into breeding (for me at least).

I think the toughest part for me will be actually letting the babies go.

[Dehlida]

As long as you plan and do things right, you can make money with any almost any reptile. Even corn snakes, which most breeders are getting out of because "they aren't worth anything". A pair of corns can toss out 15-20 eggs easy, each sold for $20-$40 locally as pets, just because breeders don't want them doesn't mean people don't for pets.

Give me 2 adult balls of any morph at a normal price, and I can almost gaurntee I can make money back in 2-3 years.

[frost]

my opinion, you must love snakes FIRST before attempting to make money off them... your 1000USD would be more profitable elsewhere if you are attempting to make money. i do not know your cousin but he might have been misinformed that "there is a lot of money in snakes"

BUT if he loves snakes, and will to wait years for ROI, then everything positive stated above is true.

[stephanbakir]

He loves snakes, he currently doesn't own any but he goes to all of his friends homes who own them an helps them clean cages for free just to get in contact with the animals (he does this daily) now that he moved out he can get snakes and wants to go in with both feet.

[mykee]

"i do not know your cousin but he might have been misinformed that "there is a lot of money in snakes"

There most certainly is a "lot of money in snakes". The money is made by volume breedings and building u7p your collection over years to have genetically potent animals in your collection.

"Give me 2 adult balls of any morph at a normal price, and I can almost gaurntee I can make money back in 2-3 years"

In a perfect world where you get 8 perfect eggs every season and get free feeders from a friend, yes.
Otherwise, not a chance. Not with two animals.

For fun:
You buy two adult lessers (value $2000)

You build enclosures, incubator and thermostats for each; $600.
You feed them medium rats ($3.50) once a week for a year: $360/yr.
Water, electricity, bedding, misc.: $300/yr.
That's $3260 for the first year you're in, and $660 for each of the remaining two years: $4580
Not even counting your time, you're already down $4580.
You now need to produce $4580 worth of animals just to break even.

Of those three years, you produce babies twice (that's being optimistic) and you get two clutches of 6 each year.

Year #2, male lesser babies are worth $250 and females are worth $350: $1800.

Now you are only down $2780.

Year #3, male lesser babies are worth $175 and females are worth $300: $1425.

Now you're only down $1355.

Congratulations, you are in the hole $1355 and you have two burned out adult lessers, and you didn't hold back a single animal to expand.
I also assumed that none of your animals required a trip to the vet and are 100% healthy.
If you want out entirely, you can now sell your male adult lesser for $300 and each adult female for $800 for a total of $1900.

You are now up $545.
So figure three years of time, four hours a week of cleaning, feeding, watering, hatching babies, maintaining equipment: 208 hrs./yr.
624 hours over three years.
You made a whopping $0.87 an hour.
Nice work!

[stephanbakir]

With math like that everyone will start breeding snakes!

[reptile65]

Originally Posted by mykee

There most certainly is a "lot of money in snakes". The money is made by volume breedings and building u7p your collection over years to have genetically potent animals in your collection.



In a perfect world where you get 8 perfect eggs every season and get free feeders from a friend, yes.
Otherwise, not a chance. Not with two animals.

For fun:
You buy two adult lessers (value $2000)

You build enclosures, incubator and thermostats for each; $600.
You feed them medium rats ($3.50) once a week for a year: $360/yr.
Water, electricity, bedding, misc.: $300/yr.
That's $3260 for the first year you're in, and $660 for each of the remaining two years: $4580
Not even counting your time, you're already down $4580.
You now need to produce $4580 worth of animals just to break even.

Of those three years, you produce babies twice (that's being optimistic) and you get two clutches of 6 each year.

Year #2, male lesser babies are worth $250 and females are worth $350: $1800.

Now you are only down $2780.

Year #3, male lesser babies are worth $175 and females are worth $300: $1425.

Now you're only down $1355.

Congratulations, you are in the hole $1355 and you have two burned out adult lessers, and you didn't hold back a single animal to expand.
I also assumed that none of your animals required a trip to the vet and are 100% healthy.
If you want out entirely, you can now sell your male adult lesser for $300 and each adult female for $800 for a total of $1900.

You are now up $545.
So figure three years of time, four hours a week of cleaning, feeding, watering, hatching babies, maintaining equipment: 208 hrs./yr.
624 hours over three years.
You made a whopping $0.87 an hour.
Nice work!

Wow, haha. That was kind of funny to read... But it definitely puts things into perspective.

[mykee]

It needs to be a labour of love that you get paid for eventually, otherwise it's just another job that pays a crappy hourly wage.
The "business" aspect of this hobby (at least for me) is such a small part of the overall experience. Again, and I'll say it until it sinks in, if you're getting into this to become a millionaire, that time has passed. Get into balls because you love them.

[stephanbakir]

You can tell when a man loves his balls and isn't just into them for the money.

[Dehlida]

I don't really count the wage/hr thing, because I enjoy the snakes. I'd do that for free anyway haha. As for the lesser example, I'm not sure how I feel about the price you listed for the 2, considering he's getting his group for 1k, it would be very easy to make back the money and then some in my eyes..

[stephanbakir]

They arent breeding size yet, isnt it 800g male and 1300g female?
You always pay more for breeder size reptiles.

[stephanbakir]

That, and hes getting a fantastic deal. Normally its much higher for animals of this size and morph, the guy just has money issues and hes selling cheap.

[BHR]

Originally Posted by mykee

It needs to be a labour of love that you get paid for eventually, otherwise it's just another job that pays a crappy hourly wage.
The "business" aspect of this hobby (at least for me) is such a small part of the overall experience. Again, and I'll say it until it sinks in, if you're getting into this to become a millionaire, that time has passed. Get into balls because you love them.

this is so true .. I lost 90% of my collection a few years back bad divorce lost my shop now just breeding a few BP's to get the morphs that I like if i make a buck over time great if i lose a few along the way I don't care its all about the fun now ...