Thinking of starting a snake breeding business.

[Wildside]

Originally Posted by mykee

You have a LOT to learn before you jump into this venture.

Such as how you will make rent in the off season?

[Kingsnakechris]

day jobs lol

[Aanayab1]

I think the OP may have decided not to return.....

[Kingsnakechris]

I don't see why, no one was rude and his question was answerd promptly

[Skumbo]

People don't like thinking that they were wrong or something they want to do isnt going to work. But the reality is, it's going to cost him tens of thousands to get this going, and making it up through pet store sales isn't going to happen any time soon. Ive gone into a lot of local pet stores, and most of the reptiles are still there week to week.

[millertime89]

Knowing several breeders who do this for a living and several more who do it on top of their regular jobs (for one it IS his regular job during the winter when construction isn't exactly do-able here in NE) it is a LOT of work. Something that the aforementioned breeder who also owns his own construction company said to me really sticks in my mind, its a full time job and he only has about 4 dozen breeders and holdbacks. So during the summer he works 2 full time jobs along with some volunteer help from friends and family. The guys who are making good money off of breeding are lucky (another friend got the Trick gene from two snakes that he was sold as not having said gene) and are in it for the love of the animals, not the money. If you want to see what happens to the people that are in it for the money go search some of the other boards, stories abound with people in it for the money, they get in, they realize how much work it is, and get out, often taking a loss. If you really want to do this, find something that not many people are working with that you like and work with them, there's enough ball python, corn snake, and single gene retic breeders out there.

And no, pet stores won't buy normal retics off of you for 50 bucks, they sell normal ball pythons for 70-100 when they're buying them for less than 10 a piece. And PLEASE don't wholesale retics to pet stores, there's enough bad owners out there who buy them because they're cute hatchings and get scared when their 24" baby retic turns into a 12 footer after 2 years and don't know what to do with it. We don't need any more of those stories and unfortunately that's what we get from pet-store sold retics all too often.

[Robyn@SYR]

"The easiest way to make a million dollars in the reptile market is to start with 2 million, and work your way down."

(Stolen from Aaron at IHerp. But that just about captures it.)

[millertime89]

Originally Posted by Robyn@SYR

"The easiest way to make a million dollars in the reptile market is to start with 2 million, and work your way down."

(Stolen from Aaron at IHerp. But that just about captures it.)

Hahahahahaha, that's fantastic.

[Kingsnakechris]

Hahaha that's awesome

[MIReptiles]

Few noteable things missing here. BILLS! I do this for part/majority of my living and its not just get 100 snakes, spend 8 hours a day working with them, and sell them to the millions in line to get them.

Even if you breed your feeders which is a BIG pain in the A@@ (smells, good amount of time clean up, moving males after females birth, CO2 to euthanize $, decent feed $, bedding $, breeding racks $$, storage site $$$) then you have snakes (caging/racking $$$, Flexwatt $$$, thermostats $$, freezers $, incubators $, hides $, bedding $) but wait theres more!!! ProExotics lost everything in a fire. Really Sad. Shout out to a hell of a company by the way! So your gonna need to have insurance cause you have no idea what it would be like to grow to what your talking and lose everything! Rent, taxes, the GOV, licensing, water, and the electric bill will be MUCH higher then you think it will with even 50 snakes...Wait theres more. Marketing! $$$$$$! Shows (gas $, signage $$, show equip $$$) Shipping (boxes $, bags $, cool/heat bags $) What happens when part of your colony gets sick or infections? ($$$) Misc offices supplies $$$. And that was just a part of my daily bills LMAO. By the way, if you think your going to get 50 eggs from each female retic with 1 male and 100% success rate, you done lost before you started.

Believe in your dreams, always do what your passionate about...unless what your passionate about you can't afford. Keep a job. Find a few great animals you love and invest and take good care of them. Then just HAVE FUN.

[Morti]

Originally Posted by Robyn@SYR

"The easiest way to make a million dollars in the reptile market is to start with 2 million, and work your way down."

(Stolen from Aaron at IHerp. But that just about captures it.)

Aaron stole it from me... but that's ok because I stole it from Kevin at NERD.

[Terranaut]

Originally Posted by mykee

You have a LOT to learn before you jump into this venture.

All I can say is Yup!!!

[mykee]

From some one who routinely sells a lot of his lower end "newbie" stock to multiple pet stores, as a breeder, you get about 30% of their retail for your stock. Pet stores won't even look at you for the most part as well if you aren't selling ten lots or more.

[HerpVenue]

How much is electricity for your house?
How much will it be for a big warehouse?
What about essentials of breeding? Enclosures for breeders and neonates, thermostats, heating, thermometers, tape, shipping boxes, snake bags, incubators, cage liners or whatever you will use, Insurance, Rent, Water, Electricity, Security System, gas, sewer, trash. What about website, advertising, classified memberships.

Sure money can be made. But you have to start out small unless you have lots of money to burn. Small so you can figure out all the ins and out and iron out all the details.

Do you want the feeders to pay for themselves? How are you going to do that? Sell at wholesale to stores? Sell to the public so every Tom, **** and Harry knows where your place is and can rob you?

[Skumbo]

My financial goal for when I start breeding would be "break even" and I'd be ecstatic if I do so, and that would be without investing hugely into a separate facility or super high end breeding stock.