Thinking of starting a snake breeding business.

[Robyn@SYR]

I know we are just piling on at this point, but sometimes the expense of running a live reptile business really does get nutty.

We had a 10,000 sq. ft breeding facility, and in the Colorado winter, public service each month ran $3000. Rent itself over $7000. That is an incredibly steep hill to climb, and represents only two of the dozens of recurring monthly expenses.

Our monthly paper towel bill alone is enough to gag a rhino...

Breeding snakes is much more enjoyable as a hobby, as opposed to a sustaining business. In my experience.

And yet there are quite a few folks that have made a nice living at it.

[Robyn@SYR]

Originally Posted by Morti

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

Actually I might have got it from you Morti : )

Either way. Brilliant : )

[iballpythons]

While I recognize the overwhelming factors in doing this for a living... I say fly it up the flagpole and see who salutes it kid. The only people who tell you that you can't do something are the people who didn't do it themselves. Be ready for a hard road, but maybe you'll come up with a new way of doing things that someone hasn't thought of yet. Good luck to ya... but do some research first.

[Robyn@SYR]

I think your best bet to start a "breeding business" is to start in a spare room. One or two pairs of reptiles that you REALLY LIKE working with. A baby rack for production, and no grand plans.

Little overhead, def no rent, utilities or employee costs, just start easy and slow. If you make money for three years running, consider expanding from there.

[knox]

Originally Posted by Robyn@SYR

I think your best bet to start a "breeding business" is to start in a spare room. One or two pairs of reptiles that you REALLY LIKE working with. A baby rack for production, and no grand plans.

Little overhead, def no rent, utilities or employee costs, just start easy and slow. If you make money for three years running, consider expanding from there.

Best advice I have read in this thread.

[rmfsnakes32]

All very good points I hope we didnt shut his dream down he sounds sincere and could make a go of it!

[DeesBalls]

Originally Posted by Robyn@SYR

I think your best bet to start a "breeding business" is to start in a spare room. One or two pairs of reptiles that you REALLY LIKE working with. A baby rack for production, and no grand plans.

Little overhead, def no rent, utilities or employee costs, just start easy and slow. If you make money for three years running, consider expanding from there.

This is what I am doing. Just to start off. Great advice.

[RobsCornField]

I've got a room with 40 snakes right now. I breed a couple clutches a year for fun. At the moment, I've only got cornsnakes breeding. Yeah, they're not the biggest market out there, but I got the pleasure this year of saying that I produced two morphs that were the first ones in the world. To me, that's what makes it worth it. Heck, even just watching the eggs pip makes it all worth it to me! It's not about the money, and never has been. Yeah, it's nice to be able to put that towards the expenses, or purchase of a new animal, but there's nothing more awesome than looking into an incubator and seeing a baby poke it's head out of the egg for the first time. One of my lifetime goals will come in about a year and a half from now when I pair my 100-Flower rat snakes for the first time. Watching those eggs pip will probably make me faint, and be one of the most memorable moments of my life. So I'll echo what quite a few other people have said so far: don't do it for the money. Do it because it's something you love.

[shaunyboy]

imo you really need to produce,high end top quality snakes,also imo you need to try and work out,which type of snake will be " the in thing " next year,then the year after,then the year after,etc,etc

then even if you manage,to produce the next big thing,the prices will drop relatively slowly for the first 3 years,then after that,imo the prices plummet down really fast,with the snakes costing a mere fraction,of what they did 4 years previously...

take the Zebra Jungle Carpet Python Morph,hatchlings were around
£2200 3 years ago,£1200 2 years ago,£750 1 year ago,now you will get one for around £400,so it don't last long...

then you need the next big thing....

if you want to breed straight away,then you would have to buy,the much more expensive,sexually mature adults,that or wait 4 years on hatchlings getting up to size,but by then its 4 year later and the hatchlings they would produce are now dirt cheap

if you want to get into higher end Morphs,then adults of rare Morphs command crazy prices,i once saw a royal python (ball python) Multipule Gene Morph,go up for sale at £32,000,but that snake most likely have took 12 or more years to create

then there's things like,snakes who don't produce,snakes that get ill,people lose interest in those particular snakes,a few people produce the exact same type of snake flooding the market,etc,etc

i remember a few years ago,another Carpet Keeper i regard as a good friend and my mentor,brought the price of Bredl Pythons down,from £150 to £200 each,to £85 each.....

this was achieved with,one large clutch of Bredl that he produced,then simply dropped his price,he believes that when he sells them cheap,they become more accessable,so more can keep them and maybe go on to breed more beautiful Carpet Pythons

if he makes enough money from hatchlings,to buy another couple of snakes,to add to his already impressive Morelia Collection,then he's happy...

if he also makes enough to cover his hobby,then he's bloody exstatic,but as said it's all about the snakes with him,imo in the last 2 years he has become one of the top,if not thee top,producer of top end,high class Morelia in the UK,imo he's catching up to Europe,this year he sold the cheapest Zebra's i've ever seen,he also produced Zebra Diamond Jungle Jag's,Zebra Jag's,etc

that breeding season just past,he most likely for the first time ever,made a good few thousand,which is great,but next year he won't have much too breed as he rests his females,then after a year off,they next time they are bred,the prices will have dropped,because more people are breeding them each year,as their snakes become sexually mature.

he bought some Albino Carpets this year,but will have to wait 2 years on them maturing,so hopefully he will get another bumper year,before things start dropping in price,there will also be more people with the same aged Albino's,who may produce for the first time,the same as my friend

so imo there's a lot of ups and down's financially,also there will be a lot of educated guesses going on

survive all that and you may just make it

sorry for all the doom and gloom,i only want you to go into this venture,with your eyes wide open,imo if you know what your up against,then you know what you have to do,in order to get through it

i sincerely wish you all the best,should you precede with your venture

cheers shaun

[Desert]

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.)

Or, he can start with nothing, and work a million hours.

[HerpVenue]

Started in my living room. Moved it to a bedroom. Moved it to the larger part of a three car garage.

[red ink]

The only real profitable breeding business in the reptile industry is breeding rats and mice....

[Skumbo]

BTW guys he hasnt logged on since he posted this thread, lol.

[Aaron_S]

Originally Posted by millertime89

... 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...

I really dislike when people say this type of stuff. It's the snake snob-i-ness coming out I suppose

Just because it's not something everything is working with doesn't mean it's automatically going to make you a ton of money. For example, no body really works with the rubber boa but that doesn't mean you'll make money hand over fist breeding them. There's still limited people who can or want to keep them. Especially with the more difficult to keep animals.

The reason people breed those animals en masse is because there's a large demand for them and because it's SO easy to keep them. There's always a beginner out there but there's not many people who can handle white lipped pythons on a day-to-day basis.

[Jay]

There is a great animated video that you should see.