Exotic pet store planning. More work than I thought

[GrAveTzT]

Hello people. I'm new here. Actually I was browsing on the internet for about a week straight looking for exotic pets at wholesale price available in Canada.
I'm having a major problem with this.

After frequent visits at an exotic pet store called "Animalia" located in Peterborough, Ont I thought to myself, I would really like to start something great like that. I spent a couple of years West in Manitoba until I found a great location that's perfect for this kind of thing.

Now I plan on doing a startup for a great exotic Pet store next summer. Basically offering major quantities and quality of fish, scorpions, spiders, snakes, lizards, frogs, aquariums, accessories, etc. This would be an expensive business, but a lot of fun too.

The whole business plan wasn't going to be a problem except for the one thing I assumed that be no problem at all "Is the problem"!!! (confused yet).

I cannot find wholesalers or producers of these lifeforms anywhere online!!!. I go in plenty of stores so I grasp a good sense of the prices that they must get from suppliers, but I can't find any. Every site I've went to where selling crazily prices reptiles. Red Claw scorpions for $60 (haha). I don't know where to find this.

Does anyone know where I can find this solution?

[Boots]

The only think I can suggest is to hit some of the shows and meet the breeders. Buying direct from the breeders might be a little more work, but it is the best way to go. Most breeders are willing to sell for less once they get to know you and running a store, you should also be getting a quantity discount. If you can track down local breeders, you might also be able to trade stock for supplies you never know. Even breeds on the internet will have volume discounts and wholesale prices for store. Email them as the worst they can say is no. :)

Jason

[gonesnakee]

There are plenty of breeders out there who wholesale (including myself) & plenty of wholesaler/importers as well. Best bet is to start frequenting the reptile forums & shows thats where these people are usually met. Place ads in the wanted sections of forums looking for wholesalers. Where are you thinking of opening a store at? Mark

[GrAveTzT]

I guess one of the great things about having a store in my location is that there really isn't any other places to be competition. Walmart would be the closest thing.

Someone pmed me from here and offered a little advice on possibly talking to a few individuals and not dealing with places like "Florida glades herps farm". Although when I looked these people up online there wasn't much about them. When I looked up this glades farm, they had actually a pretty "so, so" and and quanity that I would need. I thought for sure that there would be a big shot in the spot light where most places are getting their pets from but there isn't. I've been looking and its kind of crazy. There's people selling Regular Ball Pythons in the $300 to $700 area. If anyone can refer me to someone I'd be very happy.

Is it possible that the exotic pet shops are breeding themselves in the back room or something?

Where are you thinking of opening a store at?

I'm planning Winkler/Morden, MB. It's about an hour and a half from winnipeg.

[ffollett]

I know over here most of the larger breeders (Bob Clark, Constrictors, NERD, etc.) will offer package deals on normal snakes. $15 a ball python if you buy X number of snakes, they may be all or mostly male but if you are selling pets to the public it really doesn't matter much.

One thing to think about is most store owners I deal with make most of their money selling feeder animals. So that will be a big part of what you makes you money on a day to day basis. Getting a rodent rack would be a good idea to supliment what you would buy from a full time rodent breeder. I also know a few places that will get in frozen rodents as well and sell them at pretty much double what they are paying for them.

[GrAveTzT]

I know over here most of the larger breeders (Bob Clark, Constrictors, NERD, etc.) will offer package deals on normal snakes. $15 a ball python if you buy X number of snakes, they may be all or mostly male but if you are selling pets to the public it really doesn't matter much.

I did check these suppliers out and they still seem pretty high. One was $40 for the lowest level, the other $70. I think it would be impossible that they would agree to something so far from their price. It doesn't seem that there is very many people overstocked, that's for sure.

[CHRIS]

I think just like what was said in the one post go to the Expo's grab peoples cards and talk to them it will all work out for you my link to my site is down below on my signature check it out if you like
Thanks
Chris

[GrAveTzT]

Go to Expo's?

If I run a Store I can't just leave to go find a snake breeder. Snakes are just one out of 60 to 200 differant area's to get into. I can't go to the snake expo's, then the hedgehog expo's, then the fish expo's, then the scorpion expo's, etc.

There has to be some solid massive reptile producers around. The retail stores are cheaper then I've seen online so far.

Chris, you mentioned look at your site?

What am I looking for? I don't see anything about Baby pythons in there. I'm only seeing $500 adults.

[PDXErik]

Go to Expo's?

If I run a Store I can't just leave to go find a snake breeder. Snakes are just one out of 60 to 200 differant area's to get into. I can't go to the snake expo's, then the hedgehog expo's, then the fish expo's, then the scorpion expo's, etc.

There has to be some solid massive reptile producers around. The retail stores are cheaper then I've seen online so far.

Chris, you mentioned look at your site?

What am I looking for? I don't see anything about Baby pythons in there. I'm only seeing $500 adults.

Well, at the show I went to, there wasn't a normal ball there for more than $40. RTBs were around $50. That's individual prices, not bulk. I got my ATB for $160, there were nicer ones for around $250. They had a couple GTPs for $450.

It was absolutely insane.

Yeah, go to an expo, it's totally worth it.

There were TONS of scorpions, tarantulas, walking sticks, feeders, chinchillas, birds. All kinds of stuff. And basically, all you need to do is develop relation I mean "Network" with these folk.

Go to Expo's?
If I run a Store I can't just leave to go find a snake breeder. Snakes are just one out of 60 to 200 differant [sic] area's to get into. I can't go to the snake expo's, then the hedgehog expo's, then the fish expo's, then the scorpion expo's, etc.


IMHO, if you want to offer one (or three) of all the different exotic animals out there, you could just get a Petco franchise, they sell chinchillas, birds, tarantulas, scorpions, mice, snakes and lizards. It would be better to focus good attention on a single direction. I won't ever buy another pet from a franchise store. I'll go to the specialty shop or the expo.

I think you're making it more complicated than it needs to be. You can do this, just don't aim at the tippy-top first. Start with the thing you love and go from there.

[ffollett]

I know there are some reptile shops around here that will close down when the Daytona show is going on. they just post a sign about a week before the event.

[CHRIS]

They are baby's for $500 they are 07's female pastels I only used that as an example for you to click on people signatures for there sites to see what they have and the prices
Chris

[WingedWolf]

Are you simply looking at the online prices, or are you actually e-mailing and inquiring about wholesale prices, and letting the people know that you're a pet store?
The online prices are all retail prices. Most breeders don't post wholesale prices, because they expect that retailers will inquire. There are a few exceptions. I do know of a few reptile sites that are strictly wholesale.

A quick search brings one up in Florida, a very common State to find wholesalers in. Strictly Reptiles, Inc.- Wholesale dealer of reptiles and amphibians (http://strictlyreptiles.tv/)

Like most wholesale places, you will note that they do NOT post their prices on their website.
You have to inquire to get prices.

Most businesses prefer the public not know what the wholesale prices are. Consumers seldom understand why they can't get those lower prices themselves, and it's not unheard of for people to try to pretend to be a retailer in order to try to get a lower price.

I can assure you that the wholesale price for normal ball python males is between $15 and $20 US. At expos, you can often pick up animals for at or near wholesale prices, direct from breeders in person. That's why you see normal ball pythons at expos selling for 22 to 25 bucks so commonly.

But if you want to buy them at that price for your store, you will have to talk to the breeders and wholesalers personally. They're unlikely to have their prices posted up on the web. I've seen it only a few times. In most cases, they require verification that you are a retailer first.

[GrAveTzT]

Now this is exactly the kind of thing that I'm looking for. It's obvious they would demand a vendors license before talking to you, but that's more than fair enough.

[gonesnakee]

Expos are still your best bet to meet & network with all the breeders. Why go thru a middleman (wholesaler) when you can buy breeder direct? Where do you think the wholesalers buy from? ;) Judging by your posts it doesn't sound like you have been to many expos & seem somewhat out of touch to how the industry works in that aspect. I personally wholesale almost all my stock & do so at the shows/expos. Almost every snake I produced this year went to 3 or 4 petstores, couple of which also wholesales as well. Shows are not snake or lizard specific etc. either. Your average reptile show includes numerous snakes, lizards, frogs, toads, salamanders, turtles, tortoises, spiders, scorpions & all kinds of other various creatures & supplies. For the cute & cuddly stuff the "small animals" expos & the "all pet" expos are your best bet. "All Pet" expos usually have major Dog & Cat breeders along with hedgehogs, ferrets, any & all types of rodents, parrots & other birds along with various other exotics. Anything that can be bought breeder direct should be IMHO. You don't have to buy them all at the expos, but use the expos for networking purposes. Lots of feeder suppliers attend expos as well. Anything that is not commonly captive bred right here in Canada you can obtain thru an importer. This would include many species of Herps & most all your fish etc. As far as a few wholesaler/importers for Canada, Mirdo, Port Credit Pet Centre, Aquatic Imports are a few off the top of my head. Many of the bigger Reptile & Fish stores also wholesale to smaller stores as well. I'm in Calgary & 2 of the stores I deal with here locally wholesale weekly orders to smaller petstores all the time that bigger importer/exporters otherwise would not deal with due to minimum orders etc. As far as Winnipeg area goes my friend Casey runs Winnipeg Reptiles & can provide both animals & supplies at wholesale. He used to buy almost all his low end snakes from me, but now breeds them all himself (to answer your Q about them breeding their own stuff Yes the smart/capable ones do). For fish you could check with Riverfront Aquariums here in Calgary (Wayne) & J&J Reptiles (Jim) here in Calgary does reptile wholesale as well as retail. A good supplier for snakes just out of Calgary is Nett of Wrapped Up In Reptiles as she is now breeding 1,000s of lower end petstore stuff. If ones attends the expos & meets the right breeders you can establish relationships where they give you first crack at all their stuff yearly. Thats where I orginally met the folks that buy most all my stuff every year consistantly. I don't even put ads up for low end stuff anymore, just wholesale it all to my contacts. Mark
P.S. kingsnake.com - the information portal for reptile and amphibian hobbyists. (http://www.kingsnake.com) is a good source of contacts for US wholesalers as well as CDN ones.

[PDXErik]

I didn't take many pictures, but if you look at the ones in the link below, imagine there being about 10x the number and diversity of animals at the little show I just went to. Including birds, chinchillas, ferrets, rabbits, and pigs.

Nordinho.net Forums - Blogs: - The animal expo (http://www.nordinho.net/vbull/journal.php?do=showentry&e=6770&enum=45)

[ToddBecker]

Being american I can give you some names of some wholesalers down here in the states. I am pretty sure that they can all export, especially since they all import as well. Check out The follwing:
GLades Herps
Strictly Reptiles
Underground Retpiles
Bob Clark
New England Reptile Distributors (NERD)
Prehistoric Pets

I know that Strictly reptiles has A large assortment of animals, from snakes, lizards, invertebrates, etc... Good luck with the search, Todd