What do you think...?

Denise101 · 10-07-04, 01:55 PM

Ok so i really want to get into the reptile business, i was thinking about buying some high end ball python morphs or any other reptiles that are in high demand(And suggestions?) But the thing is i got no money. So i was thing about taking out a lone, do you think this would be a good or bad idea?

bighillreptiles · 10-07-04, 01:57 PM

bad .Dont go into reptiles to make money you will go broke very few make a living off of it my two cents worth

snakers55 · 10-07-04, 02:03 PM

Yeah, I strongly dislike people that are in the hobby only to make money... Keep animals because you have a genuine interest in them. That's my opinion.

Denise101 · 10-07-04, 02:11 PM

no im not in it for the money

. It just if i do breed them i want homes for the babies.. get what im trying to say?

And i defantly do love reptiles other wise i woundent have over 30 all ready! I spend more money on my pet then i do on myeslf!

Vengeance · 10-07-04, 02:15 PM

There is nothing wrong with trying to have the hobby pay for itself. That is what really keeps the herp industry going, the people who are interstead in breeding and selling their animals. The people buying those high end morps of Ball pythons, Boas, Leos, and any high end morph is most usually a breeder. It's a great big circle. Breeder finds a new morph, proves it out, sells it to other breeders, takes the money he made from selling the animal and turns around and invests into the industry by buying something else. It works out great and really strengthens the community.

But taking out a loan may not be the best of ideas. Most likely you are going to be picking up a hatchling, and then you have to wait till they hit sexual maturity. So you may have to carry that loan for a long time, my suggestion is start small and build from it. I recently got my first breeding trio of 100% het Albino ball pythons. I'll start by breeding those, sell off the offspring, then move up to the next morph, hopefully piebald. But that is years down the line, but I can wait

silent_truth · 10-07-04, 02:17 PM

Paul is right, that it is very difficult to make a profit in the business of selling reptiles. What I think snakers55 meant is that first one should have a love of keeping and enjoying reptiles for what they are and only then should they think about incorporating an economic aspect. I've seen many of your posts Denise and you seem like a very genuine and ambitious person which is awesome and don't let anyone tell you what you should or shouldn't do if it concerns your future. If that is really your dream then I say take whatever steps needed to make it happen. There's a lot to consider before deciding whether you want to venture into the business side of reptiles (ie. whether you want to privately breed them or possibly own your own specialty store). However, getting a loan is difficult enough these days, but I'd think it would be easier to get one if one had an actual retail store as opposed to operating out of their home. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong). Okay, I've rambled long enough. I just wanted to make sure that the reptile keeping community doesn't discourage every new entrepreneur out there from starting a business, otherwise the future of the hobby may be limited instead of growing to its potential.

Best of luck with any decisions that you make!

-Adam

VI Reptiles · 10-07-04, 02:23 PM

If you wanna start with no money, start low like I am! Im getting a 100% het for albino male and 4 normal females. What im gonna do is take all the female babies I get from the breeding then breed them back to the dad 2 years after that and you could get albinos! You can do that with any other morph as well as long as its 100% het!

Tim_Cranwill · 10-07-04, 02:24 PM

Buy a trio and see how that goes for the first while. Then pick up a few adult pairs here and there and you'll fnd out in a hurry if this "business" is for you. It can be an expensive venture though and if you have "no money", it's best to start small.

It never hurts to try though, right?

Ron · 10-07-04, 02:32 PM

Since you have a male already I would just get a couple of normal females and raise them up. Then try and breed them and if sucessful, sell off the babies. You'll get a taste for what it will be like, then decide if you really want to borrow money to get into the biz. I personally wouldn't suggest you borrow money to buy morphs especially with no BP breeding experience.

BoAddict · 10-07-04, 02:43 PM

most loan places will not give loans for livestock

but will for the business operations

Denise101 · 10-07-04, 02:43 PM

Ok start of small, got ya

I was planning on getting a 100% het albino ball male of Dan in Calgary but i cant find any ball females. What other pthyon would be good to start off breeding?

PS. Thanks for the lovley comment Adam you nearly made me cry, no really!

Darren179 · 10-07-04, 02:43 PM

if you want to breed ball pythons try breeding regulars instead of morphs. It will be cheeper for you and less dissapointing if you loose ur first batch of eggs.

Linds · 10-07-04, 02:50 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Darren179
if you want to breed ball pythons try breeding regulars instead of morphs. It will be cheeper for you and less dissapointing if you loose ur first batch of eggs.

I wouldn't recommend that. You don't have a hope of making any $$ off that, and the babies can be difficult to get rid of. Regular Ball Pythons are a dime a dozen these days.

Vanan · 10-07-04, 05:03 PM

Ever considered womas? Market is pretty stable and from what I hear they're relatively easy to keep and breed.

Siretsap · 10-07-04, 05:18 PM

Should think of gettign a co-dominant morph. Pastel for example, you just need one male that is pastel and you can breed him to many females and get a good number of pastels hatch.

Of course you can go for spider morph, but $$$ and since you don't have that much money, a pastel is in a pretty good range price, (from 800 to 1700$ depending on the beauty of it and the sex of it).

downfall to the pastel morph, I am guessing in 2 to 3 years, it will be worth no more than 400$. But still, you sell of the pastel babies you got and you get back in your money.