Breeding as a hobby?

[Kinra]

I want to breed my BPs as a hobby, but I'm concerned about being able to sell them. I know lots of people rely on reviews before purchasing snakes from a breeder, I know that what I find for reviews greatly impacts my decissions. Most of my females won't be ready to breed until 2013/2014, but I want to try to breed my normal next year. How do I over come the fact that I'm a new breeder/hobbiest when I do finally produce babies to sell? Since my first clutch will be from just one female it won't be a big deal if none of them sell but I would have to give serious thought to if I would continue breeding.

Also I plan on creating a web site before I have babies to sell. I don't know that will help or not but it seems like a great idea and something I want to try.

Thanks for any advice!

[dr del]

Hi,

Well people like to know they are buying from someone they can trust.

You could try and build that trust just through participating in online forums in a helpful manner. Basically have a relationship with your possible clients before you produce any animals at all. Local herp societies and pet shops can also help in this.

I am a member of three local (ish) reptile forums here in the U.K. and definately feel happier buying from someone who has been there for years than someone who joined last week and has posted nothing but adverts since. I like to be able to search the posts made to get an idea, not only about them, but also to see if I can find pictures of their animals ( to see what the offspring might end up looking like ) and if they have posted any worrying threads about disease etc recently.

I still sell all my normals to local petshops - I get less money per animal than I would in a private sale but they will usually buy all that I have ready for sale at one time. This helps keep the shop going which, in turn, means I have somewhere I can pick up supplies locally in an emergency.

I also get to meet their ( and possibly my ) customers and have had the shops pass along my details when someone asked them for morphs they knew I had.

I would definately try and have visually identifiable animals for your first clutch if possible - appearing out of nowhere and trying to sell hets might make people nervous if they don't know you.

That's possibly a bit extreme but reputation is a fragile thing sometimes.

I'd rather avoid someone who didn't understand the odds complaining unfairly about false hets if I could.

But then I am really only just starting to sell animals in the grand scheme of things so hopefully some of the big dogs have better advice.


dr del

[Rorschach]

Hi,

Well people like to know they are buying from someone they can trust.

You could try and build that trust just through participating in online forums in a helpful manner. Basically have a relationship with your possible clients before you produce any animals at all. Local herp societies and pet shops can also help in this.

I concur this is a great way to start. Running a small business, your online identity is extremely important. This way customers aren't as skeptical spending their money with your business. Sounds sketchy sending or using an online payment transaction to a business with no reviews and no face. Your customers want to know they can reach you and the transactions will go smoothly. It all starts with one satisfied customer or ends with one dissatisfied customer.

[stickyalvinroll]

you could also try to make some youtube videos!

[monk90222]

Every big/medium/small breeder out there was in the same position as you at one time or another. Everyone had to sell their first snake.
Produce healthy snakes and take good pictures of them, they'll sell themselves.

Good Luck!

[LawfulChaos]

I'm in the same boat, I want to start breeding as a hobby, i figured worse come to worse im going to have a crap load of snakes if no one buys, but thats not that bad is it

[Biffard]

I hope I am adding to this thread and not hijacking it. But I have a question that is slightly different than the original post. I too will be in the same situation as the original poster. I am planning on building a website, gain exposure through forums, work with other breeders, etc. Then, hopefully I will have a good reputation to sell reptiles online once I start producing clutches.

So with that in mind, what type of guarantee should a new breeder offer on his/her reptiles? Obviously live arrival is a must in my opinion, but do most breeders offer a 3 day or even a week (maybe more?) guarantee?

I would also have to protect myself in a way because a lot can happen to an animal in a week and who's to say a healthy animal died because of a poor caretaker? Anyway, I think everyone understands where I'm coming from, so what do you guys do/recommend?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The good news is that we all had to start somewhere so yes it can be done.

1# Use those couple of years to make yourself known as a knowledgeable person, internet presence and being part of the snake community will help you in the future.

2# Produce great animals and they will pretty much sell for themselves.

3# Have some good customer service treat people the way you want to be treated.

I never had any issue selling my animals I sell most online (on my website and on 2 forums, one being this one) and sell the normal locally at wholesale price to a pet store which allow me to move them fast and concentrate on the other animal.

[Richard Hanson]

I suppose I can only give the advice based on what I'm doing right now. I can't tell you if it is going to work, I'll let you be the judge.

First, I would get a name for your business, and buy the relevant domain name, costs no more than about $15 for two years registration. lots of people use their names such as http://www.jkobylkareptiles.com/ , or a fun or memorable name http://www.for-goodness-snakes.com/ . Chances are you wont be able to get any fancy ones like ballpythons.co.uk or whatever, they are worth thousands, and the owners probably wouldn't part with them. Choose a name that you are comfortable using.

Second, I would start getting people to develop trust in your business name. The most cost effective method is to redirect the domain you've just bought to a facebook page. This way you can communicate with people who are fans of your page, keep fans up to date on your project, and generally get people involved.

To attract people to your page create a picture that you can put on your forum profile signature.this way people will over time recognise your 'brand', which as the very first excellent response highlights, will help get rid of the unwanted impression of being an untrustworthy newbie.

p.s. like my page

[zach_24_90]

So with that in mind, what type of guarantee should a new breeder offer on his/her reptiles? Obviously live arrival is a must in my opinion, but do most breeders offer a 3 day or even a week (maybe more?) guarantee?

I would also have to protect myself in a way because a lot can happen to an animal in a week and who's to say a healthy animal died because of a poor caretaker? Anyway, I think everyone understands where I'm coming from, so what do you guys do/recommend?

Personally I have a friend who is a breeder and he has a lot of top quality animals and i believe his policy is if you pick the animal up from him personally he gives you a 2 week guarantee but if you order it and have it shipped he gives just a live arrival because obviously the animal will be more stressed than If it's picked up.