Would this be a good idea? Is it common practice?

[brobertson]

So, even though breeding is a few years off for me, I was toying around with an idea. Does anybody keep females for a year, or even two, then sell them for much more $$$? When I am on fauna or KS, I see huge price spikes on 2011 and older females, even if they are only 400-500 grams. My plan would be to keep most or all of my females around for a while, then either sell or continue to raise them. From what I have seen, I could sell a 2011 female for 100-200 dollars more than a hatchling, and if it only costs about $75 per year per snake, it seems like a good idea. Lastly, if i couldn't sell them at higher prices, it would be ridiculously easy to sell them at near hatchling price. Thoughts? Opinions?

[Ridinandreptiles]

you could...but figure the husbandry + feeding costs

[Capray]

Sounds like a good idea to me.. I like having gigantic ball ladies around the house!

[John1982]

You have to factor in larger housing, food/electric bills, etc. It's much easier to house/feed a couple dozen hatchlings than it is the same number of 500g+ snakes.

[S.I.R.]

It's not for me. If I put that much time and effort into raising and taking care of them, I plan on keeping them for a very long time. I sell very few adults and only a handful of sub adults. Its your call, but I couldn't do it.

[RobNJ]

Depends on what your goals are...in theory, it seems like a decent idea, but let's break this down.

Say you buy 0.2 cinnamons, 0.1 hypo, 0.3 pastels, 0.1 pied, and maybe even 0.2 pastel yellow bellies. You're really not going to make much, if any, money just by raising them up to 500+ grams. So, you push the selling of them back till they hit 1,000 grams... Now, you're really so close to them breeding, that you're going to actually lose a potentially significant amount of money by selling them. Unless you're buying, raising up, and reselling in decent quantities, it's not really a smart way to go about business. Even if you get a decent amount of money for those girls you raised up to 1,000 grams and plan on buying higher end females, you're going to have to wait that much longer to breed.

And this is not at all taking depreciation into account. A 1,000+ gram pastel that may sell for $500+ this year, may only sell for $300something next year.

[dillan2020]

There's also a big difference seeing a breeder having a snake listed for a certain price and then trying to sell one at that price yourself.

[brobertson]

It's not for me. If I put that much time and effort into raising and taking care of them, I plan on keeping them for a very long time. I sell very few adults and only a handful of sub adults. Its your call, but I couldn't do it.

This, along with other responses, is the reason that I don't think I'm doing this. I have had my first BP for less than a year, and I wouldn't trade him for the world. I think that if I raised females, I would keep them! Thanks everybody!