Why do you breed reptiles if not for the money?

I know the title may be a bit misleading but I couldn't think of a better way to articulate what I was asking. I myself plan to breed hognoses starting next year because I find them absolutely fascinating with their personalities and the morphs are stunning. I'm not going in with the mindset that I'm going to be making thousands of dollars even though I have a great number of combos that could produce snows or supercondas. I actually don't see myself making a profit in the 1st season but MAYBE break even on what I've spent on the hogs, feeders, housing, etc and that's dependent on how many we decide to keep as hold backs.

We've talked about breeding ball pythons as well but the market is so saturated that we go back and forth over whether that would be a hobby that would be more cost and time consuming than what it would be worth. Ideally, everyone would like to be in the green, not the red but it's a hobby and we're looking forward to being able to say we produced this or that and share the final result with others while also teaching people.


What makes you continue to breed year after year regardless of whether you have a pair or a dozen pairs?

I breed ball pythons definitely don't do it for the money
I do so because there are snakes that i want that i can not justify paying thousands of dollars for so i make them
I also do it to offset the cost of my collection (I am in the green for the first time, since i started breeding, this year)
also simply because i love to see those babies piping, and as of yet i have not produced anything i didn't sell

For the Women of course.

Beyond just liking the animals, it is like running my own private laboratory. This is enjoyable to me. Unlike my job, I can proceed at whatever pace I think is prudent without deadlines and customer pressures. I have also taken a different direction than a lot of other breeders. Many of my projects focus on improving the animal as it relates to being a pet which goes far beyond producing morphs. This has caused me to deep dive into the animal behaviors and the biology that controls them. The more I study the more a realize we don't really know a lot about these animals. I am currently in way over my head since I have not studied biology since high school and am an engineer by trade, but I am gradually consuming the material and learning. I love having problems to solve and trying to understand the "why" of things.

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

For the Women of course.

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ROFL. Guitars and motorcycles produce much better results in that arena.

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Originally Posted by JodanOrNoDan

ROFL. Guitars and motorcycles produce much better results in that arena.

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Yea but I cant build guitars and spent all my bike money on a Pied male years ago..

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Originally Posted by Freakie_frog

For the Women of course.

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How's that working for you?


I started breeding snake to produce what I could not afford or should I say justify spending on, back when I started (the reason I started) Pied were 10K so breeding to get my dream snake was the only viable option.

I still breed to produce animals I really want ad the rest is sold, I never thought there would me any money to be made, I thought I would be lucky if I broke even and would have been fine to have a collection paying for itself, it just happened to make money.

But I will always breed for myself first (I am my first customer) :gj:

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Originally Posted by Deborah

How's that working for you?

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Why do you think I'm still breeding. :(

Ball pythons and reticulated pythons - for fun and to create morphs I couldn't afford to purchase otherwise.

Savu pythons and locality boas - because the wild populations are threatened in their native environments.

Why breed? To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And hear the lamentations of their women.