Ask NERD

Nope...although we are following leads from your state F&G to document that population. ;) Timbers are an obsession around here!

K

Thanks for the info Kara. It's good to know I could actually pursue a career I'd enjoy. Up until just recently I've been so confused, I've changed my major 3 times and I'm only a freshman. I am 100% positive I'm sticking with biology though. I really don't know what it is I want to do, but I do know it's going to have something to do with animals... preferably reptiles.

Now this question gets kind of personal, so don't answer if you don't want to. Just want to get an idea of what kind of profit there is in it.

Being basically the biggest dealer of morphs in the USA, and many other areas. You deal with a lot of cash. 3,000 an animal being common. So with such money going in, you definitely have a lot going out. Is it a good business to be in from a $ perspective? You got enough to live life comfortably and have some extra I'm assuming. Unless you're kinda just scraping by. Just wondering how it is as an occupation. Most people are hobbyist, some reply on it for extra cash, but you got your life staked into it. Is the market rather stable or is it all luck? Sounds risky, wanna give us an idea?

While the morphs can bring in excellent income, you'd be surprised at how many of the "bread & butter" species make up a good deal of our revenue - stuff like bloods, normal ball pythons, Burms, retics, various monitors, etc. We're fortunate to have an extremely diverse group of animals to work with from low-end to high-end, and being able to offer that kind of selection definitely helps. There is a LOT of overhead involved - everything from payroll to feed bills, utilities, insurance, travel expenses...etc. etc. etc. - the list goes on and on! We make a decent living - enough to support the funding of a new, 14,000 square foot facility with living quarters, but then again we don't live very extravagantly so it's not like we're blowing money everywhere either. The majority of our revenue goes right back into the business.

As far as the market goes, that's where diversity is extremely important. The market changes on a daily basis, so it helps not to have all our eggs in one basket, so to speak.

K

Well, if you think about it your future is based on eggs! I bet you'd be in deep trouble if you got a lot of slugs. Seems risky! You're a definite risk taker!

when you drop by AZ maybe you could donate a BP to my collection! ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KLG

While the morphs can bring in excellent income, you'd be surprised at how many of the "bread & butter" species make up a good deal of our revenue - stuff like bloods, normal ball pythons, Burms, retics, various monitors, etc.
K

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Hi Kara,

I don't know if you still check this thread or not but... I was wondering what you might recommend as a good start for someone to get their foot into the business...on a very, very entry level (ok..hobby level) basis. For instance, would starting out with a single male pastel of breedable size, or male albino ball python be a solid choice for learning how to breed, and if successful would financial recovery of the initial investment be possible? Would woma pythons, or blackheaded pythons make a better choice instead of ball morphs? How about BCI, or true reds, or even dumeril's boas? This post is becomming slightly clutter-brained, so let me rephraise the question....Would you recommend that it may be more probable for a learning breeder to have more initial success in the business (both breeding and financially) with species other than ball pythons? And if so, what would be a species or two that you would suggest for the beginner?

If you have a chance to reply, I thank you in advance!

Jeremy

Jeremy,

What are your goals? Do you want your hobby to pay for itself, or are you looking to eventually make reptiles your sole source of income? What kind of "return" are you expecting on your intial investment?
Additionally, what is your experience & success with breeding snakes thus far?

K

I'm not sure what my goals are. Sure I'd love to make reptiles my sole income, but I know that can't really happen. I have never bred reptiles before, so I think for this year, my goal is just to gain some hands on experience. I have the money to put into the hobby, but I am also preffering to invest in the "right" animals that allow the opportunity to recoupe my investment. I know I can do this will ball pythons, (albino or pastel) but was wondering if their were other species (RTB, Woma Pythons, etc.) that may be a better choice for the learning breeder and still offer the opportunity to recoupe my investment.

I could afford more, but I'd be more willing to spend about $3K on animals close to or at breedable size, this spring. And then put them together for '04-'05 season. If possible, I would like to regain the money. If I can get back profit, fine. But I'm really just worried about not losing a lot of money for more than a year.

Thanks,
Jeremy

Ball pythons are a very good place to start, and if you can afford to put money into something like a pastel or albino then there's certainly nothing wrong with that, but you also need to remember that buying a morph doesn't guarantee results the first time out. Never put money into reptiles that you can't afford to lose - because there's always a chance that things won't work out as you'd hoped. I don't say that to be a downer, just to be realistic.

As far as choosing a species goes, there are certainly some that are easier to breed than others. I don't think that boas are necessarily a good place to start unless you're willing to raise them from babies. There are a lot of health problems in boas that cause less-than-honest individuals to sell off sub-par adults as perfectly healthy, and this can totally ruin the rest of your collection if something goes wrong. Buying adult boas can be scary unless you are 100% on who you're dealing with. Additionally, boas aren't always easy to breed - they require a lot of attention to detail, females have a long gestation, etc.

Womas are great snakes - there will always be a demand for them, but I personally think if you're going to get womas you should spend some $$$ and get the most drop-dead gorgeous snakes you can find, since there are a LOT of ugly womas out there. I've seen ugly womas sell for as little as $400, but the sexy ones still go for $1200 each and should hold their value for a longer time.

I think a lot of it depends on what YOU are going to be happy working with as well, what you are inspired to put your time and effort into and what you feel will be the most rewarding - not just financially - in the long run.

Look at it this way too, Jeremy...there will always be snakes out there to invest in. The market isn't going to suddenly go away, so if you decided to find some nice, proven breeders of a species you're interested in (they don't have to be expensive, just "practice snakes") you could always take next season to try your hand at breeding something just because and learn the fundamentals of snake reproduction before taking the plunge into something a little more expensive.

Good luck!!

K