Will I lose money breeding ball pythons?

$1500 for 10? That seems a little bit steep unless you are paying a solid 3 bucks a head for rats. In which case, buy in bulk frozen and save yourself a lot of money. I'd say you're closer to the mark of 900 a year just in feeding cost IF you have to order multiple shipments through out the year instead of ordering the bulk of your food. $1500 with say 7 females should not be hard to recoup IMO. Heck drop 1k on a male Champagne and you'll be recovering cost in a lot less time since they are new enough that they will probably stay above $500 per ball for the next 2-3 years. Again, IF you are into those morphs :-) If you plan to only do live, invest a little more upfront and get a breeding colony together, and you should be able to keep your cost a lot lower in the end, but it will lengthen the initial time for a ROI.

Well I estimated high, and the place I get f/t right now is $28.50 for 10 med rats. No shipping though. These are top numbers to tell the husband :) Then when I do it cheaper he will think I'm awesome. Lol.

I started breeding my own rats when I hit a $50 a week feed bill. Now, it costs me less than $50 a month.

I expect to profit in about 3 years. I'm going straight for a high dollar morph. The Mystic Potion! This Christmas I'm getting my Mojave from BHB and hopefully around tax return time I'll pick up a nice Mystic from someone here or more likely from kingsnake.com/classifieds. Ideally I want a breeding pair of Super Mojave and Super Mystic, that'll get me 100% Mystic Potion babies. If the price of them cuts in half in 5 years I'll still be doing pretty damn good I think. Especially when I have several females to throw other morphs into. Any ideas?

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Originally Posted by TheSnakeGuy

I expect to profit in about 3 years. I'm going straight for a high dollar morph. The Mystic Potion! This Christmas I'm getting my Mojave from BHB and hopefully around tax return time I'll pick up a nice Mystic from someone here or more likely from kingsnake.com/classifieds. Ideally I want a breeding pair of Super Mojave and Super Mystic, that'll get me 100% Mystic Potion babies. If the price of them cuts in half in 5 years I'll still be doing pretty damn good I think. Especially when I have several females to throw other morphs into. Any ideas?

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Sorry to tell you but mystic potions are not high dollar combo. I have seen them sell for less than 1400 bucks and if you are starting with the base combos by the time they get up to size and you actually hit on the potion they will probably be a low end combo. In a year they went from $3K to $1500. The ball python market is not that great right now and I hope it turns around. My buddy was offered a male banana for 6k in Daytona this year. I have been breeding for a few years now and I am still in the negative but I enjoy this hobby so I am ok with it.

I've got some good reading material for you if you are interesting in the economics of Ball Pythons breeding:

On the Economic Viability of Ball Python Breeding

A Continued Analysis of Ball Python Investment

Poop on the Shelves

Imagination, Luck and Opportunity

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Originally Posted by elbee

Hi friends,
I had a question for you guys and gals who have taken this leap before me. Will I lose money breeding ball pythons? I'm not planning on it being a main business, just a hobby to break even and maybe a little extra. Right now I have a male pastel, albino and piebald ready to breed. My het pied female may be ready next year and my pewter the year after that. I'm planning on adding a female ivory and maybe some hypo stuff. My concern is, in 15-20 yrs will people even be buying the morphs I have? Even pieds are getting cheaper already. Will I be able to make money selling babies from a few clutches a year? After putting food into the parents and babies? I'm not worried about my cost for the initial snakes because they are my pets as well. Just thinking, any thoughts welcome. I don't plan on getting rich. I just want to break even and enjoy the ride. Watch them develop and grow. And I won't sell a snake if I am not certain as much as I can be that they will have a proper home. I hope I don't keep them all...lol.

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I know how to make a small fortune in ball python breeding...










...start of with a large fortune:D. Sorry, I couldn't help it.

You can absolutely make money breeding ball pythons. I've done it and November 30th will be five years since I received a paycheck from someone else. I think some people have false expectations and add up what they expect to make. Just know that not every female will produce, you may get slugs, you can't deposit your babies at Chase bank, etc. Be realistic.

I would suggest you keep working, invest in morphs you like, don't go into debt, and enjoy. Slow and steady wins the race. Hold back animals your produce, invest in new morphs, and grow your collection. Over time with good decisions and some luck you can be successful. How many people in this economy would benefit from a part time income on top of their regular job?

Thank you everyone for the replies! I'm excited to get started.

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Originally Posted by elbee

I figure about $1500 per year just to feed 10 adult snakes. Assuming they all eat a medium rat per week, 50 weeks out of the year. This is averaging rat size of course. Then water conditioner, packing paper for substrate, heat... Really I just need to justify the feeding bill per year.

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That projection is a bit much IMO for feeding ten snakes. Here is my rough yearly upkeep(I buy live rats weekly for 8 snakes.)

$1-$2 avg price for rats - Mine personally range from feeding pups through mediums. My rat breeder charges me $1 per rat on average so $8 week. 52weeks x $8 = $416/year for rats. If you are not buying from a supplier other than chain stores or local reptile shops I recommend finding one in your area or looking into breeding your own, you will cut costs immensely here. I realized i would be paying >$800 a year for my 8 snakes if I bought from the local herp shop, now I'm closer to $400 a year.

Substrate - unprinted newpaper. I have personally seen the prices on this range from free to $2. In my experience I use roughly 1 roll per 3 months for my collection. 4 rolls/yr = $5-$8 substrate/yr

water dishes - I use plastic deli cups from fabrikal, I believe i paid ~$17 for 100 cups. you'll have to get creative to keep them from spilling. These are easily cleaned as well as replaceable and should last you a while.

I personally do not use any type of water conditioner for my snakes. I do let the water sit out for at least a day to let the chlorine evaporate off but I do that due to my avid indoor gardening.

I believe that puts my yearly upkeep - electricity at <$500/yr. These snakes can be kept economically, just gotta be creative and use your brain a bit.