Will I lose money breeding ball pythons?

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Originally Posted by Dave Green

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?

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How long did it take to get to where you didn't need another job?

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

How long did it take to get to where you didn't need another job?

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It took three years but I invested pretty heavy early on so I had a good start.

Breeding your own rats is definately the best way to save money. where i'm at small rats are $4 and mediums are $5 and thats at the cheapest local spot i know of. so i breed my own and feed 24 snakes a week and it costs less then $10 to keep them fed and in fresh bedding. so i would say for 10 snakes you could most likely breed your own for $300 or so per year. more the first year of course because of building rat racks and such but still way cheaper.

That's awesome. Congrats.
If I may ask, where do most of your sales come from?

You will lose quite a lot of money breeding ball pythons. My parents are blown away when I tell them I sold a pied for $550. But they don't know how much that pieds' parents cost. Or how much I spend on rodents every year.

I started working with ball pythons in 2008. I started going crazy with long-term breeding projects in 2009. This was supposed to be my break-even year. But my het lavender couple didn't hatch any visuals this year, and BOTH of my black pastel x pied pairings failed to ovulate. Right now I've got a lot of hets and possible hets for pied and lavender albino, and they're all vacuuming down mice. Getting 20 hatchlings started? Surprisingly expensive!

So don't do it unless you can afford not to break even for a while.


EDIT: It might be that I'm working with pieds and lavender albinos here, which are recessive. It might be easier to break even sooner with dominant traits that produce either visuals or plain old normals. Dunno.

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Originally Posted by Dave Green

It took three years but I invested pretty heavy early on so I had a good start.

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Did you purchase a lot of breeding-size females up front, or did you grow them all up?

It should be noted that "high quality" does not necessarily mean high end morphs. It can mean a beautiful reduced spider ball, or a pastel that doesn't brown out, or a pinstripe with a solid stripe down its back.

You don't have to invest in something like a banana ball to have a high quality animal. People still buy the "low end" morphs, and they will pay more for an animal that is beautiful, regardless of the morph.

I paid $800 for my pastel butter male, while others will selling for as low as $500. But he is an exceptional example of the morph with high blushing and bright yellows. He will make beautiful offspring that will more than make up for the high price I paid early on. :)

The Mojave I plan on buying is very pretty with bright yellow and very dark(almost black) brown. The mystic I'll be getting next year will be the prettiest I can find. I want high quality mystic potions some day. Maybe I'll get lucky and hatch 2 from the first good clutch. Hopefully I can make a profit by year 3 or 4, but probably not until 5 or 6.

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Originally Posted by 3skulls

That's awesome. Congrats.
If I may ask, where do most of your sales come from?

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95% internet sales as I only did one show this year. It may be 100% internet next year.

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Originally Posted by loonunit

Did you purchase a lot of breeding-size females up front, or did you grow them all up?

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I purchased some yearlings females but most were babies that I raised.

you should check out worldofballpythons.com to find out what genetics you can breed.