Becoming a Professional Breeder: Is it too late?

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Originally Posted by Ladydragon

thats what the pay looks like on paper my dear. Union pay is a large package pay.. your physical take home pay is less. Hubby is a Union sheet metal worker in NY. he looks fabulous on paper, however, his take home pay is much less after distrubution to all the various things in the package, ie. medical, vacation, annuity fund, etc. So there is no running out and getting a major expensive morph snake and a porche. Just food for thought.

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That was actually my take home pay :) Ironworkers differe from others. Every trade differs in how their pay is deducted. After taxes, health insurance, and everything is deducted by our check, we get about 74-76% of our check in actual pay, vs. our inuity, vacation, pension, etc. You just need to play it wise. A hard lesson learned by some. Instead of taking all of your paychecks, and buying ridiculous stuff you want. Spend it on the necessities, and bank the majority of it. You never know when work will slow down, or come to a halt, and if it does....unemployment does run out... I've learned the hard way.

One thing to list with at least Ironworkers pay, if you are considering that part of the trade (I don't know any sane person that would consider it :8:)...0-8 hours of work a day is straight pay. Anything worked over 8 hours a day is time and a half. Anything worked over 10 hours a day is double time. Saturdays worked is time and a half all the way up to 8 hours a day, and anything after 8 hours a day is double time. Sundays worked is double time allllll day. This is how we get in our overtime pay, vs. other employment, where you get overtime pay for anything over 40 hours a week worked.

Heres my 2cents... I just finished my 4yr degree and suggest you go to college. If you want to be a professional breeder youre going to need some start up $$ and quite a bit of it. No offense but your fresh out of high school and not many bankS are going to give you 20k to start up a business when you have no credentials. I suggest the community college route. No matter what your concentration is the first 2yrs of college are the same any place you go.The best side of the CC is the cheap price... Around here its like 2500-3000 for a yr at a CC. If youre paying for college yourself youre gonna need loans. You can save 30-40k just by going to a CC. This decision also gives you time to figure out what it is you want to do with your life so you know when you go to apply to a 4yr

The problem I see with kids I went to school with is they got a degree in one field but work doing something completely different. If you're going to pick a subject specific job then make sure its 100% what you want to do. My brother got his 4yr & masters in elementary ed and then decided he wanted to teach gym and had to go back and get a second masters... long story short hes 90k in debt and has a 45k job. For this reason I chose Business Administration for my major knowing its pretty much universal throughout. I got lucky and landed my job 3 yrs ago but the hard part isnt finishing school... it's finding a job once youre done with school.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

I should have thought to ask. Did you actually apply to other universities other than Guelph? Just because Guelph turned you down, doesn't mean everyone will. Guelph used to be, and I assume still is, one of the hardest schools to get into, generally has a wait list on most of their programs, and offers animal husbandry courses you just can't find anywhere else in the Province of Ontario.

You used to be able to do community college and if you picked the right program, use that to springboard into a good university. Not sure how that works these days (it's been more years than I want to admit since I graduated high school in Ontario). Have you spoken to a good guidance counsellor at your school?

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Yes, I did, I applied to the university of western ontario, and waterloo, which are both even harder to get into! Thanks for the advice everyone, I'm thinking community college is probably the way to go, and hopefully THAT can get me into a good university!

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Originally Posted by Ladydragon

thats what the pay looks like on paper my dear. Union pay is a large package pay.. your physical take home pay is less. Hubby is a Union sheet metal worker in NY. he looks fabulous on paper, however, his take home pay is much less after distrubution to all the various things in the package, ie. medical, vacation, annuity fund, etc. So there is no running out and getting a major expensive morph snake and a porche. Just food for thought.

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Yeah and don't for get the taxes in that bracket as well.....:O

TO the OP of this thread. If you are interested I will give you some info on income from breeding income. I will not release my income in public. Just not somethign I will do. ut it has bought me my house. I will not give you what my income is but I will give you an idea.

I will say Reptile Breeding is fun for me. I love shows. I meet people that vend shows that say they hate it. I ask them why do it then.

Is there money to be made in this hobby? Yep. But you have to do what you love to do. TO get into this hobby just to make money....99% of the time you will fail. Becuase the cost is up there also. YOu have to think. Food for animals, Cleaning supplies and caging. Electric bill, Gas bill, ect......

I am not one that will buy a morph of ball python to breed becuase it is worth more. I love Ghosts(hypos) combos. Like the honey bee and Carmel Glow. I am not a fan of te Albino Combos.


Some people will say you can not make money breeding snakes. But then again hundreds of people do it every year. You just have to do what you love to do. If you like four leggers do four leggers. Youknow