How do you pay the snake bills?

What do you do for a living?
Do you work with herps?
Is it just a hobby?
Do you want to work with herps?
Tell me all about it!

For me it's a hobby, nothing more... Right now. I work for a fortune 100 company in the IT industry and it pays the bills, but I would really like to breed some ball pythons in the very near future. Just have to wait on the females to get up to size! :) I blame them! haha

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Originally Posted by piper

For me it's a hobby, nothing more... Right now. I work for a fortune 100 company in the IT industry and it pays the bills, but I would really like to breed some ball pythons in the very near future. Just have to wait on the females to get up to size! :) I blame them! haha

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haha.... yeah, i bet it is their fault, lol

I work in a pet store not exclusively with reptiles but that is a portion of it. While I enjoy working there I do feel it putting strain on my animals at home simply because it resembles work more than a hobby now, and I prefer to keep my animals at home a hobby rather than a chore/work. As a result of this I plan to look for work elsewhere soontime, it was a good experience but I dont see it as a career and never want to.


EDIT: Altough I must say the 30% discount off feeders and like 60% discount of Hagen makes the cost of keeping snakes very nominal, that part I will miss :D

I am an editor working on weapons research and development reports for the U.S. Army.

I only have the one ball python (and I had a green iguana growing up as a kid) but I'm fascinated by the genetic play associated with Ball Morphs and I'd love to expand my hobby to include a breeding program sometime in the future. So far I adore owning reptiles and can't wait to expand my collection at some point.

I'd totally work with herps, as my first major in college was zoology (specializing in pack animal social dynamics), but I'm comfortable in my career as an editor, so I guess I will remain an amateur zoologist/herpotologist at home. :)

I consider it a hobby and hope that in the future when I begin breeding I will be able to pull in enough money to build the hobby up slightly, but not to turn it into a business. My goal right now is to get a Herpstat Pro, then start working on my incubator for when my Lesser, Fire, and Pastel are grown enough to breed, the Pastel is getting close (she's at like 1200g) but my fire stopped eating for me at around 700g and it's driving me crazy, so I'm working on a rat breeding program to produce food for her.

What do you do for a living? Computer suppoer
Do you work with herps? Nope
Is it just a hobby? Yep, someday I would like it to me more
Do you want to work with herps? Would consider it for the right money

I let the government pay for my herp expenses. It's a neat trick.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by piper

For me it's a hobby, nothing more... Right now. I work for a fortune 100 company in the IT industry and it pays the bills, but I would really like to breed some ball pythons in the very near future. Just have to wait on the females to get up to size! :) I blame them! haha

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I'm in the same boat. Day job working as a Computer Security Researcher pays all the bills for my hobby. But dont have any intentions of making it anything more than a hobby outside of work :) Hoping to try and breed this next season, not for the sake of money though.

I pay the bills by selling snakes. .:D

LOL no even now we have to come out of pocket more often than we would like..

Nope! I work as an aide pt at my son's school. It is certainly not for the money though. Just to try to help the kids and the teachers out. Plus I get to keep an eye on my short one.

I do this as a hobby...but I do hope to breed eventually. I would love to someday have enough stuff to do a show with my son. Even picked out a name for my company. But trust me I have no dreams of grandor making big bucks....I just hope to make a few dollars and satisfy the hubby that keeps shelling out the $$ for my hobby....:rolleyes:

Just a hobby for sure. There usually IS more out of pocket than brought in if you breed small numbers of snakes. Especially if you do not breed your own food.

100's of breeders and breed your own food, now that may be a different story.

I work full time at a chemical plant to make ends meet. My animals are my passion and hobby.

I am a Monument Engraver, thats what supports my habbits. lol

I got into snakes a few years ago and truly love it. if i could make a living doing it I would but in my area I dont think my living would be great. I do have an out for snakes, but a snake shop with overhead i would go broke. with the few thousand I have put into snakes this year hopfully i will be able to suplument a bit in the future.

Eric

Thought i would add to this.

I work as a kennel cleaner at the stoneyfield vet associates clinic. Its a crap job (pun intended) but it pays the bills...
Even though im 15 and dont have bills....
execpt for my snake bills....:snake:

I work two part time jobs to pay for my snakes, and one full time job to pay for myself. But I also foregoe a lot of things for that luxury. (new clothes, dinners out, entertainment, and A LOT of time).

I had hoped this year would have been the one that actually allowed me to take a bit of a break, in that the snakes would support themselves (or that I would add to the collection through trades, etc.) but that did not happen, and that is fine.

I traded one male snake for a few months worth of feeders, but that was it for this year. Every spare cent goes into the snake fund to improve or expand on my set-up, add to the collection, pay for feeders and supplies.

I breed and keep these animals because I love it, they keep me sane, occupied, and inspired. I give up a lot to keep them, and I would not trade it for the world.

Bruce