On the Economic Viability of Ball Python Breeding

Hey everybody,

I just posted an article on my web site that discusses the economic viability of ball python breeding. It includes a detailed calculation of potential costs over a six-year period in an effort to determine what it take to truly make a profit. If you get a chance, please give it a read (it's fairly long).

It's too long to post on this forum but I'm hoping to discuss it here.

http://ballpythonbreeder.com/2010/04...thon-breeding/

http://ballpythonbreeder.com/images/viability.jpg

Cheers,

Thank you for writing this up! I learned that A) My business model doesn't suck and B) I'm not delusional. <lol>

An added bit of advice to make those 3-5 years go by more smoothly--you initial investment should NOT be hatchlings, it should consist of a mixture of recessive hatchlings, adult females, and male co-dom morphs. This will give you offspring in your first or second year of operation, and the money from those animals will enable you to pay for your operational costs without putting in more money from outside. At least, this has worked for me. After my initial investment, my breeding business has been self-sustaining. I have not made back my initial investment (in profit that isn't reinvested), and do not expect to do so for about 2 to 3 more years, but I don't have to put in anything from outside to maintain it and keep it growing.

Also, when I did the math and figured in bedding and feed, as well as equipment, raising my own rodents came out to approximately the same amount as buying them frozen, but with added labor costs. Remember that your time is worth money, too! Unfortunately, as we all know, some balls won't eat frozen, and hatchlings prefer live, so I do both. But don't feel you're losing money if you buy frozen. Buy in bulk, and buy efficiently, to save money on feeders.

In response to the vet portion of the equation...

Like a farmer, who must weigh and consider the cost of keeping livestock, sometimes it is not a prudent business decision to spend a lot of money on a vet. This, of course, depends on the animal. If its a high end animal, then it may be warranted, while alternatively, if its a low end animal, it makes no business sense to hang yourself with an overinflated vet bill.

In other words, the value of the animal has to justify the cost of the vet.

Brandons Balls.

Loved the article, Colin. Not enough people treat their business as a business.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BrandonsBalls

In response to the vet portion of the equation...

Like a farmer, who must weigh and consider the cost of keeping livestock, sometimes it is not a prudent business decision to spend a lot of money on a vet. This, of course, depends on the animal. If its a high end animal, then it may be warranted, while alternatively, if its a low end animal, it makes no business sense to hang yourself with an overinflated vet bill.

In other words, the value of the animal has to justify the cost of the vet.

Brandons Balls.

---

In general, I agree.

In the world of risk management we avoid spending more protecting an asset than the asset is worth (which is frequently more than just its acquisition/replacement cost). Sometimes there are intangibles that justify additional expense (customer confidence, public perception, etc.), though. I can translate that to also say that a snake is a living thing worthy of vet care regardless of its financial value (e.g. an intangible value). From a purely business perspective it's an easy equation. From a human perspective ...not so much.

I really like the article. This will help me explain a few things to a friend of mine. He purchased a snake from me and I was telling him about some of the cost of certain snakes and so on and he decided to go out and get a bunch with out really looking into the market and the price drops and so on. Now he is breeding rats, 3.12 for 14 snakes of various sizes, and thinks that is going to save him money when at this time he will not save anything because he has immature rats..... Anyways excelent article and nit really lays it out there for the people who think they know everything. Yes a few small bits were left out but you explained that all well, prices going up on supplies and such. So all in all I am going to save that article to show to my friend and then explain it more to him and try to get him to see that what he is doing is going to end him in the hobby if he isn't careful. Thank you again for the article and the excelent breakdown of everything.

Tom

Nice read Colin. Well thought out and on the mark.

Excellent article Colin. This will actually serve as a great point of reference for the many people I talk to who decide to jump into this on a whim.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ColinWeaver

In general, I agree.

In the world of risk management we avoid spending more protecting an asset than the asset is worth (which is frequently more than just its acquisition/replacement cost). Sometimes there are intangibles that justify additional expense (customer confidence, public perception, etc.), though. I can translate that to also say that a snake is a living thing worthy of vet care regardless of its financial value (e.g. an intangible value). From a purely business perspective it's an easy equation. From a human perspective ...not so much.

---

I totally agree. Thats why its hard to work both sides of the fence. On the one hand, you wants to practice good business, and on the other, sometimes feelings win out, even if it results in a loss. The message here is, sometimes money is not the most important thing.

AWESOME entry Colin. Man, I love your blog.
Covered everything I did wrong initially and have since corrected (impulse purchases leading to a bunch of open ended projects), and everything Ive been modeling now in order to have my hobby self sustain. Great read, again. Thanks for writing all that up.

I believe that if you do not feel an animal's value is high enough to warrant veterinary treatment, then you should humanely euthanize it. Leaving it untreated is not an ethical option, and ethics ARE a part of running a good business.

Oh, and of course, it's ILLEGAL to fail to provide veterinary care for a sick or injured animal. Engaging in illegal activities, particularly animal neglect and cruelty, is a very bad business practice.

The value of the animal is not really the issue--when your business involves animals, you have to provide them with medical care if they need it. It doesn't matter if it's a $25,000 morph, or a $25 normal hatchling. Euthanizing the animal is a legal option, but leaving it alive without treatment is not.

So yes--it is simply part of the cost of doing business.

Quote:

---

And then there is the other end of the spectrum; the small breeder with a handful of animals in one of the rooms in his house. Limited time, money & resources force him to make do with what works; random aquariums, mix-and-match water bowls, space heaters and homemade racks. While the setup is otherwise functional it stands in stark contrast to the relatively organized structure and symmetry enjoyed by the bigger breeders. Limited funds force the small breeder to do without a lot of things he would like to have, including more high-end designer morphs.

---

Colin I feel like you've seen my snake room in my apartment when I read this.
Very good post, made me really think about my operation.

Great article Colin, the numbers may work out better if the price of the recessive morph didn't drop so fast. I could understand a co-dom but I think the recessive should hold its value a little longer.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FIREball

Great article Colin, the numbers may work out better if the price of the recessive morph didn't drop so fast. I could understand a co-dom but I think the recessive should hold its value a little longer.

---

Your point is a good one. I gave that some thought, too. In many ways the price drops of the dominant/co-dominant morphs has been easier to predict. No two morphs enter the market at same value and they don't drop on a defined scale so my example was only meant to be general in nature.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

An added bit of advice to make those 3-5 years go by more smoothly--you initial investment should NOT be hatchlings, it should consist of a mixture of recessive hatchlings, adult females, and male co-dom morphs. This will give you offspring in your first or second year of operation, and the money from those animals will enable you to pay for your operational costs without putting in more money from outside. At least, this has worked for me. After my initial investment, my breeding business has been self-sustaining. I have not made back my initial investment (in profit that isn't reinvested), and do not expect to do so for about 2 to 3 more years, but I don't have to put in anything from outside to maintain it and keep it growing.

---

I agree that buying a few nice normal females (or pastels) and a few single-gene males is an inexpensive way to get some production in the first few years. Adult single gene males are readily available and very affordable. Because they are so common it is also perfectly plausible that you can find quality animals (rather than poor breeders that are being sold off). This wasn't really the case a few years ago when males pastels (or similar) were still pretty pricey. Back then they were the animals you were investing in, not something to fill the time. The nature of the business has changed enough that this is a viable alternative to sitting around for 3 years spending money. You'll have to figure out the extra caging costs, extra food, cost of acquiring the adult (or sub-adult) animals to really see how it will profit. I haven't checked the numbers but I'm nervous that purchasing professional caging will wipe out most of the money you make.

Of equal importance is the ability to get some practice with egg incubation. Many breeders make incubation mistakes early on and you'll be able to mentally endure it better if the eggs you just lost aren't worth $1,000 each.

Excellent article Colin!!! I agree with everything in it I hope everyone read's it in its entirety.

Excellent article. You articulated a few points that are rarely thought of by many...

Justin

Colin great tool for all of us to use...One thing that was not in there was the price of a incubator and the tubs abd substrate and a thermostate to control it.. Just another cost..It made me rethink most ofthe projects im in...
Thanks again
Kevin Stoltz

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ColinWeaver

I haven't checked the numbers but I'm nervous that purchasing professional caging will wipe out most of the money you make.

---

You have to be smart about that, too. I use Animal Plastics racks, because they're cheap, but sturdy, and they function well. I just picked up a 10 slot economy rack for $501, with heat and casters, shipped. Add a thermostat for $100, and the bins at $5 each, the total comes to about $650 to house 10 snakes. Now, if you call that 2 male co-doms and 8 females, Just ONE clutch from one of those girls has paid for the rack to house them all. Assuming your morphs sell for $200 each. The food costs for 10 snakes aren't that much, if you're buying in bulk or raising your own. Assume a worst-case scenario where only half of them lay eggs, and you still have 2 clutches to provide funds for expansion, veterinary care, or whatever else you need to pay for.

The cost for feed and bedding for 2 full Freedom Breeder racks of rats and mice comes to $1296 annually (doesn't include the cost of the racks, which was part of my initial investment). That's enough to feed all the live eaters in my collection of 41, and all the hatchlings I produce. I also get 4 or 5 orders from Rodent Pro each year, coming out to about $120 each, so that's maybe $600 more, for a total of $1896 per year in feed costs for a breeding collection of 40 animals. Four clutches of mid-range co-dom X normal feeds everyone.

So yeah--breeding co-doms while you raise up your higher investment hatchlings is totally worth it. 7 or 8 clutches of co-dom X normal eggs covers all of my business expenses, and everything on top of that is expansion. That's just one rack full of breeding animals that can potentially pay for the upkeep of 3 other racks full. With 4 clutches in the incubator right now, I'm halfway to paying for the whole thing for the year.
What's more, because I bought mostly larger females, my average clutch size is 8, not 6. Even better.

Now, don't get me wrong--I have crunched all the numbers. If I hadn't had a LARGE sum of money to make that initial investment, I couldn't be in this position. I don't think starting from 0 is actually a viable way to do this. You really have to have money (as well as patience) to make money with this. The initial purchases of equipment and animals come up to quite a sum of money, and I won't see it back for several more years. But, it CAN be self-sustaining while you're growing it up to do that.

I didnt even read the whole post but thank you so much for all the info!!

My rule for purchsing new snakes or anything for that matter is something that has helped me not lose to much money so far and after this year I will actually be up a little. My rule is, from start to finish, purchase enough enclosures to house what you want to have multiplied by 4. So in my situation that was 8 snakes way back when. Those snakes were placed in the baby tubs, this was after I got out of tanks and actually had those snakes already. Then I purchase the sub adult tubs and adult tubs in advance again multiplied by 4 so I had a lot of extra tubs. I then raised them up and bred them. When I got eggs I purchased one tub per an egg. So again lots of extras. At this point I had a lot of extra tubs and way to many for the hatchlings to fill considering I was selling almost all of them so now is when I will purchase a new snake or 2 and raise them up and breed them and then after that I will sell the babies and again purchase another snake or 2... This rule is great when it is followed but as everyone knows this will not ever happen but I follow it pretty well. As for the feeders I have 2 females per a snake so I will always have extras and they more than supply themselves in food, bedding and everything else needed for them. I think it is something good to follow for the most part.

I found a huge Vision rack to be the most economical commercial hatchling rack I could locate. I also picked up a couple of used Boaphile hatchling racks locally, and that has me set for a couple of years.

The big Vision racks beat out the others in terms of cost per slot, although you have to buy the tubs from them. The tubs aren't very expensive, and are pretty sturdy.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by FIREball

Great article Colin, the numbers may work out better if the price of the recessive morph didn't drop so fast. I could understand a co-dom but I think the recessive should hold its value a little longer.

---

Good catch. I'll add that in.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ColinWeaver

Your point is a good one. I gave that some thought, too. In many ways the price drops of the dominant/co-dominant morphs has been easier to predict. No two morphs enter the market at same value and they don't drop on a defined scale so my example was only meant to be general in nature.

---

Very true but i would go even further and say that even doms and co-doms have artificially dropped in price. First you have to think what the initial cost of the morph was when it was first introduced and how long its been since the first of its kind was sold. I have not been in the (for me at this point just a hobby) ball python game for very long, 16 months and its crazy how much everything has declined in that short period of time! Market crashers are undoubtedly the reason for this. Maybe easier to predict than drops on reccessives but im my opinion both have been dropping unrealistically fast based on how many get produced and how much they were such a short time ago. Great article though, I think I would even have to go as far as to say I think its the best article on anything BP related I have ever read! Very real, very well thought out and very well backed up. I loved it!!! :bow::bow::gj:

Fantastic article! reality usually does dissapoint people when they simply try to make a buck off of breeding animals, whatever species they may be.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ColinWeaver

In general, I agree.

In the world of risk management we avoid spending more protecting an asset than the asset is worth (which is frequently more than just its acquisition/replacement cost). Sometimes there are intangibles that justify additional expense (customer confidence, public perception, etc.), though. I can translate that to also say that a snake is a living thing worthy of vet care regardless of its financial value (e.g. an intangible value). From a purely business perspective it's an easy equation. From a human perspective ...not so much.

---

I agree! These are living animals that make you the money you spend in vet bills! After all, you should be it for the love of these animals and secondly for the money! I would never buy from a breeder that only cares about money! If you don't have the money to pay a vet then thats different but to not to want to hurt profits is just wrong!!