Hobby to a full time job

How many of you start breeding snakes as a HOBBY and now it's a full time job? How many of you actually make a living off selling ball pythons?

Reptiles started as a hobby for me and eventually became how I make a living.

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

Reptiles started as a hobby for me and eventually became how I make a living.

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WOW? do you remember your first morphs? How long have you been doing this?

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Originally Posted by coldbloodaddict

Reptiles started as a hobby for me and eventually became how I make a living.

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Same here, November 30th will be 5 years since I received a paycheck from someone else!

Any tips on how to start? lol I mean it's a hit or miss depending on the morph right?

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Originally Posted by MrBrute

Any tips on how to start? lol I mean it's a hit or miss depending on the morph right?

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Where the market is now it would be tough. I'm guessing it has been extremely tough since the first captive bred Bp was produced. To make a living off of it nowadays, I think you would have to invest atleast 50k. You would need to set yourself apart from everyone else with exceptional animals, and extraordinary customer service.
Go listen to the latest episode of Herp Herp Horray.... Ralph David talks about today's market. Listen to as many episodes as you can. Listen to reptile radio.... I have them all on my IPhone and they are all I listen to while I'm driving. Go in YouTube and watch the Ball Game. It talks about the monetary aspect of the industry.
In today's market you need money to make money. You need patience, dedication, knowledge and to learn as much as you can.
Everyone I talk to says its next to impossible to make a full time living out of it anymore, unless you have no overhead.
Good luck, and as long as you enjoy it, you can make a living..... But don't quit your day job.... Atleast that's what I'm told.

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Originally Posted by BleedingOrange36

Where the market is now it would be tough. I'm guessing it has been extremely tough since the first captive bred Bp was produced. To make a living off of it nowadays, I think you would have to invest atleast 50k. You would need to set yourself apart from everyone else with exceptional animals, and extraordinary customer service.
Go listen to the latest episode of Herp Herp Horray.... Ralph David talks about today's market. Listen to as many episodes as you can. Listen to reptile radio.... I have them all on my IPhone and they are all I listen to while I'm driving. Go in YouTube and watch the Ball Game. It talks about the monetary aspect of the industry.
In today's market you need money to make money. You need patience, dedication, knowledge and to learn as much as you can.
Everyone I talk to says its next to impossible to make a full time living out of it anymore, unless you have no overhead.
Good luck, and as long as you enjoy it, you can make a living..... But don't quit your day job.... Atleast that's what I'm told.

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ok nvm lol I'll just stick to my day job lol Thanks!

Definitely started as a hobby for us. However, I still work full time and then some but I am finally starting to see a return on my investment.

My my quite the inquisitive one you are today!

Breeding isn't my job, but I wouldn't mind it one day.

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. Also, there is a big gap between a hobby and a full time business. I think there are many people who have turned their hobby into a part time business. How many people in this economy would benefit from a part time income on top of their regular job?

Just started my collection and my mind is always running through my next steps to become a hobby breeder. I have 3 BPs with more to come. My father is building my rack system and in 2 years I expect to have my first clutches. #1 on the list to breed. MYSTIC POTION

started snakes when I was 15 and it still a hobby but I know we made between trades and sellnig afew snakes about 1500 bucks . but it all wipped out between buying rodents and one snake gonig ot the vet ( onn his second trip next week) . I wish I had the room here ( since i moved ) to start another rodent breeding program lol I could make the money ther ecause at 4-8 bucks each rats are not cheap and mice are small and still hard on the wallet at 1.25 each lol..

I still work full time. Fortunately, my wife helps me with the ball pythons and rats. I think Dave Green hit the nail on the head, you have to keep at it. Don't go into debt, build more each year. Learn all you can and make good business decisions.

I do not agree with others who say you can not make a living at it any longer. There is still a market and with more and more people getting into the market, there is still a way to make a living if you provide good service and quality animals.

This video that Mike Wilbanks made about the business side may help this discussion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYrHOBB5zoY

I fully think you can make a living at it, but you are not going to make a living doing it out of your basement all by yourself. By the time you can make it a living you are going to be putting more than 40 hours a week into it. That is what make the transition for me from a part time business to a full time business. I make too much in my day job to take that leap and put myself on the line. My wife doesn't really have the drive to push her self to work 40 hours a week in a job that she is not accountable to anyone. So we slowly march forward with a slow growth program that may get us there one day.

I break even, that's easy. Making a living: hard and it sucks the fun out of it IMO

In order for just about any business to generate thousands of dollars that can be paid to employees (yourself, the owner, in this case), it generally needs tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in value.

This is not any easy thing to make a living in, particularly because your customers quickly can become your competitors.

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Originally Posted by MrBrute

ok nvm lol I'll just stick to my day job lol Thanks!

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Don't let anything I said be discouraging!! Lol of I listened to what I was told, that there is no way to make a living out of this..... It wouldn't change any of my plans. Like I said, as long as you produce exceptional animals, and offer extraordinary customer service.... You will be alright. If you talk to anyone that does this full time, they have dedicated many many years to this.
I was always told though, anyone can produce an animal..... But you have to sell it to make money. Take an intro to business course, check out a marketing course, learn how to manage money. These are all things you could do even if you only had one male ball python... If you do start to produce offspring, these will help in the long run. And as always.... Have fun doing it.

if you're looking to invest in cool stuff and breed, but don't want to go broke. THIS IS FOR YOU. when you breed your own rodents and are frugal and are passionate....breaking even is fairly simple. making money is a whole different ball game.