Guaranteed Money

One thing I'll say,

I don't have a huge collection or a high end collection for that matter, with the cost of equipment, feeders and the snakes themselves, I'm about 6k in so far

I spent around £6-700 on feeders, cleaning supplies and substrate last year alone


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I understand there is cost involved, i have ran a business before, successfully for that matter. I wanna get myself set up in the right path in order to be able to pay for that cost and expenses.

Questions like this reminds me of the motto or the Mystery Writers of America. Crime does not pay--enough. :D

In the bp game, there's no way to be guaranteed money.

You could get the most expensive male, raise him up and he might not want to breed,

He might go off food and not get up to size,

He might breed and the female could either, not ovulate, ovulate but slug out or lay a clutch and the eggs might not go full term.

You could get into the 'hottest' project but the value of that project will fall before you hatch anything.

I don't think you'll find the answer you're looking for


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Originally Posted by Jamiesniper

In the bp game, there's no way to be guaranteed money.

You could get the most expensive male, raise him up and he might not want to breed,

He might go off food and not get up to size,

He might breed and the female could either, not ovulate, ovulate but slug out or lay a clutch and the eggs might not go full term.

You could get into the 'hottest' project but the value of that project will fall before you hatch anything.

I don't think you'll find the answer you're looking for


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I feel most of this could be true with any animals. Animals are largely unpredictable, you can't force them to breed, guarantee they won't get sick or control their fertility. I'm really curious if any of these people that are buying snakes for 10K+ ever have problems breeding them... I think I'd be devastated... though I can't see myself ever spending anywhere near that much on a single animal.

Projects that I've been told will always sell include a lot of the older recessive stuff; albino, pieds, clowns etc.

I'd really like to hear Deborah's take on the market. What does it mean to understand the market and to evolve with it? Does that mean paying attention to what sells and staying up to date on combos/new morphs that are produced?


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Simple don't do it. You nor the snakes will be happy. If you are just in it for the money.

People here make a living off these. Of course we all,have love for the animals. But at the end of the day some people here look at the money as well. And we all know that. No need to tell me not to do it. Again I'm looking for advice as for projects that always sell that's it

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Originally Posted by kxr

I'd really like to hear Deborah's take on the market. What does it mean to understand the market and to evolve with it? Does that mean paying attention to what sells and staying up to date on combos/new morphs that are produced?

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Understanding the market means understanding what sells and where to sell it, selling online is different than selling at shows, while low end animals do great among show goers, high end animals with a high price tag tend to do very poorly unless you are selling at one of the bigger show (Tinley, Daytona etc which are very expensive). Low end animals are harder to sell online as most people will not pay $60 in shipping for a low end single gene co-dom male, so those animals do not sell as fast and by the time they do (if they do) you will have more money in them than what they will sell for.

Now because something sells does not mean you should jump right in and produce it, there are the ever popular spider and bees for example, they sell however the market is saturated with them so finding something that is in demand is high and the supply low is really what you want to thrive for.

Now once you understand your market you have to be able to evolve with it, this is a very unique business and the market itself is always evolving, increase in number of breeders, decrease in prices etc and you have to keep up with all of it and in order to remain competitive you must continually reevaluate your collection, re-invest and upgrade your animals.

Over the years I have seen a lot of people that thought that once they bought their breeder animals they would just keep making the same amount of money with them year after year and of course when they did not they blamed the market. Obviously those people cannot quite understand the market (which is a simple supply and demand) and the fact that the prices inevitably drop each year.

To be able to compete you need to have better animals replacing the normal with single gene females, the single gene females with double genes one etc this allows you to make higher end animals and make animals that are in high demand while the market has not be saturated with them yet.

I've been watching the ball python market now for a couple years and I can tell you one thing, the prices fluctuate like crazy! I picked up some snakes for $1,200 that a year later are selling for $600. And some I bought for $500 are in high demand and low supply, I could probably sell them for $800 or more. And as snakes age, in particular females, they can triple in price as they get older.

I think the key to the ball python business or any reptile business is to diversify. Don't produce too many of one particular animal and saturate the market for that particular animal. From what I've seen the sub $500 snakes are the 'bread and butter' of the business, variety is the key. If I walk up to your table at a show and you have a bunch of snakes that are all the same I doubt I'd buy one unless I'm looking for that particular snake. Every time I buy a new breeder it has to have at least one new gene in it to diversify my collection. You can also diversify by expanding outside of ball pythons which many breeders are now doing, maybe pick up some dwarf retics or boas or king snakes.

You'll also notice that most of the high end snakes are produced in very low numbers. Once their numbers increase the prices drop like a stone in water. I've actually seen prices for a particular morph plummet over night. Then when people stop producing them the prices can actually increase again. It also seems like it's seasonal, when everyone is producing the price drops, then when the supply is low the price jumps up again.

To maintain prices I'd say you have to try your best not to undercut competitor prices, people will under cut your prices, etc. until the bottom falls out. I'd say target mid range prices and hold out for the cheap ones to sell.

I've also noticed that very consistently most prices will fall year after year. I think if you want to keep up with the high end stuff you have to invest in the new morphs coming out every year and sell off a few of your low end stuff. I'd say you probably want 10% high end snakes, 20% mid range and 70% low end (cheaper snakes) to satisfy the demands of the market.

I'd say investing in reptiles as a breeding business is almost as risky as the stock market, maybe even more risky. I've heard of people buying a $20,000 snake and by the time it's ready to breed the babies are selling for a mere $200. But if you hold out you can still make your money back, it just takes a little longer, you'd have to sell 100 babies to break even.

From my perspective in the UK . .. the fabulously flourishing Royal market actually CRASHED in 2016 !

Were seeing lovely Lessers and Mojaves / Mohaves going for £35 each or less !

Even the old Classics like Albinos are half the old accepted price .. Of course the new paint schemes are still attracting good prices but even they are considerably lower nowadays .

The " in things " are now the Hoggies !!!