Selling rats a a flea market/jockey lot

[ss10gotanks]

I heard from a friend that i buy mice from that she sells her mice at the jockey lot for a dollar and she always sells all of them. My question is have any of yall sold rats a flea market? How much? Im about to change my rat rack to hold more rats so if I can produce more then what im using for my colletion.
Any comments welcome

[deathadder1069]

never done it but sounds like a good idea, at the flea market i go to they sell birds and some farm animals from time to time so why not rats.

[tomfromtheshade]

I don't think that it's worth it. How many rats would you have to sell to make it worth your while? Could you produce that many? What would you do if you didn't sell them? Its too unreliable.

[kellysballs]

We sold rats, some of our ball python babies and reptile supplies for a year before we opened the pet store. We made $6000-$7000 that year. We sold pinks and pups for $1.00 weaners for 1.50 smalls 2.00, meds 2.50 and larges for 3.50 never really had jumbos but we sold the heck out of rabbits at $13.00 a piece.

The only thing is you are going to be at the market for a month or so before people know you are there and sales get decent. Plus you will give up all your weekends. You have to weigh the costs vs benifits. Personally it was a lot of work for not a lot of return. And you need to make sure that you have all the necessary permits.

[tomfromtheshade]

Let's say that you're operating at a 50% profit margin, which is very healthy.

You are selling weaned rats for $1.00 each.

This means that you are making $0.50 per rat.

If you are at the flea market for 8 hours in a day then you would have to sell 116 rats just to make minimum wage.

Do you see how the math doesn't really add up too well in favor for doing it?

You would have to sell 160 rats to make $10 per hour.

If you were trying to make $100 per day you would need to sell 200 rats in 8 hours. That is still only about $12 per hour.

If you need the extra cash you are better off getting a part time job.

I have also only calculate the time that you spent trying to sell your rats. If you could the time that it takes to care for them I am sure that you are losing money.

You just can't sell enough at a flea market to make it worth your while. I know, I have explored every angle.

[deathadder1069]

I had thought about doing that for a while but decided just to freeze off my excess and then as i met people who have snakes or anything that eats rats/mice, i let them know that i have a good supply and give them a good deal on the feeders but i keep it quiet due to regulations on pythons and boas around here. Again im just selling my excess and not having to keep feeding rats that im trying to sell off....not a money maker for sure, at least for the moment.

[azmodane]

It's a good idea but as Tom showed once played out it's not that great of an action. Between the time spent taking care of them, the cost for the travel, not to mention you have to think of when you sell rats/mice what are you putting them in to give to the customer? That's money spent as well. By all means if you have the time and patience try it out, you may have better luck than most of us.