Why do you breed reptiles if not for the money?

[andrewross8705]

I don't like to undercut either however if you retail and you do not have a rep you either need to have a far better product than the other guy or a better price for the same product.

Touche. I didn't take that into account.

[redshepherd]

I tried breeding a pair for a few months to produce some BEL's. The female ended up not laying with me, and I assumed she was totally skipping this year since it was getting late, and I didn't want to wait another 6 months for her to lay. (I sold her due to her not switching to f/t) Then literally a month and a half after I sold her, SHE LAID HER CLUTCH. It had 9 healthy eggs! I saw photos.

The person I sold her to was keeping in touch with me, but unfortunately he apparently lied originally telling me he was an experienced breeder. Turns out after she already had her clutch, he didn't even have an incubator. I believe he forgot what he originally lied about in his excitement, and was all like "a buddy breeder of mine is going to hook me up with an incubator".... lol. I replied "oh you've never bred before?" and he saw the message and didn't reply until like 2 days later, and finally was sheepishly like "I have bred before". Rolls my eyes.

So I have no idea how the clutch is doing now, a week later, probably totally gone to waste. Just such a waste when I think about it.

anyway

I wanted to breed, just because I wanted the experience of seeing them pipping and taking a million photos of that! And I wanted the experience of having a bunch of baby snakes around and naming each of them. I'm a fan of creative marketing/creating online presence, and doing that for a small breeding hobby sounded fun too. I had three friends and a few followers who wanted a baby from the clutch.

[andrewross8705]

I wanted to breed, just because I wanted the experience of seeing them pipping and taking a million photos of that! And I wanted the experience of having a bunch of baby snakes around and naming each of them. I'm a fan of creative marketing/creating online presence, and doing that for a small breeding hobby sounded fun too. I had three friends and a few followers who wanted a baby from the clutch.

This is similar to why I wanted to start breeding in addition to what others have said, produce the morphs you want. It never occurred to me that is one of the primary reasons. I love the snow hognoses and can't wait to start producing them. That and I also want to take a million pictures of the 1st clutch and hatchling out of the egg so I can say "I produced this! This little thing was the result of my hard work!" then I'll probably come off my excitement high and crash harder than a kid on birthday cake.

My 1st reptile was a leopard gecko and I've always been fascinated by them and when I 1st thought about breeding them the mack snow morph was still brand new to the community and the price tag on some were in the thousands. Then surgery happened so it was put on the back burner. Breeding the leos isn't feasible but hognoses is. My family thinks every snake I have can be bred and will make money. I don't want to turn this into a full time job because then the risk of burnout sets in and that's just too much. Side hobby that possibly makes some money? Fantastic. Hobby? Absolutely.

[Bcycling]

I love how the genetics work and find it fascinating. I like to produce what I keep and sell the rest off or give them to friends. Defiantly money is not the priority right now, but some day it may play more of a part.

[BigJay]

For the most part I breed to create living art. Every single snake is unique and beautiful in its own way. Also I plan on trying to do some trades to acquire new snakes in my collection. The ones I do sell, I do not sell for profit, but to merely fund my collection/hobby for expansion

[Dragoon]

The excitement, the challenge, and the experience. Everyone here should know what it is like to get their first pet reptile, for me I get that feeling with every new gecko, every snake, every clutch, every hatch, and every sale that goes smoothly knowing my effort brings that feeling to the next person. Getting paid is nice but is not in the forefront of my mind, I suppose if it were I am behind on posting available animals. I really post animals two or three times a year.

[cchardwick]

I'm actually planning on breeding for the money LOL. The money will help support the snake business and help to buy more racks and more animals and expand my collection. I'm hoping to support my retirement by selling a few snakes on the side. I also sell grass hay and raise and sell Black Angus cattle, thinking about buying tractors and skid steers / Bobcats to fix up and sell for some bucks too. I'm about four years away from retirement so I'm always looking for things that fit into the farm / ranch life that can bring in a few bucks. Right now my cattle are paying for all my snakes and supplies LOL.

[the_rotten1]

The reason I want to breed is simple. I love my animals. A lot of the reasons others have stated apply too, but that's the most important one. There are morphs that I want, but can't justify the price of. And I'd love to offest my costs, though I'm far from that. Making money would be great, but I doubt I'll ever make a living, let alone a fortune. That's not important. I just want to enjoy my snakes without having to worry about using them to pay the bills, so I don't plan on ever being more than a hobbyist.


I love every snake in my collection. Looking at them brightens up my day and I want to share that with others. The only thing better than being able to care for my animals is knowing that others will have just as much fun caring for the ones I decide to sell. And of course it's always amazing to create new life. Who doesn't love tiny little baby animals? It's just important to plan ahead so you know what to do with the babies. I've had pretty good luck selling locally and on morphmarket so far.

[Miranda2]

I only breed corn snakes, I love the snakes, the challenge and excitement of hatching eggs, the cool morphs. Everything about it but the selling.I hate selling, I dont do people very well, they frustrate me.The people that want all this info and pictures and then dont show up, the lowballers, the ones who want it for free and then expect you to deliver it to them... This is my last year breeding the corns. I dont do it for the money although if I can make enough to pay for feeders Im happy.

[Jhill001]

People complain about seeing nothing but ball pythons at reptile shows and on breeder's sites. I complain about it too, but mom always taught me not complain about something if I didn't have a solution. I haven't bred my Baird's rat snakes yet but next year will be the first time. I know that's not the most uncommon species of snake but it's a little different to some people. I will use the money from those babies to then pick up another interesting species that people don't see as often as I think they should. I'm probably gonna go with either Green rat snakes or some thing else people don't see all the time.