Why do you breed reptiles if not for the money?

[JodanOrNoDan]

Why breed? To crush your enemies. See them driven before you. And hear the lamentations of their women.

Ah.. Genghis Khan, one of the most prolific "breeders" to ever live.

[AbsoluteApril]

For the men, of course.

Ah.. Genghis Khan, one of the most prolific "breeders" to ever live.

Also... Conan the Barbarian

[DLena]

Because they are beautiful

[Craiga 01453]

ROFL. Guitars and motorcycles produce much better results in that arena.

truth!!!! being a hockey player didn't hurt back in my single days

[Craiga 01453]

I know the title may be a bit misleading but I couldn't think of a better way to articulate what I was asking. I myself plan to breed hognoses starting next year because I find them absolutely fascinating with their personalities and the morphs are stunning. I'm not going in with the mindset that I'm going to be making thousands of dollars even though I have a great number of combos that could produce snows or supercondas. I actually don't see myself making a profit in the 1st season but MAYBE break even on what I've spent on the hogs, feeders, housing, etc and that's dependent on how many we decide to keep as hold backs.

We've talked about breeding ball pythons as well but the market is so saturated that we go back and forth over whether that would be a hobby that would be more cost and time consuming than what it would be worth. Ideally, everyone would like to be in the green, not the red but it's a hobby and we're looking forward to being able to say we produced this or that and share the final result with others while also teaching people.


What makes you continue to breed year after year regardless of whether you have a pair or a dozen pairs?

Thanks for starting this thread. Ever since getting back into the hobby I've always had breeding in the back of my mind. And it's funny that you mention breeding hognose and cite their fascinating behaviors and the oversaturation of BPs as your primary reasons for choosing to breed hognose. These are the exact two reasons that breeding hognose over BPs has been creeping into my head since adopting my first hognose recently.

If I were to breed eventually (still a few years out, if I decide to go that route) I would be doing it as a hobby and with no plans to eventually quit my job and breed for a living.

So that brings me to a question: As somebody who would be breeding for hobby and not planning to keep more than maybe a holdback or two, how does somebody go about selling off the babies? I would be prepared to house the babies until they sold, but wouldn't want to keep them all as forever pets and would want to sell most of them simply to make room and cover expenses. I personally would be leery of buying from a first time breeder with no reputation, so I would imagine it may take a while to sell the babies.

Again, thanks for starting this thread, I'm interested in seeing more replies.

[JodanOrNoDan]

Thanks for starting this thread. Ever since getting back into the hobby I've always had breeding in the back of my mind. And it's funny that you mention breeding hognose and cite their fascinating behaviors and the oversaturation of BPs as your primary reasons for choosing to breed hognose. These are the exact two reasons that breeding hognose over BPs has been creeping into my head since adopting my first hognose recently.

If I were to breed eventually (still a few years out, if I decide to go that route) I would be doing it as a hobby and with no plans to eventually quit my job and breed for a living.

So that brings me to a question: As somebody who would be breeding for hobby and not planning to keep more than maybe a holdback or two, how does somebody go about selling off the babies? I would be prepared to house the babies until they sold, but wouldn't want to keep them all as forever pets and would want to sell most of them simply to make room and cover expenses. I personally would be leery of buying from a first time breeder with no reputation, so I would imagine it may take a while to sell the babies.

Again, thanks for starting this thread, I'm interested in seeing more replies.

You can try here. People know you here.
You can try morphmarket and undercut everyone else.
You can wholesale.

[Jhill001]

For the Women of course.

Beat me to it. lol.

[Craiga 01453]

You can try here. People know you here.
You can try morphmarket and undercut everyone else.
You can wholesale.

All good suggestions. I honestly didn't think of trying here. And figured morphmarket, but was concerned about lack of reputation and experience, so selling might just take more time, increasing my expenses. I hadn't thought wholesale either.
Anyway, still a lot to learn and study before making any decisions. I'm thinking I'm at least two years out, and it's still just a thought...

Thank you, as always.

[andrewross8705]

You can try here. People know you here.
You can try morphmarket and undercut everyone else.
You can wholesale.

I was about to suggest 1 and 2 but not the undercutting. I'm not sure how I feel about wholesale knowing it's just going to someone who will flip the snake but that's the cost of doing business I suppose. You can also look at shows but those will cost you money and you may not sell a single snake. Kingsnake and MorphMarket are good places, just make sure the buyer checks out so you aren't scammed out of a snake and money. Not sure how well undercutting would work or if it would come back to bite you.

For us, we're sticking to online, no shows because the local show here is a hit or miss. We'll be advertising on social media as well. I've purchased a hog that was a bit more than the other based on his pattern when he was a hatchling and it was a risk. Thankfully, it paid off and he's a stunner as an axanthic.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I was about to suggest 1 and 2 but not the undercutting. I'm not sure how I feel about wholesale knowing it's just going to someone who will flip the snake but that's the cost of doing business I suppose. You can also look at shows but those will cost you money and you may not sell a single snake. Kingsnake and MorphMarket are good places, just make sure the buyer checks out so you aren't scammed out of a snake and money. Not sure how well undercutting would work or if it would come back to bite you.

For us, we're sticking to online, no shows because the local show here is a hit or miss. We'll be advertising on social media as well. I've purchased a hog that was a bit more than the other based on his pattern when he was a hatchling and it was a risk. Thankfully, it paid off and he's a stunner as an axanthic.

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.