Starting a business

[Jmiller250]

I have made a post here before on possibly starting up a local exotic petstore. I am Looking at starting it at the end of this year or the begining of next year.

I want to be a self sufficient store where I breed everything so I know there are no problems with animals and I know where they come from (is that a good idea? it seems like it to me.) It may take a few years to get there completely with the animals. I want to be able to have a large selection of reptiles and other animals would this be the most cost efficient?

[Clear]

It depends on how many animals you want to carry, just a few that I can name that you should carry are.

Gecko's
Bearded Dragon's
Crested Gecko's
Ball pythons
Carpet pythons
GTP
ETB
Corns

Then if you want to breed feeders for them all your need.

Feeder insect (Roaches are the easiest to breed but most people buy crickets)
Rats
Mice

That is a lot of breeding projects! IMO it would be wiser and cheaper to buy most of them but breed just a few.

[Jmiller250]

Yeah, I was thinking of breeding all of the snakes that I was thinking of keeping and some of the lizards and some of the other ones that would be a little harder to breed I would order.

Also all of the feeders would be bred in house also.

[cody2004]

when it comes down to the money you got to look at where your business is going to be (home or rent a place$$$$), then you got supplys(bedding,rat food, cages, hides, water, heating elements, ect., bills(which will rely on where you have your business), it would make since to breed your own meals for them, then are you gonna go with a website, advertise, and then of course price of getting your stock together. going to be ruff start and pricey. wish you the best of luck man,

[Clear]

Lizards are pretty easy to breed also. Your looking at cheaper costs breeding your own (when you sell babies its pure profit). Its hard to know how many of what you would sell which is the down side of starting out breeding your own.

If you are serious about doing it, I would start out breeding only a few and order the rest. After a while your know how many you sell a month and then you can start to target those numbers.

[Jmiller250]

Yeah I understand it will def be pricey. Thats exactly what I was looking at anything that I do breed and sell would be pure profit pretty much except the cost of breeding the rats.

I wouldn't house anything together that shouldnt be. Like when you go to some pet shops they house a couple of snakes together I would make sure there was room for a couple of display snakes and keep the rest in racks in the back and let people have their choice. (would that be economical?)

[cody2004]

well do you plan on doing it at your home or rent a small place?

[Jmiller250]

A small building probably in a strip mall. Where I am located We have a ton of different locations available (Boise, Idaho). They are constantly building new strip malls and I could possibly get into a brand new unit for a lower price due to the economy. I understand it goes both ways with that but I think it could possibly work out if done properly.

[ThyTempest]

I would maybe drop the carpets, ETB's and GTP's from the in-house breeding. They have a more selective clientele that honestly wont buy from a store as willingly as an online breeder. I think a potential addition to the breeding list is Chameleons. They can be tough to keep, but are probably the most easily stressed reptile around, so dealing locally is a big draw for some people. Corns, beardies, cresteds, leos and bp's are a good base IMO. Also, I do recommend breeding all your feeders too, save for maybe crix, since they are cheap commercially, and you will be going through a TON of crix if people don't buy roaches, or you just have a large clientele.

Good luck.

[monk90222]

I think you should also drop the carpets, etb and gtp's....Also you should do more colubrids..kings, milks and corns....