I need some reassurance here..

[Jamie-n-Heith]

Breeding animals of any kind really isnt a good way to get rich.

[WingedWolfPsion]

That depends on whether or not it's something you truly love. Saying it can't be done is implying no one has done it--and that most definitely is far from the truth.
It depends on what animals you're breeding (obviously, you won't get rich breeding cockapoos--but what about race horses, high end herp morphs, or massive numbers of feeder rodents or insects?).
Folks have gotten 'rich' breeding all of these things. It depends on how much capital you start with, how smart your business plan is, the quality of your stock and how well it holds its value, and more than a bit of luck.

You won't be looking at becoming a billionaire, but 3 figure annual incomes are within your reach. Just be prepared for the massive amount of work and space it will require.

[anthonym]

Personally, I collect them because I am fascinated by snakes. I plan to breed my first pair this next season. Dont really care about making any money from breeding as I do well with my regular day job. Just want to get into breeding because I think it would be a fun next step. I dont really consider it losing money to my hobby either, as all the money I spend is well worth the enjoyment I get out of it!

[het.pied]

this is just a hobby so i dont mind throwing money at it. thats what hobbies are for. but if i end up making some money when i start breeding then theres a plus!

[singingtothewheat]

Breeding snakes is much like a trip to vegas. You never get the percents. You may have good luck and you may not. I don't believe it's fair to say someone is in it for the wrong reasons just because they talk money. Your not really paying much attention to things if you think the big guys aren't thinking money. However.......... Thinking your going to get rich on ball pythons is probably going to get you broke.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Really? It's working out exactly as I projected so far. I'm not 'rich' yet, but then, I didn't expect to be at this point. I'm definitely not broke.

The problem is, folks are impatient, and they don't actually create any sort of business plan or breeding plan, and if they do, they don't stick to it. They expect to start making a living breeding snakes in just a couple of years, and it will take at least 6 or 7 before that's remotely possible--and then only if you have 20 or 30 grand to start it up in the first place.

In other words, if this is really what you want to do with your life, then by all means--go for it. You can make it. But do your research first, and don't expect to make money without spending money first. "You need money to make money" is 100% true in this business just as it is in most others. So, you have a big investment of both time and money before you can expect to see enough return to both expand your business, and live off of it. That means that for a number of years, you'll have two jobs, and toward the end of that time, it will two full-time jobs.

Passion isn't enough. You need education, discipline, and deep pockets to get started--and then you need patience, perseverance, and plenty of common sense to succeed.

There's nothing wrong with enjoying this as simply a great hobby--if you're planning for something more, though, then the key word is 'planning'. There's no sense in telling people that they can't do it. If other people have done it, then why not? It makes more sense to explain what's needed to do something like this, in a realistic way.

Plenty of people have tried this, and they failed. The reason why is extremely simple--they did it wrong. They didn't do their research in advance, they didn't have a plan, or the funds needed to get started, or the space needed to maintain biological security...all of those things contribute to that. The fact that they did not succeed doesn't mean success was impossible.

[WingedWolfPsion]

Sorry for the necropost, for some reason this wound up high up on the list, and I'm not sure why. Didn't notice the date. (Was a post removed, perhaps, that might have bumped it?) Oh, well, it's as relevant today as it was when it was posted.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Sorry for the necropost, for some reason this wound up high up on the list, and I'm not sure why. Didn't notice the date. (Was a post removed, perhaps, that might have bumped it?) Oh, well, it's as relevant today as it was when it was posted.

The post was bumped back to the top due to the fact that this is a poll and all it takes to bump a poll back to the top is to vote on it.

[spitzu]

Polls get bumped to the top when someone votes.

[dr del]

Hi,

Given the age of the thread I have closed the poll to prevent it being bumped up again.


dr del