so im wondering?

[mason]

LMAO!!

SALARY?!?!?!


IT takes years to even begin to break even, understand this:

more than half of the people who you THINK make a living from snakes...DON'T

Many of the breeder that people know of or think of as "professional" either currently have, or have had in the past, a very successful 'day job'. I know of big name snake breeders who own contruction companies, landscape gardening firms, IT contractors and consultants (like me) etc etc etc. A lot of breeders EARNT their money elsewhere then put it into reptiles. They have/had another job that pays the bills (mortgage, cars, food AND snake stuff). At some point they 'invest' a large amount of money in reptiles. This reptile collection then, eventually, in theory, pays for itself then begins to make money. At first it will/should pay for it's own upkeep then it provides the dollar bills to be splashed on other, newer morphs to keep the collection "upto date". There are also a small percentage of breeders either spending mummy and daddys money or spending a well off spouses money. Basically what i'm saying is just because you see individuals spending hundreds of thousands on ball morphs it doesn't mean reptiles alone generated that income in the first place and there is nothing to say that the breeders actual bottom line for the business is a negative number (ie yes they made $20 000 this year selling reptiles, but that just means their overall balance stands 20 000 closer to 'zero'

Breeding snakes is an expensive hobby that required a huge cash injection from these individuals at some point. Basically a lot of these people have done very well in their chosen industry in the past or are contuning to do well in a non reptile related trade. The majority of snake breeders never make the jump up to actually making their collection run itself AND make them a living. You'll find for the most part that living is already being made elsewhere by other means OR something done in the past (hard work, the sale of a company etc etc) means they are sat on a pretty sum anddpon't have to sorry about profitability of their snakes too much, as long as morph sales pay for their heating and food anything else is a bonus.

There are not as many people as you would think making a good living off ball pythons alone, and i'd certainly think it may be a bit late to become one now, that bus left in about 1999 i'm afraid, and we weren't on itl


I personally would NEVER want to rely on my reptiles for a living, the trade is fickle, people can be a pain to deal with, animals can takes months to sell. It takes 20 'let downs' to get to one genuine buyer. This means the amount of time it costs you per dollar per sale can be crazy.

What my reptile collection can do though is provide a nice occasional/seasonal boost to my regular income and for the best part pay for the rats and electricity to heat them etc. It also produces the money for new 'investment' in itself to add new moprhs from time to time. Would I like to risk my mortgage and car, my general life on ONLY breeding reptiles?

Not unless I had a few million in the bank AND a few hundred thousand. No.

Going back to apoint made by an earlier poster taking myself personally.

Have I 'made money' sellling reptiles? Yes I have.

IS this money more or less than than the amount I've spent on reptiles over the years?

Nope, not yet it's not.

And i suspect the (honest) answer for many people from the smallest breeder right upto some of the biggest names in the industry is eactly the same as mine.

We do it for the love of them, for the passion we have for them and the enjoyment keeping reptiles brings. the other stuff is a bonus.


I think, if some rich kind person GAVE me a couple of hundred K to spend on reptiles in one hit I could make a return on that inside a couple of years knowing what I already know of snake breeding but for a novice to jump in and do that would not be so easy. It's also not so easy to groew your business organically,(ie start of small, grow and eventually make a living off it). The market moves too fast for this, snakes take time to grow and lose value every day they do so.You still at some point would need to make that huge cash injection. It's a catch 22, the reptiles can't earn you that much until you spent that much on them. Yes there are people making an amazing living at this, but most of them have had YEARS head start on us and most of them made their money elsewhere.


Please, please don't get me wrong, it's possible and it is an amazing hobby and it is possible to earn a living...but realise that theres often more going off behind the scenes than you know