Quote Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion View Post
An added bit of advice to make those 3-5 years go by more smoothly--you initial investment should NOT be hatchlings, it should consist of a mixture of recessive hatchlings, adult females, and male co-dom morphs. This will give you offspring in your first or second year of operation, and the money from those animals will enable you to pay for your operational costs without putting in more money from outside. At least, this has worked for me. After my initial investment, my breeding business has been self-sustaining. I have not made back my initial investment (in profit that isn't reinvested), and do not expect to do so for about 2 to 3 more years, but I don't have to put in anything from outside to maintain it and keep it growing.
I agree that buying a few nice normal females (or pastels) and a few single-gene males is an inexpensive way to get some production in the first few years. Adult single gene males are readily available and very affordable. Because they are so common it is also perfectly plausible that you can find quality animals (rather than poor breeders that are being sold off). This wasn't really the case a few years ago when males pastels (or similar) were still pretty pricey. Back then they were the animals you were investing in, not something to fill the time. The nature of the business has changed enough that this is a viable alternative to sitting around for 3 years spending money. You'll have to figure out the extra caging costs, extra food, cost of acquiring the adult (or sub-adult) animals to really see how it will profit. I haven't checked the numbers but I'm nervous that purchasing professional caging will wipe out most of the money you make.

Of equal importance is the ability to get some practice with egg incubation. Many breeders make incubation mistakes early on and you'll be able to mentally endure it better if the eggs you just lost aren't worth $1,000 each.