On the Economic Viability of Ball Python Breeding

[WingedWolfPsion]

I haven't checked the numbers but I'm nervous that purchasing professional caging will wipe out most of the money you make.

You have to be smart about that, too. I use Animal Plastics racks, because they're cheap, but sturdy, and they function well. I just picked up a 10 slot economy rack for $501, with heat and casters, shipped. Add a thermostat for $100, and the bins at $5 each, the total comes to about $650 to house 10 snakes. Now, if you call that 2 male co-doms and 8 females, Just ONE clutch from one of those girls has paid for the rack to house them all. Assuming your morphs sell for $200 each. The food costs for 10 snakes aren't that much, if you're buying in bulk or raising your own. Assume a worst-case scenario where only half of them lay eggs, and you still have 2 clutches to provide funds for expansion, veterinary care, or whatever else you need to pay for.

The cost for feed and bedding for 2 full Freedom Breeder racks of rats and mice comes to $1296 annually (doesn't include the cost of the racks, which was part of my initial investment). That's enough to feed all the live eaters in my collection of 41, and all the hatchlings I produce. I also get 4 or 5 orders from Rodent Pro each year, coming out to about $120 each, so that's maybe $600 more, for a total of $1896 per year in feed costs for a breeding collection of 40 animals. Four clutches of mid-range co-dom X normal feeds everyone.

So yeah--breeding co-doms while you raise up your higher investment hatchlings is totally worth it. 7 or 8 clutches of co-dom X normal eggs covers all of my business expenses, and everything on top of that is expansion. That's just one rack full of breeding animals that can potentially pay for the upkeep of 3 other racks full. With 4 clutches in the incubator right now, I'm halfway to paying for the whole thing for the year.
What's more, because I bought mostly larger females, my average clutch size is 8, not 6. Even better.

Now, don't get me wrong--I have crunched all the numbers. If I hadn't had a LARGE sum of money to make that initial investment, I couldn't be in this position. I don't think starting from 0 is actually a viable way to do this. You really have to have money (as well as patience) to make money with this. The initial purchases of equipment and animals come up to quite a sum of money, and I won't see it back for several more years. But, it CAN be self-sustaining while you're growing it up to do that.