The link just worked for me. Good read.

I've been in ball pythons since December and I've invested nearly $5000 in snakes, equipment, food, incubators, etc. Mind you, I only have 9 snakes now. I over paid for a few (lesson learned), and got a great deal on a few. I dont expect to make any money off this. I'd like to at least pay for the hobby once my breeding gets going. (The female I bred this last season only had one good egg out of 5 *crosses fingers for this season*.)

A lot of money can be wasted too. Like I said, I overpaid on two of mine. I could have gotten the same quality for probably $500 less on one and $200 less on another. Also, I have 2 right now that are being picky about eating and so I keep wasting frozen rats (gonna go back to live in a couple days for them to get them back eating). You also have to think of how much it costs you in time (and time = money). The feeding, the cleaning, etc. And if your girls slug out or just don't breed...yuck.

Not tryin to discourage you but we dont want you to get disappointed. You have to think of it as a hobby you're willing to throw away money on rather than expect you'll get your money back (and I say "throw away" in the nicest of ways...the money goes bye bye and doesn't come back ).