How much $ to get started?

[SquamishSerpents]

Nobody has mentioned the not-so-obvious costs; here's a breakdown of my PERSONAL hidden costs. Please note most are estimates

*a hosting plan for a website - $75-125 PER YEAR
*a web designer if you need one - $500 (This is on the LOW end of things). Also of note, you may need a graphic designer to make up a logo, and design your business cards.
*business cards - I buy mine for $69/1000 cards, though I can get them on sale sometimes for cheaper
*extra hydro & electricity costs - $50/month (Hydro here in BC is STUPIDLY high)
-washing bins out w/ hot water when they get dirty
-extra dishwasher cycles to wash out your snake's bowls on water-changing day
*substrate for your snakes - $25/bale of aspen (ongoing cost). I know aspen is a lot cheaper in the US, but I'm just listing this because people don't think about all these things that add up
*incubator - $170 is what we spent to build our 35-bottle wine cooler incubator. And we're looking at building another, bigger one which will probably run us twice that. Perhaps even more if we can't get our hands on the type of fridge we want.
*extra rent $ if your collection grows enough that you need a "snake room." - $200/month
*table fees to vend at shows - $50-150 PER TABLE, PER SHOW
*vinyl show banner - $150
*show display cases - $700
*gas to get to and from shows - $xx - $xxx. This cost can get pricey!! We're going to vend in Red Deer most likely (August 2012) and the gas alone is going to cost upwards of $300
*hotels when you vend at shows. Again, we're probably lookin' at $500 at least just in hotel costs
*feeders. We breed a lot of our own food (Which also has associated costs & workload) but we do still buy the majority of feeders as frozen/thawed from a local supplier. If I had to guess, I'd say we probably spend about $100/month.


Now I'm not saying that ALL of these things listed above are required or essential. But I think you'll find you won't be selling any snakes if you don't "make a name" for yourself, which includes things like a website, official business cards, and getting your face out there at shows. People don't generally buy from "Joe Blow" on kingsnake.com, you have to actually have a presence in the herp community. Not to say that you won't sell anything, because you will, but I like to buy from people who I know will back themselves up, and will have people backing them up, saying "Yeah I wouldn't hesitate to buy from Soandso, check out her website here!"

We barely sold anything until we did our first show. Even then, our first show was a bit of a flop. Sold 2 corn snakes, which covered our gas $ and table fee. Our second show, was a SMASHING hit! We completely sold out of everything we had in stock.

Anyways. Keep those costs in mind. And perhaps take a look at this thread to gauge weather or not you think you'll be able to make any $ off of this. Out of the 6 options, 45.99% say they are losing $ breeding. 13% make a bit of $ but fire it directly back into the hobby.

So needless to say, I wouldn't invest a whole ton of money right off the bat. (We kinda just did it by accident ) And ONLY do it if you are absolutely in love with the hobby and willing to sacrafice tons and tons of your time. This sometimes means staying in and scraping poop off Sterilites while all your friends go out and party. In my opinion, your animals should always come first.

...I think I'm done.