Making Money Without Ball Pythons

[sorazme]

So I'm wondering is there anyone on this forum who breeds, sells, or focuses on things other than ball pythons, or snakes in general? I recently thought about dropping out of ball pythons and other snakes and focusing on geckos. Mostly because the upkeep cost is a lot less than my snakes. But it seems like all the money is in ball python morphs. So who makes a living or a good chunk of money breeding other things?

[ktaylor89]

I was thinking the same think last night. I'm interested to hear what everyone says!

[1nstinct]

I plan to breed balls for a little untill I have my own place with more room, then I plan on working with carpets and GTP. I will still breed ball pythons I just like GTP and carpets a lot also and do not have the room for the cages to house carpets and GTP right now.

[Valentine Pirate]

Go to any of the gecko, chameleon, bearded dragon, and/or any other herp forum and you'll find others who work with species other than snakes and BPs. Dart frogs, skinks, uromastyx, the list goes on and on. I know of a couple of friends of mine (not breeders, just hobbyists) who don't work with snakes because they lack "personality." It's their cup of tea, I love my snakes.

BPs do indeed make a big market in and of themselves, but trust me, they're hardly all there is

[ChrisS]

Most people don't make a living or a big chunk of money breeding snakes, lizards, frogs or what have you. The best thing you can do is find what makes you the happiest and breed that. Then the money coming in will be bonus.

[aldebono]

I also breed dart frogs. Honestly, I have made more money selling feeder insects and plants for vivariums than darts. I also currently make more money selling the rats than balls.

[meeistom]

Simple answer yes you can with no problem at all. Haven't bred bp's coming up on 3 years and make more $$ now then ever before. Feeders, and supplies make more $$ for us then bp's ever did.

[OctagonGecko729]

We sell a variety of animals and are only just now branching off into BPs. Our BP females won't be ready for another 1.5 years at least. You definitely can make money without having snakes but just as with BPs the average breeder is going to make minimal profit.

[Evenstar]

Most people don't make a living or a big chunk of money breeding snakes, lizards, frogs or what have you. The best thing you can do is find what makes you the happiest and breed that. Then the money coming in will be bonus.

Exactly. I plan to breed my boas. And I want to work with Angolans and eventually with Eastern Indigos as well. But I really don't plan to work with balls at all. There are a couple of morphs that I like, but even the high end morphs are becoming so common. At shows, all you see are balls and more balls. For this reason alone, I want to work with something different. Plus I have a hard time dealing with picky eaters, lol....

But, seriously, if you don't work with what you love, you'll burn out. Don't breed balls because you think that's where the money is. It's not worth doing it at all if you don't work with what you love.

[kevinb]

I love balls, but my true love are retics (which unfortunately I can't keep because I live in New York) and bloods/short tails. I find a borneo so much more gorgeous than most ball morphs. I will have plenty of balls when I can have snakes again, but I just love bloods and short tails with how girthy they get and ill tempered at times