How much experience before breeding?

[KingNoFace]

Someone I know is suddenly very excited about snakes and reptiles. They have less than half a year experience with ball pythons and are now buying ball pythons out the wazoo - only to keep them at a friends, or my house, Because he cant keep them at his. Ive already had to take a corn snake he didnt want and almost had to take a baby boa he was going to buy.

He seems actually very interested in reptiles and its genuine but he keeps talking about getting into breeding because its "something he can make money" with.

I offered my help, mostly to make sure the animals are actually getting cared for correctly. I hope I dont seem like a bit of negative nancy or a bitter bob. But Im just worried about the animals, is all.


How much experience did you have when you started breeding and did you do it to make extra cash? Any advice would help! Im no expert by any means! Only been doing this around 2 years.

[J880011]

Breeding anything just for money isn't a good idea. without passion it will be easy to get over whelmed and over run especially if he is already pushing snakes he is buying off on other people. where would he be planning on keeping the babies? as for experience every one a little different but there needs to be a plan a lot of research done before jumping off that cliff.

[JodanOrNoDan]

It is not rocket science to breed and care for these animals. All the information is out there. Buying and breeding the right animals for the market is something different entirely. This requires that you understand cash flow, investing and developing an eye for the animals.

All that said your friend frankly sounds like an idiot. You don't buy animals and have other people care for them. Ball pythons are difficult to actually make money with unless you are either very, very lucky or operating on a huge scale. I am pretty sure every breeder on here actually has a "real" job and most do it because they enjoy it. If they happen to make a few bucks, great. If not, there is always next year.

[KingNoFace]

Breeding anything just for money isn't a good idea. without passion it will be easy to get over whelmed and over run especially if he is already pushing snakes he is buying off on other people. where would he be planning on keeping the babies? as for experience every one a little different but there needs to be a plan a lot of research done before jumping off that cliff.

My Thoughts entirely. I try to remind him that these are not toys, and that the animals need to be kept in proper homes and that he should be keeping them at his own house. he currently has like 8 ball pythons that hes keeping at his friends house and is planning on breeding them. I told him that he only really needs a pair to start. He constantly talks about trying to make super pastels so he can sell them for money, again, hes all about the $$. I think that's wrong. Even his parents have told them all they see him doing is buying random reptiles.

It is not rocket science to breed and care for these animals. All the information is out there. Buying and breeding the right animals for the market is something different entirely. This requires that you understand cash flow, investing and developing an eye for the animals.

All that said your friend frankly sounds like an idiot. You don't buy animals and have other people care for them. Ball pythons are difficult to actually make money with unless you are either very, very lucky or operating on a huge scale. I am pretty sure every breeder on here actually has a "real" job and most do it because they enjoy it. If they happen to make a few bucks, great. If not, there is always next year.

Thank you. I agree with you. I'm Super worried that he is going to get overwhelmed when hes trying to breed ball pythons AND crestys at the same time. I wont be surprised if I end up with another BP soon. I told him that he should keep them at his house and that breeding can be a lot of work when you suddenly have 15 babies that need to be cared for.


I just needed some feedback so I don't feel like i'm being Bitter about this whole thing. I truly am worried about the welfare of these animals. He is always trying to play with snakes and take them out just to take pictures with them and etc. I feel like he treats them like they're toys instead of living beings.

[Oxylepy]

Welcome to adulthood. I have watched dozens of people decide that they want to breed ball pythons for profit. He'd be lucky to break even with his expenses, and the animals suffer for the attempt.

In fact almost every money making scheme you come up with in life will be a failure. It's a very long and hard lesson for many people to learn. And at the moment your friend is burning his friend's electricity, causing you guys to foot his expenses.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

I know people who have owned BP for 5, 10 years and still have no clue.

Having experience means not only being to provide optimum husbandry, but being open to changes as well, it also mean being able to read your animals and be a problem solver when issue arise.


Can you make money? Well this question comes back often and my answer remains the same.

Can money be done? Yes the return can be from a collection that pays for itself to making an extra income, to doing this for a living.

Who are the people who can achieve those different levels?

Those that are passionate, know how to treat this like a business, know how to market themselves, know how to build a solid reputation, know the animals and their genetics (what to do what not to do) know the market, know how to evolve.



Who are those that fail?

Many of them! Those that have no clue, that think they are gonna make money overnight, that have no plan, that do not know & understand the market, that have to be spooned fed every step of the way, that fail to evolve with the market, that have no real passion, that have no patience.....

Now personally yes I am making money however I do not depend on this money even if the extra income is really nice, it did not start that way either I started breeding because there was a morph that I really wanted but could not justify spending $7500/$10000 for a pet so instead I made it. I got hooked withing 2 years my collection was paying for itself and I started making a profit soon afterward, and it only has increased over the years. It's not an easy way to make money, it's a lot of work, sacrifices, and heartache and most people getting into this will fail.

Ultimately if you want to take the plunge YOU will need to do the homework, no one will spoon feed you, tell you how to go about it, what to do every step of the way, tell you what to breed, what make money.....YOU need to do it on your own because by doing so it will demonstrate your commitment which most people lack.

And remember breeding snakes and making money (if you do) is more than just putting 2 snakes together.

In other words YOUR friend needs to figure it out, and no there is no money in super pastels.

[Craiga 01453]

I know you can't stop your friend if he decides to breed BPs, but definitely try to talk him out of it. If he doesn't even keep the animals at his own house and he is talking about money being his motivating factor he is in in for the wrong reasons and is sure to fail at the animal's expense. Maybe show him on this thread and some others that discuss breeding and the time and experience and luck involved to be "successful" financially. Like said above, he will probably struggle to break even. Maybe seeing some facts or threads about the difficulty of turning a profit on a small scale breeding level would discourage him. Money being his motivator would probably be the best way to change his mind as well. If he sees the difficulties in making a quick buck, maybe he will move onto another hair-brained money-making idea that at least won't cause any animals to suffer.
If he's already not keeping "his" animals at home and he is already pawning off unwanted animals, then he has no business bringing more into the world.

[JodanOrNoDan]

I know you can't stop your friend if he decides to breed BPs, but definitely try to talk him out of it. If he doesn't even keep the animals at his own house and he is talking about money being his motivating factor he is in in for the wrong reasons and is sure to fail at the animal's expense. Maybe show him on this thread and some others that discuss breeding and the time and experience and luck involved to be "successful" financially. Like said above, he will probably struggle to break even. Maybe seeing some facts or threads about the difficulty of turning a profit on a small scale breeding level would discourage him. Money being his motivator would probably be the best way to change his mind as well. If he sees the difficulties in making a quick buck, maybe he will move onto another hair-brained money-making idea that at least won't cause any animals to suffer.
If he's already not keeping "his" animals at home and he is already pawning off unwanted animals, then he has no business bringing more into the world.

This ^^^ and I would add please don't enable your friend's BS. By helping him you are just enabling him to get more animals.

[Kroberts10]

One question I have. If other people are housing his animals, who is feeding and cleaning them? If everyone else is caring for the animals, how will he be able to care for a sudden twice as many and be able to deal with ones that are being finicky?

Kyle


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[KingNoFace]

Thank you all for your replies. I tried to tell him the risks and tell him how it is a lot of work, but he will not listen to me. He is a very stubborn person - and always take the advice I give as if i'm talking down to him, despite what the realities might be. Even tho I just state the facts.

He is currently keeping his animals at his girlfriends brothers house who has a boa and actually knows how to care for snakes. I can only assume he is the one feeding/caring for the snakes, since it would require a cross city bus ride for my friend to do it himself.

When he wanted me to keep the boa (that he never bought because I couldnt keep it in my house right away), he offered to pay for its food and etc. Which hints that I was going to be feeding the animal, handling it, and cleaning its cage. Which in my opinion basically makes it mine.

I tried to talk to him about this stuff, he just says he appreciates the advice and then sluffs me off.

Whenever hes around these animals hes CONSTANTLY trying to take them out and play with them, that's why I don't think he understands that these are animals that deserve respect and NOT toys to constantly be played with. He hasn't had a "hobby" before this, so I think hes really just doing it as a "Status" thing, and because he excited about something new. It is like he is only interested in reptiles so he can be "that snake guy"

His plan is to sell the offspring to a local reptile store - which I highly doubt is even a good business plan. Which he doesn't have.

Thank you all for your understanding and comments. He is spending hundreds of dollars because he "cant pass up a deal". What should I do?