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Money question for the breeders

Clovis

Clovis

Pirate
Hi guys. So I'm still ultra new, it's my first winter with snakes (learning climate control issues in my house is fun!), but I am planning to breed starting in 2 years from spring and I was just wondering...

How many of you manage to cover the cost of your snake habits by breeding?How many clutches does it take you to maintain equilibrium in cost/income? No matter what: year 1 (and probably 2) will be 1 clutch years as I attempt a project breed (I'm happily going to be in Animal Husbandry and Genetics that semester of year 1, coincidentally). I just thought I'd ask and see what input I got back.

Thanks for your time.
 
The last two years, I've had a loss on the snakes. But the last two years, I also bred low-end morphs and was Murphy'd quite thoroughly.
 
Unless you're breeding uber high end morphs right now, I don't think many people actually make money (or much money). I think those that produce hundreds of babies may come out ahead. They probably have wholesale buyers or have a website and go to shows. It's not really a hobby for making money, IMO. I do it for the love of snakes.

Right now the market sucks. I still have babies from 2010 that I haven't sold. That's why I didn't breed anything in 2011. I'm looking ahead to 2012, but I'll only have one or two clutches.
 
I currently have four breeding females and stopped hatching the eggs as of last year. It was mainly due to no longer having time during hatching season. However, being stuck with hatchlings for so long that they ate their way through any potential profit, was definitely an additional annoyance. Even producing some nice Butter and GoldDust Mots, I was still only getting £8 each for them due to the drop in demand over the last couple of years. It took me 18 months to sell my last four hatchlings - that's quite a bit of food to pay for and I came close to having to upgrade them to adult-sized tanks.

I've now done a deal with my local reptile shop, which supplies animals to other shops around the UK. I give them my fertile egg clutches and then they have the job of dealing with the hatchlings. In return, I get trade price on food and goods.

A few years ago my lasses were giving me eight or nine good clutches a year of some interesting (but not high-end) morphs and I had the shop waiting for them, as they had buyers lined up. No trouble selling them - they were straight out of the door after the mandatory three d/f feeds. I definitely managed to fund my Corn-keeping activities for the year with the profit - with a bit of a surplus. However, those were now what I'd call "The Good Old Days"! My feeling is that it'll be a few years before hobby-level breeders see that kind of situation again, certainly here in the UK.
 
As already mentioned, corn snake breeding is not a profit making business unless you are one of the lucky few that have a large facility, snakes in all price ranges and a "name". And even then, they still have to work another job. In all the years I've been breeding corn snakes, I made an $11 profit in 1999 (not exactly sure on the year, but I'm very close). Most of us are in it because we love it and if we manage to cover some of our expenses, that's great. However, in the past couple of years, demand has come no where near supply, and prices have dropped severely, especially the middle to high end morphs.
 
It's definitely a hobby for 99% of the community. I've never posted anything near a "profit", and with corn snakes I never will. They are definitely more enjoyable to keep "for the fun of keeping" :)
 
This is why everyone should keep and breed one pair of green tree pythons every year. The babies will cover the cost of all your corn snakes. Just don't buy any more green trees.
 
fyrefocks said:
This is why everyone should keep and breed one pair of green tree pythons every year. The babies will cover the cost of all your corn snakes. Just don't buy any more green trees.
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Easier said than done, from what I hear! :p

...Yeah, I don't have any other input here, lol. I don't breed, but, if I ever do breed, I don't expect to come close to breaking even, much less making enough to pay for my reptile hobby.
 
Y'know, profit is not what I'm looking for. I can say that I am slightly surprised at how many of you don't break even, though. I'm hoping to eventually get to a place where my snakes can pay their own way. I never (EVER) figured I'd be set up well enough to make any real money on it, though.

It won't impede me from going through with my plans, but this knowledge will help keep me in check when I do start breeding. I'm certainly not here to try and make a quick buck. I adore my reptiles and want to play with their genes and see what comes out!

Thanks all of you for your input, and for anyone else who posts too, I'll keep my eyes on the thread.
 
A side note as well RE: bitsy

I am fortunate enough to have a really awesome reptile store up the way from my house (a constant source of impulse buy snakes) who have already agreed to take any hatchlings I produce for store credit, and pay cash for high end/rare/new morphs that I bring them. The store owner is a really cool guy,(also a corn breeder... he got into the business and was attempting to have one of every morph in his personal collection, and gave up when he got to over 500 corns.), and with how much money we drop there he treats us really well. I've never had a single problem with any of the reptiles I've gotten form him. They take good care of their animals and know their business.
 
I do love a good reptile shop! We hear so many horror stories and it's just great to know that some of us know the Good Guys!
 
bitsy said:
I do love a good reptile shop! We hear so many horror stories and it's just great to know that some of us know the Good Guys!
Click to expand...

We are very fortunate, in that regard. The owner doesn't order snakes from giant warehouses, he has a few mass breeders he deals with (all semi local) but the vast majority of his stock is bred by local hobbyists.They also offer the "bring in your eggs and we'll hatch them, but they stay pretty filled up.
 
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