Posted by:
brdfreak
at Fri May 28 16:00:49 2004 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by brdfreak ]
I bought an adult male and a sub adult female for 475 total cost. Therefor, I didn't have the expense of raising them from babies. (that was a big mistake BTW as most of you know the female is the one I believed infected my dragons with adenovirus) ....... SO.... I had them for about 5 months before they bred and she laid 4 clutches totaling 99 eggs. Out of all of those 1 died in my care and I gave one to my daughter so I sold 97 babies. Well, sold SOME of them. I found that there were really more people willing to trade for other reptiles than there were people who wanted to buy. Which is fine if you are trying to build a collection. I had to buy 3 incubators.... $150... cages ran me about 40 bucks.... I spent I think a total of around 750 on crix and can't recall how much on suppliments or greens but I think it was like three bottles at least of repcal and one bottle of herptivite.... another 50 bucks at least on supplimenst alone.... My electric bill I figured with just the adult cage running was around 30 bucks a month and jumped another 20-30 when the babies cages were fired up.
I sold a 10 lot of the first clutch for 200 to a pet store and put an add in the paper and sold I think it was 4 or 5 for 75 each. I kept one of the nicest females and traded the three that were left for a hypo boa. Next clutch i sold some with full cage setups in the paper for 150 and made about 60 or 75 on each one of those I belive is what I had figured up. Also usd some free classifieds and sold a few on there for 75 dollars each and wholesaled the rest for 275 plus shipping. Next clutch I started selling to the local pet stores as the paper ads weren't responding anymore and was getting 3 for 100. I also traded 5 to the pet store for a 75 gallon aquarium that had one end broke out and replaced that for 15 bucks. I also sold the rest of this clutch to the wholesaler for 300. Last clutch mostly went to the wholesaler for 375. I used the snake as trade material later and got a nice male plus another male for the snake and 150 out of my pocket sold the male for 100 and basically got the nicer male for 50 later I sold him for 350 after he had fathered a cluthc for me. I also used the money I was making off of the babies to purchase a few more subadults which I later sold and made money on though It was only about 200 I cleared on the sell of the adults. Later, I sold the original female for 275 and the male for 200 so I made my money back on them other than the food I put into them and the lighting I paid for.
I also got a really nice female sandfire/red from Chris that bacame gravid through exploits and would've definately made money on those babies if the adeno thing hadn't come into play then.
What I did was get them old enough and big enough to sell them and the ones that didn't sell quickly I wholesaled within 2-3 weeks of putting them on the market. Since they were a Snow/Hypo cross they sold fairly well in my area because there just aren't very many people with dragons available other than normals. They didn't sell very well online which is why I had to look at a wholesaler.
Is It a good idea to buy adults? If you take the necassary precautions and don't breed them untill you're sure they are not sick (assuming you've done you're homework and know what to look for) it could turn out all right. I at the very least made back my money and ended up with some nice subadults that would have made me extra money had it not turned out my colony was infected with the adeno.
I guess it just depends on how you handle what you're doing and if you can market them successfully and diversify if things aren't going as you expected. As far as making money in you're first season of breeding I wouldn't count on it ( unless you're a hustler). I'd say that is more of you're corner block to begin building your collection and buisness upon. Just make sure that your animals are healthy and you have studied hatchling care well enough to not make serious mistakes.
Robert Wood
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I know you like to think that your $h1T don't stink but bend a lil closer see your roses still smell like poo poopoo
( OutKast )
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My 2 cents. Kinda long... - brdfreak, Fri May 28 16:00:49 2004