Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i read down below that the price of codoms goes down 50% a year, i was planning (more hoping than planning) to buy a pastel this summer so when i start breeding i could start keeping snakes for free (by using my profit to pay for rats, newspaper subription and help alittle with the utility bill). with the price going down is this idea realistic? would i have to be selling super pastels to break even?
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jake

my addiction:
0.0.2 normal ball pythons (lazlo and izzy)
1.0 amelenistic corn snake (zyklon)
0.1 blizzard corn (blizz)
hybrid breeders association
hybrid haven

If you bought a pastel (or any co-dom snake), you breed the male a year or two later. You need to produce and sell at least 2-3 of that same snake to break even and any other pastels you make are profit. It just really depends on how well you do the next couple breeding seasons. Its a gamble, but if you enjoy keeping snakes its alot of fun. You can probably pick up a nice looking pastel for around $500-600.

Kyle

The best way to look at it is...the money comes later.

If you can't afford to spend the money..then don't(Start with normals?).
I mean,there is always the possibility that every egg you get for two or three seasons could go bad...let alone worry over the market price.

Or you could produce enough in your first year to break even.Which makes all subsequent seasons pure profit.That's how it goes.(I know,it isn't what people want to hear...but it's true.)

If one were to have bred several clutches of normals the previous year.Then they could get the pastel male hatchling with the money they made from them...and never have to worry over what the market is on pastels.

gl
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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

Well said.

Kyle

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Charles Glaspie

Tanstaafl:
"There ain't no such thing as a free lunch".
An acronym created by my favorite author Robert A. Heinlein.

You could be breed normals and sell them for $50 each and you should STILL break even or make a profit. Keeping and adult pair of Ball Pythons should not cost more then $150/year. 6 eggs = $300.

?? I'm confused as to why you wouldn't make money with Pastels???

No offence, but please let me know where you can sell normal babies for $50 each. Last I checked, they are worth $8-$12 each, and if a trust worthy person has sexed them, males worth $8 females worth $20. Do your ball pythons have something that the imports dont have??? Dont even try to say they eat better, any breeder (with experiance) will tell you import babies eat just as well as any CB ones do. I couldnt hardly give normals away last year. Plus you have to figure in the fact that the female will have to be WELL fed for 2-3 years before she will give 3-5 eggs. All costs considdered, you would be lucky to break even in 7 years with normals.... and just about the same way with pastels.

Man, aren't you negative. Babies don't sell that cheap, unless your buying them in bulk. I sold my CH babies last year for 40 bucks and I wasn't really trying to hard to sell them.

Kyle

No kidding man! I mean, what pet store are you gonna buy $8 Ball Pythons in? These are NORMALS we're talking about here, so you aren't going to sell them to other breeders in 100 lots and try and compete with CH babies. Know your target market. If you produce 30 normals, who is your target market? Well, sell the males as pets for $40-50 each and either keep all the females or sell them as well-started babies for $75 each. Its not that hard. Just know your target market. Obviously if you are just producing normals, then other breeders aren't going to be your customers. Obvious.

If pet stores sell normals for $100, then they are buying them for $30-40. There are shows everywhere all year long. $20 for a table, you could sell ALL your "pet" Ball Pythons in one show.

If you can't see that crazydart , then you'll probably never make money at snakes anyways, even if you have $20K morphs.

great point!!! If you can't sell you normal males, unload them at a pet store for 30-40 bucks and just keep most of the females.

Kyle

Awesome picture Jeff!!!!
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 Lizards of unknown origin

I have been working with balls for awhile and there is money in every morph if you go about it the right way. I sell to pet shops, i sell my CH or CB babies to them at $25 ea, i have to or they will just go else where to buy. At shows things do sell better, but if the guy next to you is selling CH babies for 15-20 ea and you are trying to get $40 ea most will buy the cheaper animal even if the quality is not there. Most people just dont know any better. I am not saying CB is better then CH, as long as you know what you are doing CH are just as good. You can hold on to females and grow them up and yes they will sell for more, but a few months down the line when bush babies come in other vendore will have the same sized animals out on there tables for $25 ea when you are trying to get $75. Just some thoughts. Still at every show you will have someone looking for a well started healthy animal, and if the vendor knows the background on the animal you can charge more and sometimes get it if you get the right customer.

As for pastels, there will always be a maket for them. They sell at every show. You may not sell out at every show, but if you have nice looking pastels you should sell one a month or so. (thats being realistic)

Keep your prices high eventually it will sell, it just takes time.

Kim
Good luck everyone

I made $600 off my 5.2 from last season - they were just really nice normals. I wouldn't want to have to try to sell off a ton of normals or anything but a clutch or two of good lookin' ones should pull in a nice profit.
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Tosha

"Nihil facimus sed id bene facimus"

6.34.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and gang)
1.0.0 Angolan Python (Anakin Skywalker)
0.0.1 Green Tree Python (Verdi)
0.1.0 Bredls Python (Smurfette)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Desert Tortoise (Pope John Paul aka JP )
2.2.1 Fish (1,2,3,4)
0.0.0 frogs rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.1 Lizards of unknown origin

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signature area

Edited on May 3, 2006 at 17:04:15 by phwyvern.

600 on normals, NICE!! They must have been really clean looking.

Kyle

wow....$8 for normals.......yea....at times..and last year for that all you could get were prepicked through 5 times males and late.......imports even go for $15 now.....

captive USA borns are $30 and up.......I give them to the pet shop at $30...males,poss het males and at times females.......usually the females go to people who want them and give $40......

the pet shop sells imports for $19.99 at times and gives NO guarentee.......my babeis they sell for $69.99 and guarentee them to eat......

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back to pastels........I saw females at table last week for $450......I know males last year went for $400 and up and didn't sell that fast..but they sold.......

this year as always......males $350 and up and females $400 and up depending who you are who you know and what they look like.....also timing makes a difference....at times people just buy more than others......

I made money selling normals at $30 for years.........

each snake costs $50 I think to feed and time is relevent......you just do it or you work overtime at a crappy job for other people......or you go fishing and gardening......which cost and have $0 return.......I spent thusands of dollars a year to fish.....and hey.....snakes paid for it usually.....LOL

.........IF you like snakes buy them IF you love them breed them IF you don't then don't........

and I find it amazing that people can be more negative than me.....hahahahaa
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JYReptiles

Scales-N-Tails Reptiles ltd........Pa

Its AMAZING how negative people can be! LOL!

I agree man, even at normal prices, you can STILL make money at Ball Pythons. Heck, before morphs, what did all the big breeders do? They made 100's of $100-200 snakes and made a measily $100K per year. Not easy money, but it beats digging ditches.

perhaps I didnt do a good job of getting my point across. this is not about being negative. I do breed normals, and sell them... its a hobby. You all say how you sold this for that and what not, but I have delt with pet stores for many years, and know several pet store owners very well. They buy all their BPs for $8-$20, no more. If they had to pay more, they would lose money if they didnt move them fast. Most petstores dont make money on animals, they just dont.... they make their money on feeders, cages, and acessories. If you can sell a BP to a pet store for $50, fine, maybe they have a market to sell them for more.... most dont. All of you said I can sell them for this and that at shows... great, I said you can sell them for good prices at shows, it just costs alot to go to them. Some places only have 1 show a year, others have them every month, but they all have one thing in common... they cost money to have a table, it costs money to get there. You say you made $600 selling 8 BPs, great, I am sure the people who bought them are very happy with them, just as the 100,000 people who bought the ones at pet stores for $50-$100 last year, who bought them for $10 each from an importer. My point was, if you hope to MAKE any money from this hobby that you can rely on, you need to be very structured. Negitive? Just facts here.