Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone here make a decent living solely as a reptile breeder? I'm just curious. I've loved them my whole life but I've never considered it as a career choice. I'm just wondering if it's even possible. I understand that it would require a huge amount of work, but trust me, if it were possible, it would be better than putting a huge amount of work into a job you hate. So, anybody? Can it be done? Is there enough of a demand?

While I personally just got my Ball Pythons to successefully breed for the first time this year, I know for certain that there are a number of reptile that make a living solely on breeding reptiles, especially when combining certain rare color mutations and creating new ones. If you have the money to invest and are willing to take the time to learn about what needs to be done in order to get them to breed and maintain there then sure you could make a living off of it. If you dont or cant make the space to house dozen if not hundreds snakes then I wouldnt bother. If you do decide to get into breeding snakes Id suggest starting an internet based business because you can reach a larger amount of people interested in whatever species you may be breeding. You also got to take into account of what type of species you want to breed how many young they have and if they lay eggs or have live young. You also must take your local laws into account and if your going to run an internet based business the laws of the other shipping too. You dont wanna accidently ship a snake that is illegal in one state get caught as the sender, in can carry heavy fines and embaressment. Anyways if find my information helpful at all and would like somemore let me know but I have to go for now. Good luck!
Justin (Sac,Ca)

It can be done. It would not be easy, it would require a pretty big investment before you could start breaking even or making a profit, and would be far from a sure thing.

You'd have to find a good balance between volume of stock, and how high-end you could go with them. If you try to hedge your bets with a ton of easy breeders like corns and pueblans, you won't make much money off most offspring (but a lot of those offspring will require as much resources as a more costly animal). If you go for the big bucks on, say, a pair of high-end morphs, you're screwed if they throw a bunch of slugs or you don't win the genetic lottery, etc.

In general, I'd say it isn't impossible, but I wouldn't quit your day job right off .

There are some that do make a living but it is also somewhat of a hard living. I personally know 2 big breeders that do it for a living but also, their spouses have to work still. Also, count in the fact that you would need at least 750-1000 breeder snakes to start with, a steady income of customers at either all times or as much as possible, and be able to work anywhere from 60-80 hour work weeks.

Also remember, your customers that buy snakes to breed from you will become your competition.

Honestly, I wouldn't even ponder the thought. There is so much breeding going on out there, that in time, we may see more supply than demand. I am not trying to be negative but just commenting on how I see things.
-----
Genesis 1:1