Reptile & Amphibian Forums

its been awhile since ive posted but im on here at least 3 days a week reading posts so hi to all the old schoolers.

With the economic crisis and the surplus of animals on the market how many are considering not breeding or at least minimising what they breed this season?
ive heard from many of the bigger breeders that they are only breeding higher end and less common aniamsl, some people ive spoke to are just flat out not going to breed this year and give their animals a year off. i personally have some projects that im going to breed but i wont be breeding any petshop stuff.
im just looking for others opinions.
adam jeffery

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" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

......thought it was just me...

actually , after the crap $ I got offered this year....I actually took like 6 females to the last show and just dumped them to another dealer....like 20/ 30 each....well...it actually came to 20 i think....why not...why breed and feed and get nothing for babies...why add more to the world right?...so yes....I am downsizing corns bigtime....
(and I can't even get anyone to EVER look at any higher dollar or harder to find stuff....they are "just corns" and noone looks.....and the local pet shop hasn't gotten any corns in the last year except once a year ....(from me anyways)....they say they aren't selling corns either....

......year off is a good idea.......

......BUT.....do you feed them all winter or brumate?....because the females are going to lay either way for me...I know it....so....???
DO snake eggs taste like chicken eggs if I make a big omlet?....how about ball eggs???....(I never had the nerve to actually pop and eat snake eggs ((YET))...LOL...).....and I've stood in the room with 2 big handfuls of ball duds and wondered why not...?....

..good luck all.....I chose to brumate....gives me a break...I need it........especially after they rip my gall out in a few weeks.......
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......this will only hurt alot..........

LOL......

>>......thought it was just me...
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>>actually , after the crap $ I got offered this year....I actually took like 6 females to the last show and just dumped them to another dealer....like 20/ 30 each....well...it actually came to 20 i think....why not...why breed and feed and get nothing for babies...why add more to the world right?...so yes....I am downsizing corns bigtime....
>>(and I can't even get anyone to EVER look at any higher dollar or harder to find stuff....they are "just corns" and noone looks.....and the local pet shop hasn't gotten any corns in the last year except once a year ....(from me anyways)....they say they aren't selling corns either....
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>>......year off is a good idea.......
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>>......BUT.....do you feed them all winter or brumate?....because the females are going to lay either way for me...I know it....so....???
>>DO snake eggs taste like chicken eggs if I make a big omlet?....how about ball eggs???....(I never had the nerve to actually pop and eat snake eggs ((YET))...LOL...).....and I've stood in the room with 2 big handfuls of ball duds and wondered why not...?....
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>>..good luck all.....I chose to brumate....gives me a break...I need it........especially after they rip my gall out in a few weeks.......
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>>......this will only hurt alot..........
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>>LOL......

I don't produce near the quantity of a lot of people but I know I will be cutting back. I will probably not only produce less but I will start weeding the collection down to just a few breeding projects and some of my original "pets"
Like everyone else I can't get rid of all the hatchlings.
It's only been a hobby and my goal was always just to have it pay for itself.
It has done that but I can't rationalize the growing number and increasing amount of work for the miniscule amount of return.
When I had half the number of snakes I was making about twice what I was spending. Good enough for a hobby.
Now with twice the work and expense I'm only making about twenty percent more then I'm spending.
And it's getting harder and harder to come up with expense money. I can't even free up the cash needed to buy food.
It's getting upside down way too quickly.
I was asked one time "how many is too many?"
"How ever many it takes to make it a burdon instead of a hobby."
I think I have crossed that line...
I can cut back to fewer animals and have fun again.
I will, of course, still work with these

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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I am definitely not a big time breeder, this is just a hobby.

After what I was offered for top quality Butter Motlies het stripe and other animals (at a recent show), I will not breed all my animals this coming season. I had a wholesaler offer $12.00 each for Butter Motlies het stripe, that is ridiculous in my opinion.

I have a very few projects with emoryi and fewer corns that I will work towards but that is it. I am still going to brumate to cut the feeding cost down, just not breed

dc

>>I am definitely not a big time breeder, this is just a hobby.
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>>After what I was offered for top quality Butter Motlies het stripe and other animals (at a recent show), I will not breed all my animals this coming season. I had a wholesaler offer $12.00 each for Butter Motlies het stripe, that is ridiculous in my opinion.
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>>I have a very few projects with emoryi and fewer corns that I will work towards but that is it. I am still going to brumate to cut the feeding cost down, just not breed
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>>dc

definitely going to brumate !!!! LOL
saves a lot.
You did mention something else I will be working on.
My emoryis, particularily (hopefully) albino emoryis.

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"Resistance is futile"
Jimmy Johnson
(Draybar)
Draybars Snakes

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Great looking amel. We will be breeding our chocolates, hypos, amels and various hets. Nothing spectacular expected this season but still a project that can't sit on the back burner

dc

I am right there with Draybar. I have many animals that I could breed this year but I think I am going to trim back. I'm not going to sell off adults necesarilly, but a lot of the girls will get a year off. I think its going to get worse (the economy) before it gets better. Best wishes to everyone and take care.

Jeremy
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Jeremy Pierce
Shade Tree Exotics
shade-tree-exotics@att.net

Jimmy- I figured those would be high on your list of keepers!
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"

Good luck with that Gall. Keep it if you can.

I has 1 female. Prolly breed her? I hell at parma Pets in clevland, so depends what is around. right now there are a lot od snakes. but females disaappear by spring.

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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com

typing errors....accidental or intentional. There are quite a few, so I thought I'd ask. LOL.
Teasing Tom!
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"

I am teh KING of typos and mis speltings on ebay and IRC. teh is one of my trademarks. Generally when I post in here I write it in outlook and spell check it.

But on occasion I just whip one out!
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com

I have a pair of Kathy Love candy canes that are very lovely. This year I just bred pet store quality and didn't do very well. Next year I may just focus on the high end snakes, but I don't see any money there, either. Like some others, I just want to make money to pay for food for keeping the snakes.

I'd still like to find the perfect female for my Sunglow male...I'm beginning to think she doesn't exist.

I'll also focus on some tegu projects vs snakes.

>>its been awhile since ive posted but im on here at least 3 days a week reading posts so hi to all the old schoolers.
>>
>>
>>With the economic crisis and the surplus of animals on the market how many are considering not breeding or at least minimising what they breed this season?
>>ive heard from many of the bigger breeders that they are only breeding higher end and less common aniamsl, some people ive spoke to are just flat out not going to breed this year and give their animals a year off. i personally have some projects that im going to breed but i wont be breeding any petshop stuff.
>>im just looking for others opinions.
>>adam jeffery
>>
>>
>>-----
>>" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
>>When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.
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Thanks for reading.
Big Tom

www.HerpZillA.com

Since all my pet store stuff is by-products (who breed amels to amels for the PURPOSE of making amels other than GM and the like anymore? LOL) to other stuff, I likely won't make any changes in my 2008 breeding plans....other than keep everything cool a little longer to give the economy as long as possible to rebound before I have babies to sell. Too bad we are so early, eh? Heck, I SHOULD warm them up on Thanksgiving, but I won't.

My higher end projects are for ME - not just for sale - so I'll breed them, anyway.
KJ
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KJUN Snakehaven
Pituophis.net

actually.....

I do......well...did.....

I have a Kathy Love amel bloodred, a Larry Keller sunglow motley and a SerpenCo fluorescent , males...and I breed them to amels....(yes fluorescent fem too)....just to make all kinds of amels...for cheap sales......(for cheap people,,,well,,,they all are).......they don't buy anymore either....

......people want cheap corns,,,so I actually stopped making good corns alot to sell for cheap and went with the ...you want it you got it,,,cheaper ideas.....like...why breed good candycanes for nothing ....breed the candycane females to the striped males and sell them all as normals....?....right......

and stuff like ultramel and ultra lavs, ultramel opals....???.......Ugh.....why bother...????.....

......it's not just corns...it all snakes and reptiles....

.balls are crashing weekly.....and other GOOD ratsnakes I saw just sat a a recent show....I couldn't believe they were even there after a few hours.....I chickened out and didn't buy the rats...I got some male balls....offered cheap prices and got them all......no arguments.......

and as said here....breed the good stuff (balls anyways) for me....keep it all for awhile....at least we can give the good stuff to our friends....???......for awhile anyways.....

......if all else fails...I still got the guys at work still bugging me for snakes to eat.....really.....

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......this will only hurt alot..........

LOL......

I am actually only planning on four clutches for next year. my Cherokee Co females to hypo males my Miami female to red candy cane and my pair of orange candy canes. I have already got people waiting for orange candy canes. I have scaled down a little on the snakes. My son just came and got all of his ball pythons. (woo hoo) the feeding bill just dropped some. Breeding my own feeders has helped alot and the little I make from the feeders is enough to buy food for the next month.
Tom

I'm giving some of my breeders next year off. Not because of a flooded market or the economy though. Some of these snakes have bred the last four years in a row and could just use a year off.

It looks like I might have entered this conversation late, and have not read anyones' responses yet, but will.

I am breeding the same amount as this year. There are a few that I could add to next years list, but have decided to give them an extra year of growing, thanks to the economy.
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****Misty****

www.sneakyserpents.com

"The more things change, the more they remain Insane"

I am not a big breeder at all.. Just someone that works on projects and ends up with some nice project animals.. I certainly pay attention to the trends though... the hobby is taking a down turn because the money is drying up.. the novelty is wearing off and well so is the money..

Regards.. Tim of T and J

i saw this comming last breeding season so i only bred two snakes this year and i still have a few to sell and i'm only asking half of what i got the year before and they are not moving, so i will not be breeding anything this comming season, i allways search the classifieds and it looks like to me that some people are almost giving their animals away for free the economy is so bad, did you see how low some of the asking prices have gotten, and i think that next year is going to get even worse. just my 2 cents.
greg

I will limit my production this year as well. I think I still have 30 babies left from this year. I just cant bring myself to give them away for $10

I will probably trade these off. But next year i will cut back on production as the economy will not improve
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Dan S.
Crotalus & Company-- Captive Bred Reptiles
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