Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay in order to ensure I have proper funding to breed Leopard geckos in 2004 and 2005 etc I've made a spread sheet to calculate cost.

For 2004 here are my calculations, I've added a couple dollars to everything just incase.

Total cost of items (ie. rack system, heat tape, lighting, containers, male, female albinos, shipping, suppliments etc)
220 dollars

Food cost for ALL my herps:
Approx. 20-30 dollars for the year, ordering online, both a couple thousand meal worms and a thousand or so crickets.

Vet Bills, hopefully none... but just in case Ill keep 50-100 dollars on hand. I'm not going to subtract that fromt he cost though because its not spent or gained money.

So thats about 250 dollars for 2004

Now assuming I get about 9-12 baby geckos (all albino of course) Ill be keeping 6 of them, and I plan to sell the rest for 25 dollars each, but theres no gurantee there. If not I'll seel them for cheaper to my favorite local pet store. so Im going to be anywhere from -56 to -120-50 dollars off. SO yeah, the first year is suppose to be like that.

But the next year, since my male will be from a different bloodline(meaning family, not like bell etc.) I wont have to worry about inbreeding, and I can breed 1 male to 7 females, so no one gets too stressed out. So people say they have trouble breaking even, and it doesnt really matter cause its a hobby but. I've over estimated cost, so ive added extra dollars to everything and for 2005 even if I sell my babys to petstores, or people for 5 dollars, I still make profit?! Am i forgeting something very important? This is assuming I get 70-84 babies that year.
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www.mplionhearts.com

Brian,
Just $220 for all of those supplies? Unless you have some secret source, I don't think it's possible to acquire a rack, heat tape, geckos, suppliments, etc for that little. Are you building your own rack? Because if not, you'll be spending $200 on a small rack alone. Even if you build yourself I'm sure supplies won't run less that $55-60. Heat tape is not terribly cheap either - take into account that you buy it by the foot and have to buy separate connectors for each piece. Using the Bean Farm prices as an example - connector sets are $2.50 each and 4'" heat tape is $2.35 per foot. Factor in shipping. You must then attach it to a thermostat, rheostat, or dimmer. A Rheostat will cost about $25-$30. Dimmers are cheaper but do not work as well, in my opinion. Lighting a rack which is not required) would be an expensive undertaking indeed. Then purchasing geckos - are you going to purchase online or go to a show? If online, you immediately have a $35-$40 shipping cost. We'll say you find albinos for $25 each - a 1.3 group is $100. Then add calcium powder/vitamin supplement, any gutload you use for your feeders, etc. Then you need an incubator to get hatchlings. I suppose it could be done, but I think $220 is under-estimating. And I don't think it's possible to feed them for a year on $20-$30. 1000 crickets shipped is about $18.00, on the very very low end. And those wont last more than a few weeks because they don't have long life cycles. Mealies are about 7.25 per thousand, plus shipping. And growing babies eat A LOT. And by the time you start breeding in 2005, that small rack (assuming that's what you'll be buying/building) will be way overgrown. It takes a lot of space to house 80-90 leos. Unless you raise high end leos, it really is hard to break even. I've invested a ton of money in stock, caging, heating, food, etc. I hope to make a fraction of it back next year. I'm not saying it can't be done, but I would up the budget bigtime. Good luck though!

What size colony of Albinos do you plan to start with ? And what morph ,Tremper,Bell, or Rainwater ?

Nick
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Titanic Geckos

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AIM : LilWoadie2790 ( im always interested to talk to other herpers !)

Well first, I am building my own rack system, and I've calculated it to cost (including heat tame, and christmas lights for the lighting) to be around 70 dollars. Food, well I breed my own crickets, and if theres a problem with the breeding I calculated 1000 crickets in there, 5000 meal worms for the year (not breeding them). I have a rheostat alrey also. And I understand I'll need to expan my 5 shelf 30 qt container rack to probably double that. I'll see how my sales go 2004 before I do any 2005 breeding.

I plan on getting ONE male and ONE female tremper to start out with.
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www.mplionhearts.com

Ok, well offspring could be from 0 to any # ! I have hatched 3 out of 10 eggs, because they were infertile !

Nick
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Titanic Geckos

My Geks Pics

Email Me

AIM : LilWoadie2790 ( im always interested to talk to other herpers !)