I talked about this last night in a chat room. I was looking to breed leos I have some hypo tangs, an albino and 2 norms. Well I was told its not worth it to breed leos anymore that so many people are breeding them, they are easy to breed and the value of a leos may come down greatly by time im producing them. I do have a love for reptiles and would love to breed but I wanted to have it as a small business with a nice website one day and of course making a decent earning from it. One point people was making is that you can get things like albino, hypos,tangs etc. for whole sale as low as $20 well I went to classifieds and thats just what I saw. Also I can tell that people are not really selling alot they end up coming down on prices alot I see alot of ads for everthing must go, 01,02 leos discounted. How are chances that a person wanting to breed will most likely end up with alot of animals trying to sell? I would also like to know if there is any reptiles that does keep its value and does sell pretty good. With whats going on with leos I cant see how alot of people are going to buy those leos I see for sale for as much as $1000 when next yr they can probably get them for alot less. I see BP's are holding good price I dont know much about anything else except boas.
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Where is the reptile hobby going?>>>>>>>>>>
Replies (23)
bah humbug! I breed/own them because they are FUN! And the little profit on the side isnt so bad, lol.
I love my geckos, they never ceise (sp?) to amaze me.
I do wish I could keep all of the ones that come here, but it does get to be alot of work, and this is the only reason I sell some. If only I were rich and had a HUGE house, I could keep them all, lol.
~Crystal
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Crystal Light (Yes..that's my real name)
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Dusty Windom (Yeap..that's my real name, too)
*Whenever you lose a gecko, just think of it as God building on his own Leopard Gecko collection 
That's why reptile breeding is a hobby for most people. Even if you have a business it is very hard to get ahead, unless you are in a well populated area and have good advertising. I don't think the price of normal juvinile leopard geckos will go below $30.00 in pet stores. So, lets say you live in a well populated area of about 200,000 people. If you were able to produce a 1,000 of your own baby leos all you would have to do is make a name for yourself in your city and have good advertising. You could probably sell all of those leos in the course of a year. That's $30,000.00 just with leos! Now imagine if you bred and sold other popular reptiles such as colubrid snakes or chameleons. If you are a good business person, have money to start your business, and have quality captive bred animals it's possible to do very well. That's what I intend to do! 
Matt
Pet stores are alot different than internet classified ads. Most ads posted are hobbiests, I gaurantee you that you will not find leos that cheap in a pet store. One pet store in a near by town sells Juvinile Albino leos for at least $75.00 a piece. They sell adults for over a $100.00.
PetCo in my area sells leos for $19, and they buy them for under $4
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E2MacPets
http://www.e2macpets.com
$30 for hatchlings and $100 for adolecents/adults in my area Petco, not sure what they buy them for.
In my area there isn't a petco that sells leos.
Petsmart in my area charges 40 for a baby. ANd they're misleading the public by claiming to have "jumbo" leopard geckos. They are just adults, unrelated to the giant strain, that they jack the price up on. 90 dollars for one of those.
Well, I don’t know squat about the snake market, but I can guess why you have seen this trend. BP’s are many times larger than leos, and it takes them a lot longer to reach sexual maturity. It’s pretty simple to hatch a leo and have it in breeding condition within a year. So prices for new leos morphs will fall much faster, as supply catches up with demand.
The simple recessive traits are pretty hot when they first come out, but within a year or two the price comes way down. It seems to me the line-bred traits, like hypo CT and snows have held their value the best in the leo market.
Like someone said earlier. If you don't plan on going big and commercial, say like Albeys, and you want to stay local, it depends on where you are. I know for me, there are shows once a month, and there are maybe 10 breeders, who don't really specialize in anything and breed whatever they like, and personally, i feel that they dont love their animals. For me, if I ever get to the stage where I do become a breeder I think i could make a buck or two, because I wont have a shady past like some of the breeders around here. I mean, it all depends. In my area, I think reptiles are coming back, maybe not so much in leopard geckos, but definately in the larger critters like bearded dragons/snakes. Also at pet stores, the prices are ridiculous. At my PetsMart, its like 70 bucks for a baby albino, and 35 for a regular baby. Then cages/heat pads/ caves etc are all marked up 25, if not 50%. I find this to be more of a hobby more then an actual job. I find it fun, and it teaches me how to manage time and I've learned alot about behaviors, breeding, and traits. I wouldn't change this for the world.
Breeding Leopard Geckos exclusively as a profitable business is not likely, especially if you are going to sell them for $20.00... unless you are Ron Tremper or Garrick DeMeyer, etc. I know Garrick deals in many other reptile species, and Ron Tremper has his other business, Center for Reptile and Amphibian Propagation (C.R.A.P.) where he mass produces leopard geckos to sell to large wholesale markets like Petsmart.
You are correct in your comment that there are so many leopard gecko breeders (and wanna-be's) out there that the market is saturated, and this does indeed drive the prices down (with the exception of ultra high-end morphs.) Nowdays, anyone who has a pair of leos that produce a clutch or two can say they are a Leopard Gecko Breeder. Let's face it... we do this because we love our geckos, and they are fun to breed!
There are things you must consider that were not mentioned in the other posts on this thread. They are called "Operating Costs." Here is how much it cost me to operate Golden Gate Geckos in 1993:
$1,564.50 New stock purchases
$1,573.14 Feeders
$828.00 Utilities (electricity)
$611.94 Veterinary expenses
$1,372.11 Supplies
$994.27 Advertising
$375.80 Fees, M/C, Visa, PayPal
$870.00 Trade show booths
$663.20 Travel expenses
$155.00 Website host, domain
$$431.00 Forum sponsorships
$9,438.96 TOTAL
Now, do the math. If I was selling leopard geckos at $20.00 each, I would have to sell 472 geckos JUST TO BREAK EVEN! None of the above figures include the number of hours worked. So, let's say I work 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week and want to pay myself $10.00 per hour, that comes to $20,800 per year. So I would now have to sell another 1,040 geckos at $20.00 each to pay myself!
That is a total of 1,512 geckos I would have to sell for the year, and with that number my operating costs would be MUCH higher!!! All I can say is... it's a good thing I am not trying to make a living on breeding Leopard Geckos! LOL!!!
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com
I was told by Kelli Hammack that she produces and sales between 500 and a 1,000 leos a year. Now I don't know if she is talking about normals, hypos, morphs etc. together, but she probably sells them for a lot more than $20.00 a piece. I don't know what her overhead is, but I assume she does pretty good for this being a job/hobby.
I came up with the $20.00 per gecko from the original poster's message, and was just using it as an example.
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com
Hmmmm......let's see. I was looking for some hypo carrot-tails to purchase recently and all the people online were sold out. These are people that are selling geckos for $100 to $600. Me thinks that the hobby is alive and kicking!!!
Besides if you spend some cash and produce a morph that no one else has you'll be doing well!!
" If you wanna play you gotta pay ". All the breeders who get the big bucks have paid big for their breeders and spent the time and energy (and more $). You'll find out after a few years just what you want from your animals. Enjoy them for what they are. You mentioned people dropping prices, etc. The top animals always have and always wil fetch the big bucks, and they should!You've got to get REAL lucky to put two 50 dollar animals together and get something super. Thanks to all for your great responses on this subject. Personally, I still get as much enjoyment from my 50 dollar animals as I do from my 1,000 dollar animals. Then again, I'd rather spend a day with a plain Jane with a great personality than a " supermodel " with an attitude.
You are so right. Thanks for posting!
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com
This last sentence, "Then again, I'd rather spend a day with a plain Jane with a great personality than a " supermodel " with an attitude," went in for the kill on your arguement! You go Dan!! LOL!
Supermodels aren't THAT cute anyway...women should have curves, not be so thin that they're devoid of them.
Does this also apply to female leopard geckos? hehehe
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Marcia McGuiness
Golden Gate Geckos
www.goldengategeckos.com
leopard thats shapely with a large umm bum LOL
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-robin struck
Geckoheads And Geeks
Das right! I work on South Beach, Miami and have to deal with them all the time. It's a rare treat to get one who doesn't have " cranius rectus ". Girls are girls - my favorite ones are real curvy, whether they're sitting on the beach or on a heating pad.
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