Reptile & Amphibian Forums

thanks to all of you i ended up hatching out all 20 of the eggs that my male amel and female ghost parented... i ended up with 3 snows, 4 amels, 7 anerys and 6 normals.
now i need some advice... i have talked to a local pet shop near me - (family owned, breeds their own bearded dragons and leopard geckos)- they know what they are doing, and i don't feel bad about giving them the babies, however - - when i spoke with the guy who controls their reptiles, he told me that he usually pays about 10 per baby when he buys them as a clutch... now, i'm inexperienced and to be honest with you, i'm not TOO concerned with how much i get for them, but at the same time, i'm a poor college student who doesn't want to get ripped off... either way i know i can get rid of them, but does this sound like i am getting screwed with that price? please advise me, i know this place sells their snakes for 4-5 times the amount they are offering me, and i just don't want to be taken advantage of because of my lack of knowledge...
thanks in advance!
oh, and all these snakes are het for hypo as well not that it matters that much (as you all probably knew based on the parents)

>thanks to all of you i ended up hatching out all 20 of the eggs that my male amel and female ghost parented... i ended up with 3 snows, 4 amels, 7 anerys and 6 normals.

At the annual breeder's expo in Daytona, you will find the following prices (on average) for the morphs listed above:
snows $10-15 each
amels $10-15 each (sometimes less!)
anerys $10-15 each
normals $7-15 each

So based on your results you could expect to get $182-300 wholesale for your babies. If the pet store is willing to buy all your babies for $10 (I assume that is right out of the egg as well) then you will actually be getting average wholesale price for them. It's often easier to move a large lot of babies quickly rather than take the time/expense to care for them over the course of a few months. Do the math.. assuming you can get pinkies for 25 cents each (a little high, but some people pay a lot more!) here is how it stacks up:

20 hatchlings times 2 pinkies per week (maintenence feeding level) = 40 pinks per week minimum.

40 pinks times 12 weeks (3 months)= 480 pinks

480 pinks @ 25 cents each = $120

I guess what I'm trying to say is... wholesale the babies NOW for $10 each and you will be better off in the long run. IMHO of course!

>>but does this sound like i am getting screwed with that price? please advise me, i know this place sells their snakes for 4-5 times the amount they are offering me, and i just don't want to be taken advantage of because of my lack of knowledge...

The alternative to wholesaling them all is raising them up yourself and selling them online or at shows. You could get $25-30 for snows, $20-25 for amels, $15-20 for anerys, and $15-25 for normals. If your prices are much higher than this, then most buyers will opt for paying $5-10 more and buying from the 'big' breeders.

The decision is yours. Hopefully others will chime in with their opinions, certainly take mine for what its worth. ;P

Ken said it just like it is, if you can move the whole lot for $10 ea. I'd jump on it.

It can take a lot of time and expense trying to get top dollar. Pet stores may mark them up 200-300% but they also have a lot of overhead and maintenance. They have to make a living at it.

Clint Boyer

major thing too.... i'm no where near being considered any kind of reputable anything... the babies look great, but that's about it... it is more of a hobby for me, a very exciting experience... i was prepared to give them away, but i realized that most of the people asking to have a baby weren't really ready to take care of it, so that discouraged me ---- friends who want a snake because it's free, not because they want to take care of it... i just didn't want to get taken advantage of, thanks for your advice, very much!
next year i will have about 4 clutches (with a friends caramel corn)- and will be breeding my own mice, so i will have the opportunity to really look at the animals and keep some of the beauties and try and take the hobby farther!
thanks for your advice again!

see, i don't know these things, i've seen such a range of prices at different stores, i just didn't know, thank you.
you are completely right... and you wouldn't believe what i have to pay for live pinkies... over 1.30 a piece, thank you so much, i just didn't know, and didn't want to be taken advantage of! thanks again everyone for responding!