Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, for some reason lately I've been thinking about what I want to do when i'm done with high school and college and everything. The original plan was to just get a job and try to earn some money playing drums around here and surrounding cities, and then eventually becoming a music teacher or something like that.

Recently I've been starting to change my mind. I'd still like to play drums and all that, but as for the day job, I feel like I'd be happier doing something reptile related, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a really nice reptile shop (with mail order as well), but it seems like it's nearly impossible to do with all of the costs involved in getting started and plus the relatively low demand. Does anyone here (possibly a business owner or something) have any insight as to the whole starting a business thing.

I've got a lot of time to think about it and whether or not I'd actually do it. There's a lot to it. This is what I've come up with so far:
-what reptiles to stock/how - if I had the time and experience I could breed some or most of the reptiles for sale, but that seems like it might be more costly than buying from a distributer, which brings me to my next thing.

-distributors - how do you find the right distributers and whatnot? I suppose I'd need to find distributers for supplies. I don't think all of my supplies would be necessarily made by reptile-specific companies. Plus, I'd need to figure out if I was going to buy crickets/rodents wholesale, or attempt to breed them.

I've got a long time to figure out what I want to do, but I thought I'd ask some questions. One thing I know not to do is get over stocked. There's this one local reptile shop that is just filled to the brim with animals. He doesn't have enough space for them all and ends up with a lot of them being overcrowded or in cramped living quarters. If I ever did do it I'd make sure that the animals came first.

Just curious.

Well, from what i've heard (and from watching a couple small reptile businesses start up and go under in my city) is that you can't stay in business by selling reptiles alone. Maybe if you also had an online shop you could get around this, but if you are strictly a local shop you need to sell more than just reptiles.

If a person buys a $50 reptile and then never comes back, you'll go out of business quickly. You need to keep people coming back for things they need. The best way to do that would probably be to branch out and sell supplies for all aspects of pet keep (bird supplies, aquarium stuff, ect), since those animals are a little bit higher maintenence than reptiles.

I'm not speaking from experience, but that's just a couple of things i've observed. Good luck if you do get into the petstore business. I'm a senior in highschool and have thought that it would be a fun business to get into. I think what i'll do is become a doctor of some sort and then when i have the financial ability, start a shop off to the side.
-----
Scott,
Proud owner of
1 Bearded dragon (Lance)
2 Rats (George and Lenny)
5 Red Belly Piranhas in a 75g tank

There is a place by me that deals with just reptiles called The Reptile House. And they have been there for years and do really good. They also own The Bird House so maybe the birds carry the reptile section of it. But they seem to do really good. There is nothing but reptile stuff in that part of the shop. The other shop has nothing but bird stuff. But they do sell custom cages and some really nice animals.

Running a business is a little hard, my dad's got a computer business (small business, he owns, we make and sell computers by order *custom pc's that are real good*).

I think that maybe if you mainly focused on Reptile's then you might be good but you'd also want to carry some other things like Dog and Cat food, Bird food, small animal food (ie hamsters, guinnea pigs, even ferret food).

That may help you out a ton. If you do go into it, put it in a high foot traffic area (where people walk around a lot). Then have a day where people can come in (not a whole lot of people like 10) and if they need to have questions about owning reptiles answered you could tell them what they need to know and recommend a good herp vet.

Just a few ideas. I also thought about doing the same thing.
-----
2 Mali Uromastyx-Ares & Apollo
2 Bearded Dragons- Draco & Hades
1 Saharan Uromastyx-Iris
1 Leopard Gecko-Kalypso
1 Tokay Gecko-Sid Vicious
1 Tarantula-Peter Parker
1 Amazon Red Head Parrot-Pancho
1 African Gray Parrot-Keya
1 Dog-Cheeka
3 Fish-no names
1 Beta Fish-also no name
1 Zebra Finch-Beeps (we used to have 5, but some went on a killing spree).

Herp Vet!

why:
1) hard to find vets that do herp work in many places.
2) as a vet you would be able to care for other animals also.
3) with the training if you did open a herp store you could stand out as "Not just another money hungry #$^%!"

my top three on why... there are others I am sure...
-----
This space reserved for future use...

Actually, I should say "we". Me and Kevin (This is David writing) hope to go together in a business. I (David) am going to go into veterinary practice, and become a bird and reptile vet. Kevin is going to go into business. We are then (in time) going to set up a reptile and bird shop (co owned by both of us) near my vet practice. Hopefully we could do good, but most of all we would enjoy every last minute of it!

David (and Kevin) - KDRKreatures
-----
David and Kevin

KDRKreatures.com
Exotic Reptile Breeders - Specializing in Bearded Dragons

Email

Well, if you are interested in opening a reptile store one day, the first thing you should do while you are in HS and college is work at a petstore. I worked at a 2 pet stores for the last 5 years, working my way up to assistant manager. There is more to owning a reptile store than just knowing the reptiles. You need to know the business part of it also.
If you are serious or once you decide you definately want a store, I would receommend taking business classes at a local college.
Also, like someone said below, someone just buying a reptile doesnt just do it, you need reoccuring customers to buy feeders and supplies. Another helpful tip is to breed your own reptiles, mainly the most popular sellers in pet stores, leopard geckos, bearded dragons, redtail boas etc. If you cut out the middle man, you can lower your prices but make a higher profit. Good marketing skills is always a bonus.
I could probably write a book about this but no need to waste space here. If you have any questions, feel free to email me, mike@totallyreptiles.com
I plan on opening an all reptile store someday but not until I am 100% ready, with enough funding.

>>Well, for some reason lately I've been thinking about what I want to do when i'm done with high school and college and everything. The original plan was to just get a job and try to earn some money playing drums around here and surrounding cities, and then eventually becoming a music teacher or something like that.
>>
>>Recently I've been starting to change my mind. I'd still like to play drums and all that, but as for the day job, I feel like I'd be happier doing something reptile related, so I was thinking it would be fun to start a really nice reptile shop (with mail order as well), but it seems like it's nearly impossible to do with all of the costs involved in getting started and plus the relatively low demand. Does anyone here (possibly a business owner or something) have any insight as to the whole starting a business thing.
>>
>>I've got a lot of time to think about it and whether or not I'd actually do it. There's a lot to it. This is what I've come up with so far:
>>-what reptiles to stock/how - if I had the time and experience I could breed some or most of the reptiles for sale, but that seems like it might be more costly than buying from a distributer, which brings me to my next thing.
>>
>>-distributors - how do you find the right distributers and whatnot? I suppose I'd need to find distributers for supplies. I don't think all of my supplies would be necessarily made by reptile-specific companies. Plus, I'd need to figure out if I was going to buy crickets/rodents wholesale, or attempt to breed them.
>>
>>I've got a long time to figure out what I want to do, but I thought I'd ask some questions. One thing I know not to do is get over stocked. There's this one local reptile shop that is just filled to the brim with animals. He doesn't have enough space for them all and ends up with a lot of them being overcrowded or in cramped living quarters. If I ever did do it I'd make sure that the animals came first.
>>
>>Just curious.
www.TotallyReptiles.com

-----
Mike - Totally Reptiles
www.TOTALLYREPTILES.com
mike@totallyreptiles.com