Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm considering opening a small reptile wholesale/distribution business. I know that the USDA regulates any such business which is expected to generate over $500 in sales over the course of a year. I am familiar with their policies regarding hamsters, guinea pigs, and gerbils, as a friend of mine breeds/sells them.
I tried contacting the USDA via their website, but over a week later have not gotten a response. Distributors with whom I work (I own a small pet shop) are understandably less than willing to show their facilities to a potential future competitor. I want to know what criteria my facility will need to meet before I sink hundreds of dollars into making one.

Dont quote me but to my understanding USDA does not in anyway shape or form regualte reptiles so you wont have to met any kind of critiria with them for the reptile end. However they do for certain kinds of mammals for the pet trade, they do not if the inteneded us of those animals is for food whether it be for human or animal consumption. I would expect just on the mammal end to spend hundreds alone in permits for this operation and thousands for caging, buildings etc one thing you need to check into is you zoning if your planning on running it out of you home or garage. I started my rodent buisness in my garage, I wasnt offically run out of here, I was warned at one point by the township that my garage was zoned residential so I needed find a place to move any and all things I was profiting from to a property that was zoned commercial. I was looking for a new place anyway because I had outgrown my garage, but had I not been looking to move I would have lost thousands because of all the money I spent to renovate the garage. Its oversized and I heated, insulted, air conditioned etc etc they knew I was planning on moving and thats why they didnt force me out. But had I not grown out of that space and been looking to move that would have all been taken as a lose had I gotten shut down. You can rest assured if you start competing with other buisnesses and your using a residetial property to do so youll be shut down. Its a very easy way for your competitors to get rid of you and youll have NO ground to stand and fight on. So while your checking into permits and everything else I would check into that as well. You dont want to wind up with thousands of dollars worth of empty cages over a zoning issue. I would figure hundreds in permits alone then thousands on top. When I moved into my new building I dumped 20k into caging and what. I was just kind of winging it without any real idea of what I was doing. if I could do it over again I would have atleast 70k. On top of permits and what not you need to check into insurance, insurance for any kind of buisness is by far more then home or care insurance and thats just to protect the property and goods then on top of that you need liability in case you get sued. Home and car issurance is cheap any kind of buisness they rail you one. I could go through about 9 million other things but those are just a couple to get ya thinking in the right direction. As I said looking back starting a small buisness I would go in with atleast 70k, no less
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Jason & Danica
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Classic Dums frozen feeders

zoning isn't an issue...i live in a small town, and the whole thing happens to be zoned both commercially and residentially. i own a store in town that is in a converted house. the only thing i was really worried about is the usda permits. i know that they do not regulate any rats, mice or insects but i thought that any other animal sold for the pet trade.
insurance is another issue--it is to my understanding (at least from my experience in having the store) that insurance is optional, but a good idea nonetheless. insurance on the store was about $65/month, covering theft, liability and water damage. to get fire coverage, because it's in a row home, would have just about tripled the price. the place i'm looking at using is a single-double home (two half-doubles combined).

The Animal Welfare Act does not cover reptiles, so there is no permit under the AWA for reptiles. However, Bell's hingeback, sulcata, and leopard tortoise interstate travel is regulated under the USDA, so if suppliers are shipping those to you from out-of-state, or you are shiping them out-of-state to customers, those three species need a health certificate within 30 days of travel saying they are tick-free, according to current regulations.

Katrina