Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The owner of the local pet store where I go to college wants to let me work there only on these conditions. I work in just the reptile department which I like that idea, I buy all the reptiles myself and pay for there up keep and she will give me a place to put them and sell them and she will take 30% off the top of each sell. I am seriously thinking of doing this because I would love the money and the chance to kinda run my own business with reptiles. I really want to know if anyone knows a good place to order reptiles. Now I need a place that is not to expensive but is a decent place. I live in Troy, Alabama so somewhere close I figure would be best, meaning somewhere in the southeast. The types of animals I am looking at getting, if I do this, are corn snakes (albino, snow, and normal), ball pythons, water dragons, bearded dragons, vieled chameleons, leopard geckos, maybe some colombian red tails. But basically stuff like that, that is small for the most part and easy to take care of for the most part also. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I hope no one gets offended that I ask for help on this, I am always on these boards and I figured that this is the best place to find people like me but that would know this kinda stuff.

You will be buying reptiles, housing them in the petstore's displays, paying for their upkeep, and doing all their cage cleaning and maintenance with no wage. The shopkeeper gets 30% of all reptile sale $, plus the shopkeeper gets to keep 100% of all reptile supplies sales.

You will have to proceed with caution. Questions to find out the answers to:
1. Who is responsible for the cost of a reptile if it dies? You? The store? The person at fault for the condition that killed it?

2. Who is responsible for the cost of a reptile if it escapes and is lost?

3. Who is responsible for the cost of a reptile if it dies/gets sick in the buyer's care? What guarantees will be offered and who will cover them?

4. What happens if the petstore gets robbed/flooded/set on fire and the reptiles are lost through one of these means?

5. A customer is handling a columbian redtail in the store when it bites him. The customer sues for trauma. Who takes legal responsibility?

6. One of the shop's other employees is doing something in the reptile section when you're not present. Through accident, they cause harm to one of the reptiles. What happens?

7. One of the reptiles gets loose and gets into the rodent cages... who eats the cost of the mice?

8. A customer buys a snake and returns it after a day or two spent in his collection. It comes back to the store covered in mites and infects the other reptiles. Who is responsible?

9. The store has legal/fiscal problems unrelated to reptile animal sales. How much of that are you protected from?

... and so on.

If you get satisfactory answers to all of the above, and any other similar questions that you can think of, then here's some business related questions you ought to consider. You don't want to be optimistic when answering these questions, but rather as practical as possible. If the petstore has historical data on sales, that will be a big help in determining what you can expect...

1. How much should you sell the animals for? You need to make a profit and so does the store. OTOH, if you price too high, no one will buy, and you'll be stuck with an increasing feed bill.

2. How many animals of each kind should you stock? And what times of year should you stock them? Sales records from the shop should have the information you'd want here. You don't want to overstock something, since you're footing the feed bill.

3. Do you have any options on restricting animal sales? If someone walks in and you know that person's killed the last three snakes he bought, can you refuse to sell him a fourth?

4. Given the prices and rough expectations for animal sales, will you make enough money for this to be a worthwhile enterprise? --OR-- If no, will it still be a worthwhile learning experience to you?

5. If Something Happens (TM) and you need to quit or get out of this arrangement for health/family/financial reasons, what are your options?

...etc....

-Kat
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"You keep WHAT in your freezer?"
"Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

In a few years I plan to breed the snakes I do have at home. I see this as a good learning experience. I understand it wont pay what a real part time job is and I do like the idea of keeping a few on the side and selling them myself over the net. That way I can order a larger group and get a better deal and the ones I sale I dont have to give away 30%. What I would like to do is see if she will allow me to start my own business and just use her place as a front or storage type deal and sell what I do sell there. Then sell a lot online and any expos around the area that way I get use to the whole expo and internet sales so in a few years, when I do it with my own animals I have experience. What do you guys think about that kinda thing?
Thanks for all the information so far.

1. You don't know anything about running a business.
2. You don't know anything about running a reptile business.
3. You don't know anything about running a reptile shop.
4. You sound like you're expecting to make easy money.
5. You sound like you're expecting to make money within the first month.
6. You sound like you're expecting to make money within the first year.
7. You sound like you're expecting to make lots of money.
8. You lack a healthy dose of skepticism.

Without knowledge or experience in 1-3, you are almost guaranteed to lose money. And more than likely, LOTS of money. Ever go to a petstore week after week and notice how many of the animals there are still there every week? Ever hear horror stories about people that buy a reptile only to find out it has mites/crypto/doesn't feed/is too mean to be handleable? They're not fiction and they do happen more often than you think.

Do you know that 80% of businesses fold within the first year? That on average it takes 2-3 years to even start turning a profit?

Unless you're prepared to LOSE money on this for THREE years and deal with just about EVERYTHING Murphy can throw at you, don't even think about doing this. Unless you're educated (either by experience or schooling) on how to run a business, don't even think about starting this.

Unless you're prepared for the reality of failure and the consequences it brings, don't let the possibility of success lead you into a venture you can't afford.

I have two friends who each run their own business (one with a business degree), and they'd tell you the same thing.

-Kat
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"You keep WHAT in your freezer?"
"Mice. And rats. If that bothers you, I can call them 'cows' instead."

"8. You lack a healthy dose of skepticism."

That is a statement which could be used more often in the industry.

Chris
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mean people suck

The possible problems that Kat and others mentioned are very real possibilities, believe me (we used to be part owners of Glades Herp, and got to learn all of that first hand!). But if you are sure you want to eventually start a small business and now have a chance to start one very part time and very cheaply, it might be a good idea to actually do it while you are not expecting to make a living at it. Provided that your eyes are wide open to possible probelms, and you are not really expecting to make a profit (most small businesses run in the red for the first couple of years, especially if they are underfunded), then it can be a valuable and relatively cheap way to learn a lot of things first hand that can't be taught at a business school.

But be sure you can answer ALL of the posted questions / possible problems to your satisfaction before proceeding. If allowed to sell the reptile supplies as well as the live animals, you would have a better chance of success - maybe you can negotiate. Many shops look at the live animals as loss leaders to get people into the shop to buy more profitable items.

If you can't afford to look at this as a potentially non-profit(or even financially losing) learning experience, then just try doing an even smaller amount of business at home while learning the ropes. The potential for loss will not be as great for a home based business (that is, if you are very cautious, lol!)

Don't spend more than you are prepared to lose! (You could potentially lose even more than you spend on animals, depending on whether some of those other posted problems descended upon you.) What kind of guarantee will you have? That could pose a risk if you get a bad bunch of animals, or suffer an epidemic of some sort.

Good luck! Be sure to take some business classes at college - many of us would be more successful than we are if we had that foundation before we started.

you make a good point kathy, and this is off topic as far as snakes, but i think it is a good example of epidemic loss.
several years ago i got into raising guinea pigs for several shops here in town and for teachers to use as class room pets, and for just plain ole run, never expected to become rich off them.
i started with 12, 4 males and 8 females.... i started breeding for color. months went buy and i was doing quiet well, so i decided to start breeding different coat types, smooth, peruvian and Abyssinians. at that point i had 32 guinea pigs, who were doing absolutely wonderful.
i had to go out of town had a friend who baby sat for me... i was gone for four days, came back she never told me she let some one come to see my collection....... this person came back and wanteds to buy one, i sold one to her.... a week later she brought him back..... put him in to a room by himself because he had been out of my care..... my "sitter" came over one day to visit and play with the piggies, while she was playing with them she told me the girl who had purchased the pig had found out one of her dogs had contracted coccidia.......... with in a week it had went through my home like mad, i had lost 17 guinea pigs over night........ the rest were taken into the vet and treated, 4 had to put down, and 2 i lost a few days into the treatments.... the rest were seperated and not allowed to breed... what did this cost me?? my entire collection, 750 dollars in vets bills, and the lesson of not letting anyone around my animals, and i no longer take vacations, because i dont want people in my home when i am not here, when some one does come my animal rooms are closed, i have a sign posted on the doors that read "do not enter, my animals are not for public viewing"
i posted this here because as to the original post and the fact something can change "overnight"

Ok just calm down. I am not planning on starting a big business. I am not doing it for just the money. I would be doing it because I love the idea of working with snakes. I am in college to get a real job. This is just for fun and if I dont sell the snakes I keep them, its not a huge loss. So how about you calm down a little.

What if I were to buy some decent looking stuff for cheap and I know thats bad to look for cheap when trying to build a rep but some cheap stuff is not always bad. Then I keep it in my collection and sell the stuff I buy for a little more than I pay. Then I am getting all the money from it and I am also starting some business and getting my name out as a trustworthy kinda person. How does something like that sound?

check the classified here on ks..... you can usually find lots of 5-10 snakes for around $100. At around $49 a snake (average petstore cost) you would be makeing quite a profit....
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1.0 Redtail "Kilo"
1.0 Ball Python "Wilson"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches" (Didn't name her!)

Run it by a lawyer.There are to many things that can go wrong.Get a tax number and do it yourself out of your home.Your going to doing alot of work and your not going to get rich even though your only paying 6 bucks a piece for 25 lot of ball pythons.Then theres mite/tick infestations your going to have to deal with,non eating snakes,etc.Not to mention alot of wholesale farm raised reptiles die within days of being shipped.Been there done it no thanks...Paul
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Taste like chicken

You are not going to ever see more profit in buying and selling reptiles than the 30% you would be giving to the shop's owner. You might make out on this deal or that one, but over the long haul, I doubt many (if any) brokers count on a 30% return on investment.

That being the case, I believe you would end up paying the owner of the store to teach you are very valuable (and expensive) lesson. Do yourself a favor and learn it from us for free...

Several of us have been breeding and selling corns (and other reptiles) for many years now. If there were a surefire way to get it done for more money than we currently draw in...don't you suppose we might have discovered it by now?
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

I love snake and i love breeding them but I'm not in it for the money if i was I wouldn't be doing it....
Definatly run the idea by a lawyer BEFORE doing anything.
Remember if you jump in a pool head first you better make sure there is water in it......
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Cory
Corns
1.0.2 Snow
2.1.2 Anerythiristic
1.3 Normals
0.1 Okeetee
1.1 Bloodreds het Pewter
1.0 Amel
0.1 Banded
0.1 Blizzard
1.0 Milksnake Phase
0.0.13 Normal het Amel
0.0.1 Charcoal
Rats
1.1 Black rats
Lots of mice and rats