Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With all the talk of market crashes I was wondering what they are afraid of?

Loosing money?
Breaking even?
Not making a 3,000% return on there "investment"?
Having people say "I told you so!"?

The way I look at it... even if they drop to "pet quality" they still can be profitable, look at albino burmese... they are selling in pet stores for $250 or more... if an average clutch is 6 eggs, that's 1,500 per clutch, take out 500 for expenses... and you have 1,000 profit per clutch... and if you have a decent colony... you could still make some good money... and work with animals you like... what's wrong with that?

Just kidding, clowns don't really scare me. Obviously, if people are talking about money, they're worried about money. If your about to lay down 20,000 on any type of investment, it's wise to do your research. Like you said, a person can still earn a return, but as so many others have implied, alot of these people will not be around 5 years from now. They don't know what time is involved, or are not willing to put the time in needed to be successful. The thought of not making that 3,000% return within 6 months is enough to scare some people away, and that's good for the rest of us.....let them go! Take care

Paul

They may be selling for 250 in pet shops, but you cant sell them to the pet shop for that. Shops normally pay 125 ea. So now your 1,500 is only 750, granted burms have alot more eggs then 6 eegs. But then you have to also figure in food for the year for your breeders and the space required to house them properly. Now your 750 is looking alot more like 200 if your lucky. Im not saying there isnt money in it, but you would have to breed alot more then one pair to make a living, and then you have much more overhead and exspences. I use to work with burms awhile ago and fell in love with balls b/c of the size. I know you were probally just using that as a for instance but there are many other things to be factored in.Wether working with burms boas balls ext. Even if you did sell them for 250 ea you would have more overhead b/c you would have to market them, and when every one has them there not that easy to get rid of at top asking dollar, Just a thought, not meant to offend any one.

I didn't mean you should wholesale the animals out... but even at 125 you can still make a nice chunk... if you had a collection of 200 animals, 70-30 split 1/2 of the females produce 6 eggs, sell each for 125, you have 50K assuming overhead runs about 100 per animal, you have 30,000 profit. I know a collection of 200 animals could take up a big chunk of time, but, 30,000 isn't a tiny chunk of change either.

My point is... even at the lowest price point, they still can be profitable... people are whyning because they spent $7,500 on a mojave and the next year they had to crash there prices to 2,500 selling there ten babies, for a total of $25,000 which is a 300% return on there money, something seen very rarely in any business. If it was a "real" business... you'd be lucky to get 6% return, or about $450

I agree with what you said but it costs much much more then 100 to feed an animal for a year. I only work with Balls right now and I am in wholesale so i dont pay as much as most would for rodents and it cost me over 34k a year to feed my animals. When i was working with Burms it was also right aound there for half the animals, and if yiur doing it by your self you would need to hire help. Thats all i am saying. But i agree with the Mojave statement.

Where I get my rats, I get medium rats for 1.50 (frozen) assuming one a week, that's $78/yr plus about $20 for heat for the cage... I should consider space into the budget... but, I know most of us keep them in basements, or spare rooms, me included... so "rent" isn't a big issue. That's where I came up with the estimate. I'm sure not everyone is lucky enough to have a rat breeder in there neighborhood... but then again, rodentpro is also pretty cheap with there rats and they ship everywhere...

What are you feeding? Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my.
I feed alot of snakes for about 4K a year.
Jon

After all is said and done lets not forget about UNCLE SAM, he wants his cut of your profit.
Mike Derks