Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For the first time ever I've recieved an inquiry about selling some of my animals wholesale.

The specific question was worded "We are interested in your upcoming clutch of Inyo County locale cal kings. Have you given any thought to selling the entire clutch wholesale at a discounted rate?"

to be honest, i'm interested as it seems like an easy way to sell a bunch of babies. however on the other hand I just have a thought process that involves wholesale meaning 15 bucks per snake and them not being cared for very well until they are shipped out... like the snake version of a puppy mill.

anyone have experience with this? how does your normal pricing compare to wholesale pricing? does where your babies end up ever concern you?

I've only ever sold single animals and pairs to various people and am a little lost when it comes to going beyond that. feel free to email if you dont want to post on the forum.

The puppy mill thing is a weird comparison. As puppys are mammals and subject to a different level of care. If people kept puppies in small plastic boxes in racks, they would be arrested.
But that said, yea, the wholesale market for colubrids is bottom dollar and a certain amount of loss is acceptable.
If your concerned with that, then produce fewer numbers and maintain higher prices. If that works, that's the best for the animals.
There are folks out there that produce many thousands of colubrids for the wholesale market. Cal kings are a high percentage of those numbers.

I already produce very few animals and never have a problem selling them all between various classified ads and word of mouth. I usually sell pretty cheap and even give animals away to friends and coworkers looking for their first reptile or to teachers wanting a classroom pet... that sort of thing. I'm really not into breeding snakes for $, but because its one of the coolest things ever imo.

the wholesale concept just makes me picture endless rows of the smallest tubs that are never cleaned... just animal after animal being put in, shipped out, replaced with another, etc. I've seen some of the snakes at pet smart and many look to be in horrible condition.

So i didnt know if my crazy idea of the wholesale world was at all accurate. I guess i just feel places buying countless numbers of animals at rock bottom prices couldnt possiby care about each individual animal. maybe if I tried to charge say 20 bucks each versus 10 bucks each, any wholeseller willing to pay the $ would be more likely to properly take care of the animal.

maybe i'm completly wrong and most wholesellers are on the up and up with nice facilities... I just dont know.

Kingsnakes can be purchased in the 6 dollar range. That's wholesale. My friend produces 11,000 colubrids a year. He likes snakes, but employees are the ones who take care of them. Hes by are not the largest producer either. Another friend told me he produced 50,000 thousand. And there are more. And yes, those are sold to the big pet chains. Sometimes demand pushes the price up a little. That's when they can make some money. Sir, its a huge business.

This hobby (business) is seasonal.

This time of year everybody produces and hatches out eggs.. So there is oversaturation and way to much competition.. People get nervous if they don't sell their snakes within 2 months.

My experience is keep them, feed them, and after the Christmas holidays you will have no problem selling all at a premium.
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

I did the same thing with varanids. When I played to breed a species, I also made holding cages for that purpose.
Its like folks do not think they are going to succeed. So they do nothing to hold and maintain neonates. oh well

Thats probably what i'll end up doing if things dont sell right away. though, I never produce very many animals... usually 3-4 clutches of various things and selling them within a few months is easy.

I think waiting til the wave of babies thats going on right now has died down should make it easier though.

I'm not 100% sold on the wholesellers, but I might send a clutch out just to start building a professional relationship. There may be a day in the future where i'm producing more babies and might be forced to dump them quickly (things happen).

I have about double the amount of caging as I do animals eggs so holding onto them isnt a problem.

From my years of experience.

Be aware that once Thanksgiving comes things shut down until well after Christmas and New Years. Then in late Febuary and March is when things really move fatser and sell better than ever. Those are the best months for snake sales.

I think that people are getting their tax returns and have money to spend. That, and also there is not as much competition and the babies are much bigger by then. You will sell out if you are patient! Posting early is no good! No reason to post on classifieds over and over during Nov-Feb as that just makes it look like you can't sell your snakes.

This market is over saturated this time of year. More snakes than people with money. Also a lot of people won't spend money until they sell their own snakes first..so the wheel turns.
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FR quote:
"Doing the same things over and over expecting to learn something else, is the definition of insanity"

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