[darkdan99]

once again, i need to sap knowledge from you kind, clever folk. i am looking to get into breeding, and would like opinions and personal expiriances in which speices are easiest for somone new to the breeding game, i have already set up an incubator and i cant wait. judging by the numbers, corns are good and so are royals, also, what would u guys concider a good investment ino breeding (morphs, speices etc)

thanks again o knowledgeable ones!

 

[Blazey]

u'll find most of the breeders on here are going to tell u they dont make a profit, most only do it for the hobby as it costs them more to breed them than what they make selling them.

 

[darkdan99]

i do not intend to make hundreds, just an amount to cover my costs, and by investment, i mean an animal, once breed, i can sell, as opposed to one that no-one wants and i end up left with dozens of growing animals... i wouldnt really mind but my mum would go spare.:lol:lol:lol: however if there is a way to make money in breeding, any tips would be appriciated, but honestly im in it for the "ride"

 

[Blazey]

honestly, ask them, they spend money doing it, i havent seen one thats made a penny out of it. once u add up heating costs and feeding them up to saleable size, u dont really gain much.

i'll leave the breeders to let u know, i think nigel or bribrian was talking about it with reptilerescueden a month or two back

 

[darkdan99]

(im 17 and live at home)
i dont contrabute to house keep/elec parents say i dont need to even tho i wouldnt mind.
so take off heating costs.
i am already fully setup, so i wouldnt concider that a cost either.

the only outgoings i have are initial cost of the animal, and food (i use family salad, and supliment with wild caught inverts) so the cost to me is minimal, and i may be able to make a small proffit (with luck), but even at an outlay, i wouldnt mind because of the love for the animals and my interest into their husbandry. but money is always good.

i dont know how that came across, but the previous post is correct. any proffit is a bonus, to the already rewarding process involved.

 

[royalpython]

hi there,

I'm not experienced, but i do know there's demand. I know nothing of corns, only royals.

Primarily, if you want to make extra, you have to spend a little extra and get some good quality looking snakes. this also depends on a morph you decide to take on.. AND this also depends on how many, like someone has already said.. feeding costs can mount up.. i've 25 snakes at the moment.. my feeding bills are high ~ £70/month roughly. Once these grow older, providing they all eat.. the cost will also rise (along with what i produce). the most profit is made from simple recessive snakes, because they hold their value. Luckily i can afford to keep them, so the mounting costs doesn't bother me.. i love them regardless... and i will continue to.. i'll never sell them!

you mentioned royals...

i'd say pastels, they are still fairly cheap and can produce super's, which can also lead onto better things, but they are also beginning to get quite common.. this lowers the value fast as they are also co-dominant. There are other co-dom's, that i'd say provide value due to the supers they produce.. mojave, lesser platty, pastel - super pastel and more... But, then you can get value snakes where they produce amazing combinations.

to be honest dude.. if you want in it for the long haul.. get into double hets, this means buy different morphs.

 

[darkdan99]

im new to this game, and i guess i picked up half of that, i have v.limited knowlege in genetics, (gcse double science-which aint much now days!) could you dumb it down a little please, or give exsamples, if i buy a £500 snake, and mate it with a friends normal, what offspring would i get (markings possible, and value), and if i was to buy a pair for £500 what am i looking at then.

thanks for your help,

 

[royalpython]

for £500

one pastel male

for a pair at £500

you can get a variety of recessive morphs, but will have to breed with each other.. not your friends snake (if you breed a recessive morph to your friends, you'll get 50% hets.. i will explain..)

co-com is easy, hence the decline in value. if your friend has a female, you can breed a male at 700g (i've heard), and get a clutch of 50% co-dom (i.e. those 50% will be visual royals, and worth value). If you breed a recessive to a normal you'll also get 50%, but you won't have a clue which is which unless you plan on proving them (which means breeding back to the parent het).

If you get a recessive het, you need a pair of them (100% hets, which means the parents would be a visual recessive to a normal snake)). If you breed a pair of het's together, genetics would suggest any normal looking sibbling would be 66% het for what you were breeding with. in other words.. out of 4..

1 visual, 2 hets, and 1 normal

Hets, are the recessive form of say albino. The albino needs two genes.. without it the albino will appear normal, but "might" be a carrier.

 

[royalpython]

a good place to learn is here...

http://www.newenglandreptile.com/care.html

scroll down and read the genetics area.. it's simplified, and easy to understand

 

[neilb]

i'm confused! your food costs are minimal because you use family salad and supplement with wild caught inverts????? to feed snakes???? !!!!!! hope i read that wrong!

 

[markhill]

i'm confused! your food costs are minimal because you use family salad and supplement with wild caught inverts????? to feed snakes???? !!!!!! hope i read that wrong!

my thoughts exactly, did i read it wrong too?

 

[royalpython]

good point! what is that all about, salads etc? I was quite drunk last night, celebrating xmas, obviously never read this properly.

 

[Deano]

I assume he's also got reptiles and got confused which board he's on?

As for advice on what to do, here's my plan:

I wanna breed BRB's and Hoggies in a few years, BRB's seem popular and mid priced (and very pretty to own!), and Hoggies seem in short supply. I'm getting young snakes this year, as I also enjoy raising them to adulthood, so these won't be brreding for a few years.

Already got an adult corn, so just bought another so I can practice breading a relativly easy species, which I know are popular and will sell. If I have success, then I may look at more expensive species, with knowledge gained from breeding the corns.

U don't wanna lay out thousands on expensive morphs if you don't know what you are doing! Could get costly.

 

[gaz]

the other point missing here is the difference between making a good living and making a profit,as a professional snake breeder i make as good if not better living as i did when working in a normal job,however as for profit my bank balance never changes much up or down,much as it didnt when employed by some one else.
doing just fine and making a cash surplus are two different things
regards gaz

 

[darkdan99]

i'm confused! your food costs are minimal because you use family salad and supplement with wild caught inverts????? to feed snakes???? !!!!!! hope i read that wrong!

look at my list, my snakes only get thawed mice/rats, and i am looking to breed lizards aswell! it means i dont pay as much to feed the waterdragons and plateies and if i was to get an iggy 4 example, it wouldnt cost me a penny

i was just making the point that i've got it made, lol, and because of my parents covering the greater pecentage of the accociated cost, any animals sold would go into my bank, -£100/£200 for food all i would need is 10 normal corns for ex to make what i would call a proffit. if i breed and sell one/two high end morph, that would cover the outlay, (of the breeding stock) and any others would be "proffit"

until i move out, i'm laughing, unlike you older folk with bills and stuff lol

 

[cornmorphs]

if you want to make money i would say go for royals morphs.
despite what some people think, there isnt a great deal in corns unless you buy and sell.. breeding doenst pay off that much... i'm 5 grand down this year so far thanks to buying a lot at hamm mainly.

 

[Deano]

I reckon Carpet Pythons are a good bet, get yourself a Zebra or Jaguar Carpet or a reduced pattern IJ and produce some of them. Much better than Royals!

And as you got lizards, how about som Fiji Iguanas?

 

[darkdan99]

you say hamm, is that hamberg in germany, hampshire etc, i would like to go...

for me, male corn+female corn=£150
10 babies=£250/300
=£100/£150 proffit

and i know it does not work like that in the 'real' worl, which i fortunatly am not in.


would it be more sensible to get say a mojave, or spider, because although they cost more the offspring would be worth more, right?

 

[cornmorphs]

at the moment i am spending about 400 a month or more on mice... probably more actually

 

[Deano]

You wanna factor in feeding the babies until they are ready to sell - in 4 weeks they'll consume 8 pinkies each. 50p x 8 x 10 = 40 quid. The longer it takes to sell, the more you have to feed.

If you end up selling to a shop, you'll maybe only get 10 - 15 quid each.
Hatchling tubs, heating equipment, stats, etc. etc. Doesn't seem to be much profit in cheaper species.

I suppose a 500 pound snake produces 500 pound offspring. But will they still be 500 in 3 years when they reach breeding age, others may have bred it, so the morph is not so rare. You may have also bought a 500 pound Jaffa!

Also, the bigger and more expensive the snake, the less potential customers - thousands of beginners about wanting corns and kings, not so many wanting an expensive python which requires a huge enclosure.
You may end up with having to keep some of them for quite a while - needing proper viv's, more food...

I'd say aim to cover your costs for a year of 2 until you get the hang of it, learn to care for the hatchlings, get contacts to sell on, build a good reputation to buyers.