| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 11/04/2011 : 18:48:59
Hello everyone, figured i'd post here as I know you all well and you're as likely to give me the truth as others.
I'm currently a security guard as you all might know, i'm working on a games design course and hope to be a computer games designer and one day have my own games company, those in the know will know this is a common dream for those of my generation and the chances of getting the job I want are very, very low it's a highly sought after position. I have thought about this much over the course of my .. Well.. Course. And as a little insurance against possible failure, I got my SIA licence, this allows me to do security work and door supervision (bouncing) this isnt the job I want but the money is okay and I can live off it.
Now comes the part why im posting this on a reptile forum, i've been toying with the idea of putting some money away and investing it in snakes (possibly/probably royals) i've done my research and i've spoke to a few people, some who own reptille shops, some who breed from home for a living about starting my own breeding projects alongside my security work (this assume that I don't manage to get into games design of course) until my collection had grown to a suitable extent to start seriously breeding for a living. Most of the people I spoke to were in favour of this as they had all done it themselves and come out very well for it. However some people I spoke to said that it was a dying bussiness, that the larger corporations had mass produced morphs of such quantity at such low prices that it makes it hard for somebody starting out to rival them, to make sales and to get enough money.
I'm sure ther are some of you here with the same idea in mind about starting to take the hobby to a new level and some have probably tried and fail, others tried and succeeded. What are your opinions, do you think it's a viable option or a waste of time? This is an important decision for me and i'm not going to base my answer on the result of strangers on a forum but it will certainly help me make the decision myself. Thanks everyone for reading. |
| 20 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Tawfik47 |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 20:49:01
Hey, I don't have any idea to you since i'm a new owner of a snake, but i wish you LUCK Kelf :)
whatever you wanna do  |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 19:29:24
Boa is doing well, took a few injections but her throats looking much better now :) thanks for the concern |
| STICKS |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 19:14:18
Hi there scar a dad that would be a great combo and a nice size to if thay all come out like dad all the best D PS how's the boa what did the vet say sorry to change the sub. |
| reptiledanny |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 19:13:28
i would keep it as a hobby for now, and just buy the snakes you like and want, and then in a couple of years time breed and then see how it goes from there, to compete with the breeders nowadays you would have to have a huge stock and breed your own food and have lots of cost efficient things |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 18:12:03
Hahaha that sounds like an epic plan |
| reptilemadd |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 18:05:35
I got a "Het clown" male for my first royal and have a female on order to do the same as you kelf, thinking there doesn't seem to be that many clowns on offer in this country or even clown combos, but after reading mays issue of practicle reptile keeping there is at least one breeder that has a few "clown combos" in his collection (www.albinosunlimited.com) check it out some amazing snakes, which makes my point about you don't really know about something untill you get into it.
Anyway back to the point of this post Kelf if you go to companies house for a small fee you can view the financial records of any company registered, so it might be having a look if some of the bigger breeders in the UK are registered and see just how much there actual turnover was for the past financial year, that might give you a better idea if it is worth it, not forgetting that for every one registered breeder there will probably be at least two that aren't, but if it were me I'd do what you are and put a bit away each month then have a nice relaxing holiday in the states, near your favourite breeder and make a bulk purchase from them, you could even right the cost of the holiday as a business expense lol |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 16:32:46
Sounds interested good luck with it all |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 16:18:16
I'll put my pinstripe to my axanthic first for some pin het axans they'll go back in later years for my favourite morph, can always put the pin and moj together for a jigsaw at some point too, got my het pieds breeding at some point so should be able to pie-a-fy something along the years too ^^ probably try to get a super cinnamon piebald somewhere that would look pretty |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:53:32
Cool
What are you going for |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:51:59
I already know most of the combos I'm going for at the moment, I think I'll buy a pewter next as I want a cinnamon for future breeds and I might as well get the free Pastel gene with it :P |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:39:34
If I was you I'd go for a pastel
For the pinstripe = lemon blast :)
Mojave = pinstripe = jigsaw :)
Take a look here for the combos you can get
http://www.worldofballpythons.com/wizard/
Id like some fires and yellow belleys as I like White royals :)
But I'm sticking with the original plan for 3 years and see where it goes |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:34:34
Gone over the idea with the missus and decided we'll give it a crack as a hobby first, going to put aside some money each week for snakes and see what we can do. |
| MrsA82 |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:25:53
Were doing the same just a hobbie
We got 4 morphs at the moment with the intent of getting 2 more females
And see how it goes
We've also got feeder mice and rats to soften the blow of buying df mice and rats
Will help as we worked out it would cost about £30 a month with food
|
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:22:55
I think I'll just put some money aside from each wage I earn into a snakey fund and if/when I see a nice bargain morph that could do me well I'll get it and work one snake at a time. |
| karl |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 15:19:35
if you always have the money to one side for a special priced snake it comes in handy mind ;) |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 13:35:58
Might be worth keeping it a casual business for now then, buy a new snake every other month or so keep putting a little money aside for it and keep breeding until I'm reading to make the jump, if ever.
Or it might be better to just keep putting money aside for the next years then buy a few high end morphs and breed them, start off that way.
Whatever I do I'll have to do my security alongside it of course until it's really off the ground and going strong. But then I guess if I do that I run the risk of buying a few that won't breed, but I guess I can always fatten them up and sell them on again if I get short of money ... Hmm tricky stuff |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 13:32:56
Nice ^^ |
| karl |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 13:22:57
To me it seems the ever decreasing price is almost equal to the cost of the offspring, so what you make is ever decreasing. Also, how good is the market for 4 figure snakes (as that is where real money can be made, percentage wise)? The potential risk of loosing a snake, when it's your savings, also has to be a factor, what would happen if you had a dud male, or a female egg bound, first season.
Buy cheap cars, clean them to within an inch of their lives and sell them on, aim for £200 a car and your laughing, wish I still had the time. Between 4 friends we used to do a car a week, drive to the borders, pay circa £400 for a car, drive it home, clean the life out of it, sell for no less than £600. All it cost was 100 miles in fuel and lots of elbow grease. All we ever invested was that £100 each, so returns of £50 a car were one hell of an investment. |
| Kelfezond |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 12:04:17
Well yeah Karl that was what I was getting at :P The question I'm asking is if it's worth investing those thousands or not :) |
| karl |
Posted - 12/04/2011 : 11:54:15
unless you are investing thousands on snakes you aren't gonna make any real money on them.
As an example, Spiders, 3 years ago still in the mid 100s, females I saw for £800 in 2007. Saw one for £75 the other day.
To make any sort of cash you are gonna have to have LOTS of royals, and LOTS of gene combos. If you wanna breed to keep your collection running (as in to pay bills and fund future purchases then ok) that would be ok on a "decent" budget. You'd be lucky to get 2k from a clutch, take out your costs and there isn't much left.
As always you have to have money to make real money. Ain't life great.
please don't let me make you give in, I just think there are better ways to make money, and easier at that |
