Breeding!

[armaggedonx]

Hey everyone, haven't posted for a wee while again. Anyway, im looking at starting my own wee home breeding business consisting of leopard gecko's and corn snakes (easy to breed and easy to sell them on), Not looking to make a large profit (if one atall) would just like it to pay for itself type of thing. But anyway, how many breeding pairs of each or 1 male with so many females etc be sufficient for a good starter? What size vivs for each? How many vivs? etc Just any useful information is appreciated! I have a few of my friends willing to like invest in me and I pay them back over time type of thing so quite proud about that!

Cheers,
Keith

 

[ozz465]

The market for corns and leos is rather suffocated atm, if u are going to do this i suggest investing in some high end morphs , nothing basic.

 

[Wiggles92]

The market for corns and leos is rather suffocated atm, if u are going to do this i suggest investing in some high end morphs , nothing basic.

x2. At least that's how it is here in the States; it could be a different case where you are.

What's are your budgets for caging, feeding, livestock, and miscellaneous expenses?

 

[AFRO-thunder]

I am not sure if this is really a good idea. Here in Austria, "regular" corn snakes can only be sold as hatchlings, nobody wants adults. And the price if you are not in a shop ranges from 10 to 30€ per animal. This can't pay for itself, because in Glasgow outside keeping for saving costs is impossible. Same goes for leopard geckos.
Try breeding something a little more rare and still easy to keep like Nephrurus or Rhacodactylus (although ciliatus is probably not rare). If you want to invest a little more into lighting, breeding small Phelsumas and Lygodactylus (especially williamsi) is rewarding. For L. Williamsi you missed a good time to start, but it might not be too late. They just discovered thaht the species is endangered and soon imports will stop (maybe they already have), so the price wont drop but rather rise.
Regardless of the species I would recommend a breeding stock of 2.2 to 2.4 for each color morph or species with the males being kept separately, which makes up to 6 tanks depending on species. That way you can control which male mated which female. Then you need lots and lots of tanks to raise babies and a huge incubator. Finally one last advice: don't buy animals with doubtful origin, only buy your breeding stock at serious breeders and collect a lot of literature: keeping, breeding & incubation, health care.

 

[crayfishguy]

maybe uromastyx philbyi... $500 a pair

 

[RMorrow]

I hear and understand what everyone is saying, but I still feel you should breed the species you love. That way when they do not sell or you end up losing money you don't resent the little guys or feel like you are stuck with them. I have a friend every year he breeds his Burms, now he knows they are not worth anything and with the bans coming into effect will be even harder to home but he looks forward to every egg and has no issue with keeping any babies that he can't place.

On that note, another friend of mine also breeds burms and retics every year but what he does is sell the babies he can as pets and then uses the rest as feeders for monitors, gators, turtles, and cobras. Of course they are pre-killed.

 

[AFRO-thunder]

Of course when it comes to keeping reptiles as a hobby, keeping the species younlove comes first. But when you want to startba (small scale) business like the thread starter this is mostly not recommended. Forexample: i am one of maybe five people in Europe who breed Mesoclemmys raniceps. Mesoclemmys who? That's right, they are rare turtles and i breed them cause i love them, but earning money by selling hatchlings? No way. Nobodymknows them, the ones who know them dont want them cause they are aggressive and get quite large.

 

[snakefin]

Strike a a balance between what Rmorrow and AFRO-thunder and I think that's your best alternative.

 

[RMorrow]

From a business stand point I completely agree with AFRO-thunder. Doing what you love may not feed the bulldog. My point is our special dilemma as animal folks, we are not selling widgets or some other inanimate object. Our "mechandise" needs to be humanely kept and appreciated, even if that means the humanely euthanaizing them. With my business I branched out and produced a lot of higher end critters, but I started with what I knew and loved to develop that experience as a breeder in business. If I had never taken those other steps to try other species I would have missed out on a ton of fantastic experiences and all I would have is garter snakes, tortoises, and blood pythons. As a breeder you have to walk a very fine line to get some financial rewards and avoid becoming another "puppy mill" for herps.

 

[coreyweinkoetz]

don't do it
I used to get $10 a corn and $7 a leo I stopped that crap real fast!!!!