How do people afford....

Okay how does everyone break into the big time for reptiles...when you get morphs where to you get the ridiculous amounts of money to do so? Are some people just nice and give them away?? Why are some co-dom morphs more expensive than others. Spiders are WAY more than pastels in bp but they are both co-dom? Seems to be the trend for every thing.....leos, boas, etc; I myself am planning on focusing on boa locales cause they are interesting and I just can't afford to break into morphs.....grrr. I would like to hear how everyone deals with the expense etc; as there doesn't seem to be many millionaires into snakes.

or should the question be - did anybody actually buy bumblebees for the sticker price of $35,000 in late '04??

I'm working a ton of overtime at work so I can save money for a couple of Mack Snow leopard geckos. My job is boring as hell, but it pays well and with OT being time-and-a-half I should have enough for a snow or two fairly quick (If I can tolerate spending much more time at work! ).

I've seen many dealers offering payment plans for high end animals.

I married into money.Just being honest


Christopher

Originally Posted by hhmoore

or should the question be - did anybody actually buy bumblebees for the sticker price of $35,000 in late '04??

Haha! I am sure a few did! Who knew that by 06 you could be making your own for under $3K? As far as where the money comes from, its different for different folks. I have known some people that have cashed out their 401K and spent $15,000 in one week (which I don't see the wisdom in) to some that had some extra savings. Its an investment (or gamble if you like) just like any other with a possible rate of return higher than any other type of investment. For me personally, I don't have a ton of money to drop on morphs. So I do some long and short payment plans. For you, maybe the answer is to buy a 100% het male and a bunch of poss het females (from a reputable breeder of course) and start a nice recessive project that way (I forgot if we were talking about BPs or Boas). Lots of people have done it! Good luck!

Originally Posted by connorrm

Okay how does everyone break into the big time for reptiles...when you get morphs where to you get the ridiculous amounts of money to do so? Are some people just nice and give them away?? Why are some co-dom morphs more expensive than others. Spiders are WAY more than pastels in bp but they are both co-dom? Seems to be the trend for every thing.....leos, boas, etc; I myself am planning on focusing on boa locales cause they are interesting and I just can't afford to break into morphs.....grrr. I would like to hear how everyone deals with the expense etc; as there doesn't seem to be many millionaires into snakes.

Different breeders offer different payment plans or varying methods of obtaining the morphs one may want, on easy to manage terms. For instance, with us, to open a payment plan on any species or morph one only need send an initial payment of 50 dollars to open a Payment Plan Account. Then, thereafter, they may pay as little or as much as they want, whenever they want, as long as they don't lapse more than 90 days between payments. I have payment plan customers accross the entire imaginable spectrum. One customer sends me 10 to 20 dollars every 2 to 3 months for their blood python. Another customer sends 50 per week, like clockwork, towards a Hybrid Rock/Burm dbl het albino/green for 3,000 total. It'll be paid off in roughly 15 months at this rate. Our payment plans are 100% interest free. These methods make it easy for these and our other customers to get the morphs they want even if they are on a tight budget. I don't know of any other breeders that are as flexible as us, but there may very well be. I hope more will follow suit soon. We all need to make it as easy as possible for folks to get the morphs they have thus far only dreamed of owning.

David Beauchemin
High End Herps Inc
http://www.highendherps.com/
318 335-3673

Originally Posted by High End Herps Inc

Different breeders offer different payment plans or varying methods of obtaining the morphs one may want, on easy to manage terms. For instance, with us, to open a payment plan on any species or morph one only need send an initial payment of 50 dollars to open a Payment Plan Account. Then, thereafter, they may pay as little or as much as they want, whenever they want, as long as they don't lapse more than 90 days between payments. I have payment plan customers accross the entire imaginable spectrum. One customer sends me 10 to 20 dollars every 2 to 3 months for their blood python. Another customer sends 50 per week, like clockwork, towards a Hybrid Rock/Burm dbl het albino/green for 3,000 total. It'll be paid off in roughly 15 months at this rate. Our payment plans are 100% interest free. These methods make it easy for these and our other customers to get the morphs they want even if they are on a tight budget.

Sounds like you'd be on the loseing end with this method. Holding onto a snake for 12-15 months until it's paid off would be a feeding/houseing bill that you loose out on profit. Or do you charge monthly feeding/houseing fees?

Per my terms, I require a 25% non refundable deposit. Orders with a value of less than $500 are expected to be paid in full within 10 business days. Orders totaling $500 or more can have additional payment time if required by our customer, to be determined on a case by case basis.

However, I would never do a year payment plan without charging feeding/houseing fees.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but my interpretation of David’s words was that he was not saving “that” special snake for the customer. After the payment is complete the customer will receive a similar baby of that morph that David will still be producing. Maintaining an animal for over a year free of interest will not be economically sustainable.

When I decided to get back into Boa's, after a 10 year hiatus, I knew that in order to get the fastest payback would be to invest in a morph that was just at the affordable level. I spent close to $50,000 in the past year and have made back most of my money on this years litters. It's a gamble and one in which paid off for me.

The key here is not to go into debt to do this. My $50,000 was my money to do with as I pleased. It was not 401K money, I did not take out a second mortgage, or anything else crazy that I have heard about.

You simply have to plan well, and make sure you plan out 5-8 years down the road. That is the only way to get "into" the game and even then you will probably never be at the top.

Griz

The secret is not to cut corners. It takes time. If you can't afford that covetted morph wait and save. Don't go for the "cheap" deals. They are usually the most costly ones. Start slowly, and learn in the meantime if you are persistent enough you will eventually get there. Anyways, "who wants to be a millonaire"?

Regards