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Buying power...

Please read post 1st... Breeding for vs. Buying first

  • Low: $1,000 under

    Votes: 23 43.4%

  • Low-Mid: $1,001 to $3,500

    Votes: 25 47.2%

  • Mid: $3,501 - $7,000

    Votes: 4 7.5%

  • Mid-High: $7,001 - $15,000

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • High: $15,001 - $25,000

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Real High-End: $25,001 - $65,000

    Votes: 1 1.9%
  • Total voters
    53
  • Poll closed .
Another thing is buy from a wide variety of breeders because they remember you and are more likely to buy from you in the future since they know your working with good stock since they are the ones who sold it to you.

and buying babies is sometimes better than buying adults because adults can stop breeding for several years until they get acclimated to their new environment. So don't be afraid to put in the time its always worth it in the end result.

*sigh* tried to give as much advice as I can remember off the top of my head hope it helps.
 
Thanks everyone for commenting, I appreciate it. It appears everyone has a different twist on their personal strategies for "moving up".

The only group who hasn't appeared to voice their opinion (I actually don't expect to hear from them) is the group who went all in heavy up front...the 100k people. I don't expect to hear from them because in my personal opinion:

a. It went really well and this is a hush hush avenue to success that people don't want to talk about

b. It totally tanked, they lost their money and ended up selling things off.

c. Someone is sitting around with 100k worth of really cool PETS.

Either way I think I have come to the conclusion that these people aren't going to talk and for good reasons...trade secrets or embarrassment.

Thanks again for sharing your opinions, I for one have read them all!:thumbsup:
 
I would think that if someone was going to buy something and spend anywhere close to 100K it would be on a banana male at around 70K and 30K worth of breeder adult females to breed the male to and that would definately put you on top of the morph market guaranteed to sell stuff every year. But for people like most of us on here we are working from the ground up. I've even read that the Grazianni's started from the ground up. Ralph Davis posted that most of their million dollar collection came from breeding and trading for new stuff.
 
This is quoted off their website:

“I think Greg has traded for every damn mutation he has............damn you GREG!!!..........Greg needs to write a book on how to build a million dollar ball python collection on a budget!!!”
Ralph Davis RDR

So just because you want a high dollar collection doesn't mean you have to drop a gold mine on it. Just take the time and do it by hard work and you'll be twice as proud of the end result.

I mean I guess if you have a small fortune laying around go for it don't get me wrong it would definitely boost a lot of sales for breeders but I wouldn't go in huge debt over it. Thats all I'm saying.
 
Start small. Build up. I would imagine someone brand new to the game who goes out and spends 100k on high end animals is going to sit on a few that first couple years unless they're priced pretty low. You'll sell some of course. Takes time to build up a rep, and people are suspicious nowadays. Especially those guys who have the coin to drop on those sort of animals. If you start small, your reputation will build as your collection does. You also have way less risk involved if you decide it's not for you. Piddle for a few years, then make that investment. That's what I'd do anyways, for whatever that's worth.

I'm just having fun and enjoying my animals. Any money made is just icing on the cake. *votes*
 
Great input from you both, thanks. Please don't get me wrong, I don't have 100k sitting around for snakes, the figure is just a hypothetical scenario. The example that you gave Dustin about the group trading for a million dollar collection is in part my fear.

Would I rather sell 300k of snakes for money or end up with 1,000,000 in trades. One outcome actually pays bills the other increases the bills.

As I look at my huge collection, :rofl:(joking), they are all awesome animals at least to me and I LOVE working with them. At the same time I incur costs by having them: Feeder bills, bedding, cleaning supplies, TIME etc. The more I trade babies the more my collection grows but "income" doesn't come to support things. At some point I have to actually sell something to pay for itself. As long as I have lower cost animals (time continually decreasing their value) I may never get "ahead".

I think all the posts and comments have helped me answer my question. Since I am playing "catch up", I need to go big time or come the reality that I will have some cool pets for a while. So with that said, any one want to sell me a 30k ball python???:)
 
I would have a hard time imagining Greg Graziani is having a hard time paying bills. LOL :rofl: but hey you never know thats why its better to start out slow so you can see how easily your animals are selling versus your costs associated with keeping them and then you can go bigger and bigger in steps.

I know exactly where your coming from thinking you will never get ahead but that's not true. Focus on the females you want to start out with once they get breeder size they will pay for themselves. Then once you get all the base morphs you want to start with and they are producing good for you, you can take the profits that you've made off your lower end stuff that you've been producing from your single gene females and buy a couple high end males. Now you have the capability of producing some top notch stuff. It takes time there's no doubt about it but it will eventually pan out. I was in the same boat and still kind of am. I've traded bought and sold for several years. This year I maybe made enough to where they paid for themselves which is the first year I've been able to say that and I'm hoping next year to actually start paying off what I have invested in them so far. No I'm not in debt on them but I say "pay off" as in all the time and money I've put into them up to this point. You also never know what type of animal will be the next HOT item to buy. Look at enchis, I bought a male like 3 years ago paid probably $200 shipped if that females were going for like $250 at the time. Raised him up bred him last season hatched out 1.1 and sold the female for $600 plus shipping within 2 hours of having her up. Thats something I would have never dreamed doing when I bought the original male. If I had I would have bred him to a few more females LOL.

Once you have a colony of adult female morphs you can put high end males to them and make the same stuff people make with double and triple gene females. I mean if I see an amazing female at a good price I would buy it as a double or triple gene but you don't "really" need to, you can get the doubles and triples from hold backs.
 
Looking back on my posts it almost seems that I'm coming off like I'm in it solely to make money and I want to clarify that isn't my intention but I do need them to pay for themselves and my time or it isn't worth it to be on the cutting edge. I'm in it for the beauty of them, the intrigue, I don't even know how to describe the passion but I'm sure if you have it too you know what I'm talking about! And I want to be the first to produce one of the masterpieces just like everyone else does!
 
Dustin, thanks for the insight and perspective, I appreciate it. You don't at all seem like money is the key factor. If someone doesn't realistically look at the financial costs of owning animals (snakes, dogs, etc.) they can find themselves in a world of hurt and not even see it happened to them as they steadily dripped (lost) money in small amounts repeatedly over time.

Good luck with your season!
 
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