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To New Breeders thinking they are going to make Big $$$

I just remembered a few more expenses:

Web Hosting - $75 a year
Classifieds on KSnake - $250 a year
Various Forum/Classified Sponsorships/Photo Galleries - $400 a year
I don't many shows, maybe 6 a year, but there are table fees (usually $125-150 a table), travel expenses, etc, geez the list goes on and on! That reminds me, taxtime is here! Lucky for us we are a legitimate, tax paying business and we are able to write off a portion of our business expenses, even travel miles, phone/internet bill, etc.
 
While I understand the intent of this thread, and agree that it is good info especially for beginners, I find it amazing that I seem to be in the the minority here in terms of turning a profit. When I first started the Gecko Den, Carrot Tails and Tangerines were still commanding top dollar, I believe my initial investment for 1 SHCT Male, 1 SHT Male, 3 SHCT Females and 1 SHT female was around $2600 (Thanks Albey!) rack systems & tubs, furnishings, incubators was around $1000. Website design, hosting etc, $1000. So my initial investment was around $5000. I made that back and some extra my first year. I have turned a profit every year since. I think that if you pay attention to market trends, have a good business plan in place before you start, and don't fall in love with every new morph out there then you should be able to make some sort of profit. Granted, I'm not making anywhere near enough to quit my day job, but I am in the black and make enough to dabble in the Ball Python market at the lower morph levels without having to use money from my paycheck, much to my wifes delight. :)

I don't think that anyone should expect to get rich, but I also don't think "the sky is falling" either. I like to think it is somewhere between the two extremes. ;)
 
Gecko_Den said:
and don't fall in love with every new morph out there...
Click to expand...

That's a tough one! I admire breeders who stick with a few select geckos that they love and constantly refine the desireable traits year after year. I believe there is always a market for selectively bred geckos.

Sounds like a little bit of self-control and hard work goes a long way.

Sam, out of curiosity, how long have you been at it. And how many years have you "turned a profit"?

thanks
 
lol...Kelli beat me to the punch.

Of course, I also admire breeders who "love them all" and do well with them all...:)
 
Paul,
While I have been keeping reptiles since 1990, I started planning the Gecko Den in late 2001, and purchased my first group of breeders from Albey in March or April of 2002 and produced and sold offspring that year, I turned a profit that year and every year since. :)
 
geesh this thread depressed me !! Here i was all happy thinking i was going to give bill Gates a run for his money doing the gecko thing and you guys had to shoot down my dream :-(. Oh well... I guess its a good thing that they are my favorite pets!!!
 
Well, I do make a profit every year, BUT!!!! If I was to count all the hours I work, I would take a loss... even if I was paid minimum wage! I remember posting my 2003 P&L's (in detail) over at Kingsnake when several members were thinking they could get rich from breeding Leopard Geckos. The thread died after that. :shrug01:
 
I must say, thank you to everyone who posted here, I know it put things into perspective for me, more than anyone may know. I think for a while I'm going to concentrate on some low key breeding, I plan on picking up 2 more and that's it for a year or 2. I love Hybinos, I can't help myself, they're gorgeous, and all I need is a male and female to produce them. I'm currently making inquiries on those. Who knows I may end up being one of those dotty people who can't let go of the babies and end up losing my mind LOL. I love my leos and cresties, my daughter does too, her favorite word is now "dedo" (17 month old speak for gecko).

Oh and Aaliyah is still dozing....See?
I spent close to $75 on the New tank and all the toys for her after throwing everything out. Even a small setup like that cost a bit. And I'm not even done yet, especially for her, she's the only one my fiance likes and she climbs on my hand. LOL She melted me from my old state, now I just want to see her babies....and keep them!!!!
 
One day I'd like to churn a profit...but I am in LOVE with geckos. I am expanding my collections into other ones, because they are just TOO cool. It takes me HOURS on end to clean them because I play with them and they don't go back into their boxes without a sweet loving kiss on the head from their mommy :)
 
ps, i can prove i love geckos. If not i wouldn't have 745 posts talking about them on fauna! lol :)
 
I am a new first time Gecko Breeder. The colony consists of 2 males (albino + normal) and 5 females (2 normals, patternless, albino and a super hypo). We inherited these from my step daughter, who had started to breed them, didn't get rich and was getting rid of them ( the price was right). I fully expect to have a new Farrari in the drive way by October.

I have kept Beardies for about 10 yrs, and the young lad had acquired a couple of Geckos from his sister. When she was getting rid of the Geckos I wasn't really interested till the kids started investigating the differents morph's available and peaked my interest. Now you have to remember I have teenagers here and they are all showing interest and are helping with the care and upkeep of this project(which to me is better than the alternatives). We have the science guy who is engineering the breeding and genetics, the business girl who is doing the leg work to find an outlet for the reptiles produced and me the bankroll. Oh ya, the young lad with 90g+ male gecko. He's pretty proud of the size of this guy. I never realized how big he was till I seen him beside some other gecko's.

The business girl has lined up a couple of places to take the surplus off our hands, and for the interested, we are not indescriminate about where they are going, as she has turned down offers from a few places because of hygene problems (to put it mildly) and just plain bad care.

We have registered a business, and all the kids are aware of the money being pumped in and what it is going to take to make money. Are we going to make money, I can't see it but the lesson for the kids is invaluable as well, without compromising the safety and health of the reptiles. If we make enough money to break even on feeders, I will be happy.

They have already formulated the game plan and know what Geckos they are keeping from the breedings and which ones they will be off loading to offset their costs.

Even the girlfriends and boyfriends are taking an interest in all of this.

At this time we are in the process of building new housing for them all. The beardies have new caging and the geckos housing's start today. I am not a big fan of the "Racking" system and am building stackable caging. Some of the geckos we have were reared in a racking system and are very hard to handle, the ones that weren't are quite calm.

We are not actively breeding all the females, they had all been bred and were gravid when we acquired them, but we have separated them all are still deciding which ones we will continue to breed.

Our first hatchling arrived yesterday.

The cost of heaters, flexwatt, thermostats, incubators and other stuff is really cutting into my Ferrari money. I guess the Chevy will have to do till next year. :slamit:
 
I'm so glad there are people like Rick posting on here to keep things in prespective. That will be a great lesson for the kids and they may surprise you! BTW...if you want to take a look at the multi unit cages I build, and feel free to use the instructions to build your own, check out www.freewebs.com/herptips/
This is the free site I set up awhile back when people kept asking how I built stuff, got tired of repeating the instructions! These cages are pretty cheap & very easy to build...trust me I'm a girl who took woodshop in 8th grade and I didn't have any problems with these.
Good luck with your venture!
 
That is some nice housing Ro. How deep are those shelves? I was looking at 16" shelving which was only $6 more than a sheet of melamine + $7 for backing.

The gecko housing project is on hold till next weekend now untill I think this through.

Thanks for the idea's.
 
this is my first year atempting to breed.(have not hached an egg yet) i know from keeping many different reptiles and once running a small rescue that vet bills and husbandry cost a lot of money. i dont expect to make any kind of profit anytime soon. but i would like to run a business one day. not just with leos, other reptiles too. leos are just the begining. im not trying to make a quick buck doing this because i know i won't. i have always wanted to work with animals and this is the perfect job for me. even if i dont make that much money. ill still be doing what i love and never hate my job! lol
its a good thing my husband has a real job! lol
 
Well shoot. I figured I would have made enough profits this year to pay for law school. Son of a gun. I guess it's back to selling candy bars at the football games. Oh well.





(and yeah, I'm totally kidding. :raspberry )






I have leos (and all my other reptiles) just as a hobby and because I like them so much. The last thing I would want to do is try to make a living off of it, just because then I fear that it would seem like "work" instead of fun. lol And if you think feeding leos is expensive, try having bearded dragons and add up all the receipts for one month. My "lizard" food bill for a month is 350-400 in insects and about 100 in veggies/greens. And that doesn't even include supplements, gut load, etc.
 
Rick, those arethe 16"shelves from home depot. Cutting melamine can be tricky and I didn't want any rough edges.
 
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