Leopard gecko market

[MMreptiles]

I recently purchased a proven 1.2 group of leos, awesome little guys, doing great at laying. Within a week of having them I ended up with another pair of eggs in the incubator. I decided to push on and get another pair (unsexed) and see where I could take this. I've got somewhere around 10 eggs in the incubator, 4 babies, and more on the way. So I have a few questions.

How do you guys treat the market for Leos? I've noticed even morphs aren't worth "that" much in all reality. What prices do you guys generally sell your babies for? I can sell any variant of corn within minutes at $20 as a pet, but I'm struggling to sell leos for $15. Any advice on pricing/marketing? I'm thinking I might have to stick to online for them.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

A couple problems you are facing in my opinion..

1. You are new, people are more skeptical at buying leopard geckos from a new breeder, especially one that jumped into breeding right off the bat.

2. You are just mixing them, not really knowing anything about morphs, genetics, and the do's & don'ts of breeding leopard geckos. When people see someone selling mixes where the breeder has trouble naming them what they are, they are even more skeptical. I'm saying this based on reading a couple of your posts on this forum and another forum I saw you post on.

If your target audience is new leopard gecko owners that haven't done their homework on leopard geckos, then that's fine. But realize that you are competing with the Petco market, the $15 gecko market. For someone brand new to geckos, they may actually see Petco as the better place to buy that $15 leopard geckos.

Selling them locally is tough, that's something you would need to study your local market for. But please stop breeding until you can sell the ones you have or the ones that'll be hatching soon. I would also suggest reading up on leopard gecko genetics and morphs, so you understand what you are breeding.

Good luck

 

[MMreptiles]

A couple problems you are facing in my opinion..

1. You are new, people are more skeptical at buying leopard geckos from a new breeder, especially one that jumped into breeding right off the bat.

2. You are just mixing them, not really knowing anything about morphs, genetics, and the do's & don'ts of breeding leopard geckos. When people see someone selling mixes where the breeder has trouble naming them what they are, they are even more skeptical. I'm saying this based on reading a couple of your posts on this forum and another forum I saw you post on.

If your target audience is new leopard gecko owners that haven't done their homework on leopard geckos, then that's fine. But realize that you are competing with the Petco market, the $15 gecko market. For someone brand new to geckos, they may actually see Petco as the better place to buy that $15 leopard geckos.

Selling them locally is tough, that's something you would need to study your local market for. But please stop breeding until you can sell the ones you have or the ones that'll be hatching soon. I would also suggest reading up on leopard gecko genetics and morphs, so you understand what you are breeding.

Good luck

I have a place I can unload them at $10 each with ease; however, that goes for all morphs. Are morphs like super snow really generally worth the same as normals to your average person? I'm not trying to produce high end morphs like I'm aiming to do with snakes, it's more of a little side project so some kids can have some easy/fun pets.

I've been doing some reading, but again, I'm not looking to produce cutting edge anything, just unique pets. I guess locally your average buyer might not want snow/super snows over normals. How available are morphs in petco? I haven't even seen leopard geckos in my petcos recently.

 

[Enigmatic_Reptiles]

Mardy hit on some important topics about marketing. A large majority of people looking to "invest" in a gecko look at lineage of breeders, sellers reputation, how long have they been in the business, quality of babies, pricing, and availability (just to name a few things). As far as what your average gecko purchaser is looking for. 99% of them don't know or care about morphs...its 100% appearance. For instance a Super Raptor looks almost identical in all ways to a SST..which there is a huge price gap based on genetics...but not visual.

Leopard geckos are harder to sell because they are so prolific and available almost anywhere. Just take quality pics and post them in classifieds and price them within the realm of reality compared to similar breeders and see how it goes. Marketing is always an option (advertising and so on) but if your not producing enough geckos to justify it then I would just try all the classifieds.

 

[DoubleAGeckos]

Maybe try to be a vendor at your local reptile show

 

[sunshinegeckos]

everyone has already said everything that I could ever add to this discusion but good luck

 

[KelliH]

There is a lot of competition in the market. It is still very vibrant though. In order to make any real money, you had better be prepared to spend money for a few years building your collection.

As far as breeding for wholesale, in my opinion in order to make money you would have to produce several hundred babies annually.

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

The only problem I see is that you didn't do your research and now you're trying to off load animals. Sounds like you're in a bad situation and looking for spoon fed answers.

 

[fl_orchidslave]

I have a place I can unload them at $10 each with ease; however, that goes for all morphs. Are morphs like super snow really generally worth the same as normals to your average person? I'm not trying to produce high end morphs like I'm aiming to do with snakes, it's more of a little side project so some kids can have some easy/fun pets.

I've been doing some reading, but again, I'm not looking to produce cutting edge anything, just unique pets. I guess locally your average buyer might not want snow/super snows over normals. How available are morphs in petco? I haven't even seen leopard geckos in my petcos recently.

:main_thumbsdown::main_thumbsdown:

This is disturbing.

It sounds like you're just trying to make a fast buck off whatever geckos you can throw out to a general market.

"it's more of a little side project so some kids can have some easy/fun pets."
Garbage like this devalues the entire leopard gecko market.

 

[rickmoss95]

this is NOT a get rich quick business...at all. i have been keeping and breeding for long enough to tell you now, if you do this for the money...you WILL fail. it is as simple as that. im not tryin to bust your chops, and i wish you the best...but do it for the love of the animals, and then i PROMISE you, you will only succeed. i have bred on a larger scale to a smaller degree, im talking 300 adults. that is NOWHERE near the volume of alot of breeders out there, but it is ALOT of work...and if you dont LOVE these animals, it will be like another job. this almost ruined me. i got into ball pythons because they were popular and sold like hot cakes...but i HATED them, they were really crappy eaters, they got sick all the time when i cooled them for breeding, and all they do is lay there. all that work for an animal that i didnt care for that much, i was seeing dollar signs...and it almost cost me my passion. it was good money, i paid cash for my grand cherokee and paid off the rest of my house with snake money...but i couldnt stand working with them...
i sold all of my ball pythons for less than a quarter of what they were worth, and did not(and still do not) regret it. i got back into my retics and boas and again found my passion for reptiles. i recently sold off all but two snakes and bought a nice little group of leopard geckos, and i have never had so much fun and passion as i have since i have had these! i am glad i did not ruin myself, as i was so close to doing.
it went from the passion of the animals, to seeing money...almost quitting completely. thankfully i realized that i was not doing it for the love for the animals anymore, i had to get back to the real reason i keep these awesome animals, the passion of them! i dont care if i never make another penny from my animals, i am completely happy that they pretty much pay for themselves(food,housing,ect.) so just take from someone who knows firsthand, do this for the animals. do your research, be prepared, and HAVE FUN....then you will succeed, i guarentee it!

 

[Retribution Reptiles]

I don't get where everyone is getting that he's trying to get rich quick. He clearly stated that this was a little project for his kids. He's just uneducated in the leo market and wanting us to feed him info since he didn't do his research.

 

[rickmoss95]

I don't get where everyone is getting that he's trying to get rich quick. He clearly stated that this was a little project for his kids. He's just uneducated in the leo market and wanting us to feed him info since he didn't do his research.

what ever his goals or intentions, he asked a question, and we are giving out advise...i never said HE wanted to get rich from it...i was simply giving him my personal experience so he jump in too deep, too fast...thats all, so whats the problem?

 

[Russ S]

I don't get where everyone is getting that he's trying to get rich quick. He clearly stated that this was a little project for his kids. He's just uneducated in the leo market and wanting us to feed him info since he didn't do his research.

Actually he said....

it's more of a little side project so some kids can have some easy/fun pets.

 

[acpart]

I find that most of the answers I have to questions that come up regularly I've addressed in Gecko Time articles. So:
http://www.geckotime.com/how-to-sell-your-geckos/
http://www.geckotime.com/preparing-to-vend-at-a-reptile-show/

Also, this Tues. (7/26) I have an article coming out about basic genetics and "illustrated" through the offspring of one of my leo pairs.

Aliza

 

[robin]

i understand everyones concerns and i have some too. but ask youeselves where you started? not to be rude but everyone but russ, kelli, aliza and travis i have never heard of till 1) this thread 2) this year or 3) last year. everyone starts out somewhere. some of you have the opportunity to spend loads on expensive geckos and many don't.

so before you judge. ask youself where you started? what mistakes did you make in the beginning? personally i was fortunate enough to have kelli as a mentor but most peole do not have one so they have to look on the internet and/or come to forums. it's not like their is tons of leopard gecko info in written form, unless you want to read trempers book. :main_rolleyes:

do i think all of what he is doing is right or that i agree with it, no but instead of scolding him educate him.

 

[KelliH]

i understand everyones concerns and i have some too. but ask youeselves where you started? not to be rude but everyone but russ, kelli, aliza and travis i have never heard of till 1) this thread 2) this year or 3) last year. everyone starts out somewhere. some of you have the opportunity to spend loads on expensive geckos and many don't.

so before you judge. ask youself where you started? what mistakes did you make in the beginning? personally i was fortunate enough to have kelli as a mentor but most peole do not have one so they have to look on the internet and/or come to forums. it's not like their is tons of leopard gecko info in written form, unless you want to read trempers book. :main_rolleyes:

do i think all of what he is doing is right or that i agree with it, no but instead of scolding him educate him.

AGREE 100%. Excellent points Robin.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

While everybody starts somewhere, not everybody jump into breeding and selling leopard geckos right away. Besides, I don't really see people here "scolding" him and I've read this thread twice. Everything that have been posted so far have been mild, I keep waiting for Seamus to make an appearance here.

The guy doesn't understand how to tell morphs yet, he also doesn't know how to sex geckos. Saw this from another forum. So some criticism is warranted as he is one of those that jumped into breeding and selling geckos right away without understanding the basics.

The irony is him asking about the market as he's having difficulties selling generic mixes and mutts. As ryan from ret reptiles said above, he didn't do his homework and is now wanting quick answers to his problems (overstock & low sell prices). I think everyone so far have given him pretty good answers. The obvious is he's trying to compete in the Petco's $15 local gecko market. If that's what he wants to do, fine, he can do whatever he wants with his money and geckos. But he did post this thread because he wants to know why he can't sell his geckos for more than $15 lol.

 

[robin]

While everybody starts somewhere, not everybody jump into breeding and selling leopard geckos right away. Besides, I don't really see people here "scolding" him and I've read this thread twice. Everything that have been posted so far have been mild, I keep waiting for Seamus to make an appearance here.

The guy doesn't understand how to tell morphs yet, he also doesn't know how to sex geckos. Saw this from another forum. So some criticism is warranted as he is one of those that jumped into breeding and selling geckos right away without understanding the basics.

The irony is him asking about the market as he's having difficulties selling generic mixes and mutts. As ryan from ret reptiles said above, he didn't do his homework and is now wanting quick answers to his problems (overstock & low sell prices). I think everyone so far have given him pretty good answers. The obvious is he's trying to compete in the Petco's $15 local gecko market. If that's what he wants to do, fine, he can do whatever he wants with his money and geckos. But he did post this thread because he wants to know why he can't sell his geckos for more than $15 lol.

you think he is the first person ever to jump into breeding i would bet about 90% of the so called "breeders" on here jumped into it.i bred geckos for several years and got out of it and i am now working with my passion, snakes. i did not jump into leopard geckos but i see people who claim to be breeders come and go on here all the time. so he doesn't know genetics? do you? how many people reading this thread or many people on this forum do not know genetics? you see it all the time. if you know genetics so well, educate him instead of mocking his $15 geckos. hell i have sold ten lots for $10 each (not morphs well maybe a snow or two and tremper albinos. yuck). is that wrong?

 

[Wild West Reptile]

My personal thoughts on why you can't "unload" them is that you probably bred normals or hypo's or high yellows or something like that. To be brutally honest, these geckos are WAAAAAAY over produced and really don't have any demand. If you want to do nothing but produce animals strictly for selling and have no passion or love for the animals, then I think leo's aren't the right choice. From talking in depth about the "making money" part of this hobby with other breeders, I gather that the only chance you have is to invest in high quality animals and produce high quality animals. The old saying "it takes money to make money" really applies in this hobby. I'm not saying you have to be rich, I'm saying you need to plan out your projects carefully and invest some money into a few geckos of really high quality so you can produce beautiful geckos that people are going to really want. If you are breeding $15 geckos and expect for the offspring to sell at any price, it's going to be tough. JMHO.

 

[OnlineGeckos]

you think he is the first person ever to jump into breeding i would bet about 90% of the so called "breeders" on here jumped into it.i bred geckos for several years and got out of it and i am now working with my passion, snakes. i did not jump into leopard geckos but i see people who claim to be breeders come and go on here all the time. so he doesn't know genetics? do you? how many people reading this thread or many people on this forum do not know genetics? you see it all the time. if you know genetics so well, educate him instead of mocking his $15 geckos. hell i have sold ten lots for $10 each (not morphs well maybe a snow or two and tremper albinos. yuck). is that wrong?

I believe my first response to him was educational, something easily learned if he simply did a small bit of research. I never mocked his $15 geckos, he brought it up, as his purpose for this thread was asking about why he couldn't sell his geckos. I said it's tough trying to compete against Petco on a local basis, because first timers are going to view Petco as a bigger brand if you would. It's the store people are used to, so they'll go to Petco rather than to him for these $15 geckos. That *is* his target audience, young folks that don't care about morphs and just want a fun lil pet for awhile.

I didn't bag on him for not knowing genetics, I used it as a way to show some of the things he should've looked into...including how to sex leopard geckos, before jumping into breeding.

The irony to his thread is that breeders like him are part of the reasons why the market is so bad and so saturated with leopard geckos. Is there really a better way to say this? We could dance around the topic and pretend he did the right thing by tossing 4 random females of morph he doesn't know about in with a male, and then wondering why he couldn't sell his stock for more than $15.

You are trying to be protective of this particular breeder, and I honestly didn't see anything wrong with what anybody has posted thus far. What has been posted in this thread is mild compared to what I've seen posted by well known long time posters on this forum towards other hobbyists that jumped into breeding too soon.

Anyways, I'll bow out of this thread as I believe I've already posted something useful in my first reply. I just don't see what others said that was so wrong, definitely nothing close to "scolding" as you put it.

Edit: Before I leave, since I do care about his leopard gecko's well being, to the OP.. Since you don't know the sex & age of the two new high yellows/hypo's you got, please don't toss them in with the existing 1.2 breeding group. There could potentially be a problem if one of them turns out to be a male, or if they are too young to breed but your male will still attempt to mate.