Making a living off of reptiles

[HugeGenes&LoLa]

I am curious as to how those of you making a living off of breeding reptiles run your business. Actually, that's a bit broad so I'll just condense it into a few smaller questions.

1. Do you run your business from your home or from a store? (Do you even have a store?)
2. Is reptile breeding your only occupation, or do you have secondary jobs?
3. If needed, can you live off of the money you make selling reptiles?
4. Besides advertising on forums, how do you advertise your business?
5. In a given month, how many geckos do you sell (on average)?

Rest assured, I'm not thinking about doing this at all. I was just really curious about how the pros handle their businesses. I was also thinking of maybe stopping by some breeders' stores to see how they setup their geckos/feeders. I imagine I'd learn a lot if I got to see first hand from the experts.

 

[robin]

3.) 99.99 of the people out there can not. people will be lucky if they can break even.

 

[Tony C]

I worked for a reptile shop for a time, and the experience made me believe that it is very difficult to have a retail storefront AND maintain the high ethical standards of a breeder. When you have a store you HAVE to pay the bills, and the animals take on a role of secondary importance at best. The store owner I worked for would buy the cheapest wild caught animals he could find, then tell customers all the animals in the store were bred in house or by breeder friends. Products were pushed based on profit margins rather than suitability for the animal in question, and animals such as Sulcata tortoises, Burmese pythons, and Alligators were sold in 10-20 gallon "starter kits" to complete novices who were told they would live happily for their entire life in the setup. As despicable as his practices were, I can understand how the financial stresses could push a person to do whatever it takes to keep from losing everything, and I would never put myself in that position.

 

[Allee Toler]

I do not work, and I cannot. I only sell to locals/very few out of state, and make roughly $600 a month during the actual season (having 6 bred girls). Taking out money for feeders/supplies, I walk away with maybe $400? I do not pay rent, I do not pay bills. So being a dependent from health issues, I can never imagine making a decent living off of this. If I had to pay bills, I couldn't do it. I'm fortunate to have friends who understand my situation (health) and accept the meager money I make as a ways of a contribution to the household.

So again, I don't see it as possible to make a decent living without having another job, unless of you take ethics out of it.

 

[MichaelJ]

1. We run our business from home. Our leos live with us in our living room!
2. We both have full-time careers.
3. No, we could not live off of the income from our reptiles. Who could?!
4. Our website.
5. Depends on the time of year and our focus. We didn't breed at all this year, so average of 4 per month.

This is a business for the passionate... not for the money hungry. I think most of us do it for the enjoyment we get from the hobby.

 

[CSMGecko]

I do not make ANY money right off of this right now. I run it out of my house and garage. I am hoping to open a store in the distant future. This is only my first year and so haven't really broken into the scene really yet. I think it is possible to run a store ethically and I intend on doing it. The trick in my opinion is keep overhead as low as possible and don't grow out of your means of funding it.

I am in the Navy right now and plan on having a full time job once I get out. I am hoping to save enough to open the store but it all depends on what comes out of this.