The business of leopard geckos

[LugiaLover]

I've been considering maybe starting a breeding operation in a few years. I have a few questions though for any breeders:
Was your business a plan you had formed or did your hobby just grow?
How many breeding geckos did you start out with?
What's the most energy efficient heating method?
Do you manage to sell all your geckos?
What do you do with geckos you don't sell?
How many baby geckos do you produce in a year and how many per female?
What is your egg mortality rate?

I know these sound like weird questions but I want to get an idea of how I would start out. Also some stuff I wanted to know that I couldn't really find elsewhere. Just answer the ones you feel comfortable with. And if you have any tips, I'd love to hear them.

Thanks

 

[adam&nikki]

breeding leos is a great venture but most breeders dont make millions from selling leos just keep that in mind but to answer most of your questions

for the best heating i would go with a rack system with heat tape

not every gecko is going to sell (example holdbacks or ones people arnt really looking for)

i usally keep advertising te geckos that dont sell or i donate them to a school for a classroom pet

each female can lay up to 20 eggs in a year so depending on how many females your breeding this may vary

and for how many i started out with well right now ive sold a bunch of my breeders but i had 20 females and 7 males but bigger breeders will have many more then this

i hope this helps you out alil bit

 

[LugiaLover]

Thanks for the info. How exactly do you determine which geckos are holdbacks?

 

[goReptiles]

Bigger breeders do better. Newbies don't fair well.

Holdbacks are the nicest ones you produce that u may be able to use to further the quality in your projects.

Hobby slowly grew from two to too many. Ha.

This isn't a hobby for serious money making. It's more for enjoyment. Loads of expenses.

Hard to sell right now. Loads of people who get one gecko then decide to breed. Next thing u know, the market is saturated and the supply is high and demand is low. I have been communicating with someone who had no clue about breeding or the gram potential health problems for the geckos. She just knew she was doing it. Her first question to me was 'how do i convince people to buy from me.' she bought a male and put it with her female without quarantine. People like this don't listen, as I told her before she would have to quaratine. People like this flood the market, making it harder for everyone else.

Not saying that is u, but just giving an example of people in the market and why It's flooded.

 

[acpart]

I started my breeding experience 5 years ago with 1.2 and produced 13 babies. This season (my 6th) I have gotten offspring from 3.5, though I set up 4.7 for breeding. Every year except the first year and last year I've produced 30-40 hatchlings and sold out by Jan. of the following year. Last year I produced about geckos from 3.6, way too much for me, and sold out by the following May. I have suggestions about how to structure breeding and how to sell; I've already written articles about them on Gecko Time and you can find them here:

http://www.geckotime.com/how-to-sell-your-geckos/

http://www.geckotime.com/breeding-leopard-geckos-on-a-small-scale/

Aliza

 

[robin]

right now the business of leopard geckos is very bad. if you watch you see people all the time getting out of breeding and selling off entire collections. the sad reality the market for leopard geckos is saturated. at this point and even years from now leos will continue this downward swing (economical) for breeders. many of us stick with it. many don't it seems though for most it ios a revolving door of people and animals.

 

[Tommy13b]

I only bred 1 pair this season.
Heattape i belive?
Not yet, getting rid of one this weekend and going to sell the otherone soon.
There in my rack growing nice and big before they get sent off.
I produced 4 geckos this year from one female
Mine was about 50%, out of 8 eggs only 4 hatched.

 

[Robber]

Bigger breeders do better. Newbies don't fair well.

Holdbacks are the nicest ones you produce that u may be able to use to further the quality in your projects.

Hobby slowly grew from two to too many. Ha.

This isn't a hobby for serious money making. It's more for enjoyment. Loads of expenses.

Hard to sell right now. Loads of people who get one gecko then decide to breed. Next thing u know, the market is saturated and the supply is high and demand is low. I have been communicating with someone who had no clue about breeding or the gram potential health problems for the geckos. She just knew she was doing it. Her first question to me was 'how do i convince people to buy from me.' she bought a male and put it with her female without quarantine. People like this don't listen, as I told her before she would have to quaratine. People like this flood the market, making it harder for everyone else.

Not saying that is u, but just giving an example of people in the market and why It's flooded.

^^^^^ Good Post^^^^^

This is especially true with Leos because they mature so fast. I always think of it like this: Most people who breed their own geckos do not buy a lot from others or if they do, they buy a lot less than they breed themselves. So, if there are say 20 breeding females in a certain area(town, city, whatever...) they may produce 10 eggs a season, resulting in 200 baby geckos. Are there even 100 people in that area each year that are going to buy a gecko? Think about how many times you've seen lizards that have been sitting in a pet store for a while and are starting to not look so good - do you want your animals to end up there? If you end up wholesaling them out when you can't sell them, that is likely where they are going to end up(I'm not trying to villify all petstores btw, there are a lot of good ones...). If you aren't breeding because you love the animals first and for money a FAR distant second, then you are doing the wrong thing.

 

[LugiaLover]

To be honest, I want to breed because I love leopard geckos and the wide range of morphs facinate me. I want to put my mark on the world of leopard geckos, whether it is hatching out the biggest super giant or creating a new morph.

Thanks for all the comments. When I bred two of my geckos together a few years ago, I had a lower hatch rate. Can this be caused by the type of incubator I had?

 

[acpart]

To be honest, I want to breed because I love leopard geckos and the wide range of morphs facinate me. I want to put my mark on the world of leopard geckos, whether it is hatching out the biggest super giant or creating a new morph.

Thanks for all the comments. When I bred two of my geckos together a few years ago, I had a lower hatch rate. Can this be caused by the type of incubator I had?

First of all, lower than what? Not many people post data about their hatch rates. If it was truly lower, it could be due to a number of reasons, including but not limited to:
--unreliable incubator
--first time breeders
--incompatibility between male and female
--poor nutrition/supplementation of the parents
--the luck of the draw

Good luck next time if you decide to pursue it.

Aliza

 

[LugiaLover]

I had four hatchlings out of 6 eggs and one didn't make it. He hadn't absorbed the yolk sac and he was tiny. The female was a breeder from leopardgecko.com and the male was a first timer. I used a hova-bator.

 

[Robber]

To be honest, I want to breed because I love leopard geckos and the wide range of morphs facinate me. I want to put my mark on the world of leopard geckos, whether it is hatching out the biggest super giant or creating a new morph.

Well, we all kind of dream about that I guess but you have to consider that there are people with hundreds and thousands of geckos with a ton of $$$ invested in buildings, equipment, staff, etc, etc that already have a huge collection of different morphs they are putting together.

 

[Imperial Geckos]

i think it has been said a couple times on this thread and i will repeat..The Leopard Gecko market is FLOODED!!!

And lets be honest most of the people looking for leopard geckos are newbies and are looking for cheap basic animals..they dont care where they came from or anything...they want something that looks nice for a cheap price.

I believe the only way to make leopard gecko breeding into a business is breeding WHOLESALE! Basic Morphs and a few high end ones...

Most of these basic morphs geckos are what get sold at local shows which is where some if not most of your sales will come from..

THen you widen your range of customers from people that want one pet gecko, to pet stores/wholesale companies that are looking to buy 5, 10, 15, 50+ lots of all sorts of morphs.

How ever this is not cheap to get started and a huge Capital Investment is needed. Also remember the amount of time it will take you to maintain your geckos and offspring..Its easy to become overwhelmed....

Good luck with your future endeavors!!

 

[T-ReXx]

i think it has been said a couple times on this thread and i will repeat..The Leopard Gecko market is FLOODED!!!

And lets be honest most of the people looking for leopard geckos are newbies and are looking for cheap basic animals..they dont care where they came from or anything...they want something that looks nice for a cheap price.

I believe the only way to make leopard gecko breeding into a business is breeding WHOLESALE! Basic Morphs and a few high end ones...

Most of these basic morphs geckos are what get sold at local shows which is where some if not most of your sales will come from..

THen you widen your range of customers from people that want one pet gecko, to pet stores/wholesale companies that are looking to buy 5, 10, 15, 50+ lots of all sorts of morphs.

How ever this is not cheap to get started and a huge Capital Investment is needed. Also remember the amount of time it will take you to maintain your geckos and offspring..Its easy to become overwhelmed....

Good luck with your future endeavors!!

Big +1 on this. :main_thumbsup:

 

[robin]

i think it has been said a couple times on this thread and i will repeat..The Leopard Gecko market is FLOODED!!!

And lets be honest most of the people looking for leopard geckos are newbies and are looking for cheap basic animals..they dont care where they came from or anything...they want something that looks nice for a cheap price.

I believe the only way to make leopard gecko breeding into a business is breeding WHOLESALE! Basic Morphs and a few high end ones...

Most of these basic morphs geckos are what get sold at local shows which is where some if not most of your sales will come from..

THen you widen your range of customers from people that want one pet gecko, to pet stores/wholesale companies that are looking to buy 5, 10, 15, 50+ lots of all sorts of morphs.

How ever this is not cheap to get started and a huge Capital Investment is needed. Also remember the amount of time it will take you to maintain your geckos and offspring..Its easy to become overwhelmed....

Good luck with your future endeavors!!

agreed! very good info and great post

 

[RAlbrecht]

If breeding Leopard Geckos is something you want to do, and something you would find enjoyment in... I say do it. Don't get your mind set on making tons of money or a huge impact on the Leopard Gecko world, because everyone is trying to do just that. Do it for the love of the art that comes along with breeding these geckos. I've only been breeding for a short while , but have talked to a lot of other breeders. I've learned that Passion is the biggest key to breeding, if you are truly passionate about what you do, and the animals you hatch... it will be infectious and more people will purchase your animals... Flooded market or not, being passionate about a animal you love and enjoy working with is the way to go.

~ Rob (Still gets excited seeing a baby leo hatch...yes every time)

 

[Imperial Geckos]

Very few businesses function or last without passion from the owner. Yes breeding reptiles requires patience and metal toughness (most businesses require this too)...this is where your "passion" is tested...but business wise, its a bad idea to breed leos unless your looking to get into the wholesale market..again..im talking business wise..if you want to do it as a hobby?..be my guest!! Nothing is better than hatching out baby gecko!

however i noticed the OP asked what a holdback was..and i reread the first post made by the OP and most of the question the OP asked are answered with EXPERIENCE! Which is the biggest key to success with breeding reptile or any business.

THe problem with leos is that they are easy to breed. Sometimes you can throw in a male and female and 15 days later your female is laying eggs.

One thing i have noticed with alot of new owners is that everyone thinks they are "breeders". Most people buy a gecko and want to know how to breed, but then they ask questions like, "is a 150 watt bulb good for my 15 gram gecko?"...EXPERIENCE GUYS!!! I cant stress that enough..

Gain experience before breeding...that is the my best advice to anyone that wants to breed geckos and especially to those that which to make a "business" of that

 

[Brewboy74]

Wow this doesn't sound good for all the breeders out there now. How many good reputable breeders have been lost in the last few years?

I am a newbie interested in breeding too. I don't have any aspirations of creating a new morph anything like that. You have to look at the facts when it comes to how new morphs are created, sheer luck and large quantities of babies. Look at who created the Engima or Giants or the different breeds of albino.

I am interested in the Genetics and the interplay of all the morphs. It is truly fascinating. I plan to breed because I am fascinated by it. I don't care how much money I loose or make.

The most import thing is to be responsible in how you proceed. Don't create a problem for you self by over breeding and not knowing how to deal with the offspring.

Brian

 

[LugiaLover]

I agree that the market is flooded. Look at enigmas. In a few years, they'll be as cheap as dirt. Looking at the market, has anyone considered that the future may be polygenic traits? Using polygenic traits, you make very unique animals. Any thoughts?

 

[robin]

The most import thing is to be responsible in how you proceed. Don't create a problem for you self by over breeding and not knowing how to deal with the offspring.

well said. i completely agree!