Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum

Help Support Aussie Pythons & Snakes Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.
My point is that there are people who have jumped straight from not keeping to breeding without knowing even the most basic of facts about the animals they are trying to breed.
 
The ready availability of information on the 'Net definitely makes it easier for people new to the hobby to glean information, to purchase stock and supplies, and to ask questions.

Back in the 80's I wanted to keep Plains Rats. I was interviewed by Rob Baker who was director of the Adelaide Zoo before he'd sell me a pair. He wanted to make sure that I was up to the task. I remember him saying that Plains Rats were so much more demanding to keep than my Spinifex Hopping Mice. Now Plain Rats are an exempt species in SA.

Similarly when I started with Gouldian finches and Adelaide Rosellas they were described as being more demanding to keep and breed successfully. Gouldians are now on the exempt list, and Adelaide Rosellas on the basic list.

All we had back then was the local library and advice from other keepers who we'd bump into at the pet shop or the fodder store, or sometimes the chance to ask questions of museum or zoo staff. A request for books on Australian aviculture or small mammal husbandry at the bookstore got you directed to titles on British or North American species, or at best an Australian "Field Guide to whatever". A Google search now brings up a vast array of fact sheets, forums and websites with a lot of information and opinions. What we're seeing here is comment on the opinions. As readers of those opinions it's up to us to question the attitude, credibility and credentials of the writers and work out their wisdom and credibility from there.

Fair comment too. From some of the comments, I'm not sure whether its the animals interests or the prospective breeder/buyer situation that is the concern?

The suggestion that there should be a time period between first keeping and eventually breeding is a laugh tho'.
Who would enforce it? The same people we complain are over-governing yet ill-informed?
Seems like a moot point.
 
Totally agree Beeman. No-one can keep reptiles as "pets" anymore it seems, once they have the permit some(keyboard worriors) seem to think they are going to be the next big thing in breeding/morphs/crap etc etc. Once upon a time, keepers kept there animals for a while as pets, learnt as much as they could about their chosen pet then late had a crack at breeding them. Now it sems to be a get rich quick type hobby for the kids.....especially the spoilt little pricks that have mummy and daddy buy them gtp's, roughies, and super dooper morphs(average animals with comical tags) etc etc.

not so sure about that.....get into some turtle forums and its all about "pets"....very friendly and helpful people on the whole too.... keep the snake based forums for a laugh when bored...;)
 
I've only been keeping snakes for 14months or so, and i'm quite happy to just look after the snakes i have for now. i would be intereste din breeding in a few years when i know i can support them properly and am more competent. not before.
 
trying to breed just for money is crazy especially for newbies.

I have been in hobby for around 10 years and only now do I make a bit of extra money, which covers the cost's etc associated with heating/feeding/housing etc. (and a little left over)

I breed my animals because I WANT to and don't really care what other people think.

Just do what you want to (within law) as everyone is different and everyone had their own opinions.



j
 
You guys should live in Tassie. The parks and wildlife have very strict rules about keeping herps and we definately are not allowed to sell them. All our herps with some exeptions are wild caught and you must have a permit to keep all our reptiles. I have a reasonable collection and care for and love all of them. There are still some who do the wrong thing but because there is no moneytary value to them most of the people who keep herps do it because they care about their animals
 
I have only been keeping herps for 18months, but before next season i plan to purchase a breeding pair of pythons and have a go myself.
No I am not in it for the money, No I am not in it to create new morphs or whatever.
I am doing it because i want to, simple.
I am pretty pedantic about whatever i do, and i will thoroughly research and speak to breeders before i take the plunge, but i think to say you shouldn't breed until you have years of keeping experience is BS.

Keeping herps, and breeding herps are completely different in my opinion so how can years and years of keeping experience help you whatsoever when it comes to breeding.

You only learn by mistake and i'm positive all you experienced breeders have made mistakes before that you have deeply learnt from.
 
Agree wholeheartedly

I have only been into this for about 8 months (plus about 6 months reading prior to acquiring anything). I wouldn't consider myself experienced enought to contemplate breeding animals for 3-5 years. I want to riase my snakes from hatchies to adults, learn their behaviours, problems, proper husbandry etc and appreciate them as pets. If the time is right, then I might try to breed some, but only to add to my knowledge and appreciation of the animals, not to try and makes quick $$.

Unfortunately so many people take the $$ approach to owning any animal (be they reptiles, dogs, cats, whatever). It's a shame people don't respect animals (and their personal limitations) more.

Sorry for my rant!
 
How much money can be really made with this unless you are breeding GTPs or albinos? I been keeping reptiles for over 10 years and have just now recently gotten a pair of anything. Even then i picked a species that on advice was easy to breed just to see what i can learn. I have also been told to breed now but responded that i don't know enough and I'll try it when I'm confident that i know everything i possibly can about them.
 
Red Ink, how much money you can make is a "how long is a piece of string" sort of question. It depends on how much you charge, how much you're willing to spend to care for your animals, whether you buy food or breed it, how successful the breeding is and the list goes on. Some people who breed GTPs and albinos make very little, some people who breed coastals and childrens make a lot. It wouldn't be my choice to breed solely for profit, as at the end of the day you're talking about living beings and it's always a gamble investing money in that sort of thing. It's always nice to at least be able to cover costs, but having said that most of the animals we've bred have been given away. The majority that have been sold are ones we have purchased in the rather than bred.

Cheers for that Kersten, I suspected as much, so i suppose it would come down to ethics in the case of the breeder at the end of the day. I think what the breeder paid for in getting the breeding stock would be a factor in the clutch price as well. If the paid 2k as a hatchie it would only be logical that it would be the price they would sell their clutch for.:)
 
Cheers for that Kersten, I suspected as much, so i suppose it would come down to ethics in the case of the breeder at the end of the day. I think what the breeder paid for in getting the breeding stock would be a factor in the clutch price as well. If the paid 2k as a hatchie it would only be logical that it would be the price they would sell their clutch for.:)

With the rate at which some of the more expensive pythons have decreased in "value", it's not always the case anymore that the clutch price reflects the parent price. That's proven to be pretty frustrating for a lot of people, and I'd imagine if I was in the position of expecting to sell at a price close to what I'd bought at I might be ticked off about it too. I'd keep it in the back of my mind when buying something that costs alot that I may need to sell a whole clutch or two before paying off my initial purchase.
 
Isn't this what the thread is about?

If nothing is about money then why try to make back what you spent on the animals? If you were in it for the love of the animals then price would not be of concern.
Why spend twenty grand plus on some animals then to charge top dollar to make your money back? Then froth about it when the price of an animal drops several percent over the annum.
Why purchase the most expensive snakes to breed? Why breed the snakes that are going to make the most money at hatching time?
All of it is for the money whether you like to admit it or not.
You do it so you can cover the costs electricity/feeding/your time, which means when egg time comes around you all see the $$$ signs.

This thread is pretty contradictory from the little bits i have read.
 
Whenever I read these threads, there always seems to be quite a distinction of either you're in it for the money, in which case that comes before the animals' welfare, or you're in it for the animals and therefore money is of no consequence.

I do not understand why you cannot have both? Why can't one love and respect the animals and look after them very well indeed, yet still be able to make a profit off them (or why is it that these people are frowned upon)? The majority of people that actually manage to get a good business going and make a considerable profit (and thus, a good name) would obviously need to know how to look after them correctly and continue to do so, else word spreads (or animals die) and their business fails. From my knowledge, the majority of people in this business respect the animals enough to know when they have bred enough, know when not to push more matings, etc., etc. We're not talking about factory farming here...
 
Isn't this what the thread is about?

If nothing is about money then why try to make back what you spent on the animals? If you were in it for the love of the animals then price would not be of concern.
Why spend twenty grand plus on some animals then to charge top dollar to make your money back? Then froth about it when the price of an animal drops several percent over the annum.
Why purchase the most expensive snakes to breed? Why breed the snakes that are going to make the most money at hatching time?
All of it is for the money whether you like to admit it or not.
You do it so you can cover the costs electricity/feeding/your time, which means when egg time comes around you all see the $$$ signs.

This thread is pretty contradictory from the little bits i have read.

You're always going to get contradictory threads since not everyone will have the same opinion. If you're referring to anything I've said then I'm afraid I can't really answer most of your questions as they don't apply to my situation. I don't breed for profit, and I don't buy snakes at top dollar and froth at the mouth when they drop in value quickly.

As for making money back....well you may have confused the point. There is a difference between making a profit and covering costs. And there are more than a few people who choose to give away the bulk of their animals and sell just a few to cover costs. This is vastly different to planning to buy animals only because of how much you think you can make from them. What the initial point of this thread touched on in part was that there are people out there who have no interest other than the financial aspect of ownership and how little research many of them put in. This might sound like something that is a trifling problem, but what you often then see are sick, poorly kept animals. That's always going to be painful to people who have a real love for reptiles (or any animal for that matter).

Yes NotechisTiger, you can do both. But there's any number of people out there who mistreat their animals in the pursuit of a buck,
 
I have had an interest in reptiles and animals in general for more than three decades and to be honest have not been keeping for nearly that long.

I agree with BEEMAN's disapproval rant about the ill-prepared breeding on the premise of making money.

I would like to expand on this in such that I have noticed that some on this site seem to give the inferrence that to be a good keeper you have to be able to successfully breed your animals. I know of two keepers who have several snakes aged well into their late teens in prime condition and have never bred a single animal. These keepers just enjoy keeping the animals they have.

IMO-Keeping a reptile in prime condition to old age shows more dedication and commitment than popping out a few eggs in an attempt to show how good a keeper you are or on the premise of making some supposed 'easy money'.

Regards
Octane
 
No Kersten, my post was not directed at you.
Something you wrote sparked my thoughts so i started typing.

I understand how people want to cover the costs of getting the animals to breed in the first place, but there are a few people who are hell bent on not being in it for the money so why take into consideration how much it costs you in the first place.

I frown upon people who keep animals poorly if money is their priority, but I have no problem with people breeding animals they genuinely love and care for, for a bit of extra cash, who keep all their animals in pristine conditions.
If the animals health and well-being is a main priority then how is this any different to people with other hobbies who do it for the money.
 
Bfg23, I guess it depends on the circumstances and what people think of when the use the term "in it for the money", perhaps what they really mean is profit?

Herpsrule.....careful dear, you may just be your own worst enemy.
 
Everybody sells baby animals and stuff. It isn't a crime. But I am with bfg.. Ppl who put profit gain as their priority over the welfare of the animal don't deserve them.
 
People keep talking about making profits.
I feel sorry for those who are 'in it for the money'

What most who havent bred before don't realise is that by the time you add up housing, heating, feeding, cleaning and incubating costs of both the adults year round..... and then hatchies if they arrive, you are lucky break even.

Not to mention the time it takes if things are done properly and then theres the dealing with endless lists of tyrekickers & buyers who dont realise what goes into breeding animals, asking for pic after pic, countless emails of pointless questions that have already been answered or those dreadded and somewhat rude txt messages 'hey u still got em' etc....... and then try to talk down the value of everything to try and get themselves a bargain!!

Anyone who is just in it to make a dollar generally doesn't last long in the long run.
 
Last edited:
Haven't read all the replies, but it happens with all animals really, dogs, cats, reptiles, birds, etc. Some people just see $$$ signs when they look at animals.

I have to agree with mysnakesau too with the whole people who put profit gain as their priority over the welfare of the animal don't deserve them.

One day I'd love to breed both dogs and snakes, but I want to do it properly, both for my sake and the animals, and not just for my enjoyment, but for the breed/species itself, to help improve the breed/species rather than make money.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Back
Top