To all the knockers out there who believe some breeders are in it just for the money and make big dollars out of breeding. I challenge you to work out a realistic business plan to set up and run your own big dollars reptile breeding venture. Include a variety of species and locale specific animals or morphs in your breeding business plan.
Then go to the website of any of the local investment companies/banks and use their online investment calculators.
Add up your full set up cost include (animals, additional animals for genetic diversity, enclosures, incubator, hatchling housing, food storage / feeder food / food breeding set-ups, heating, lighting and anything else needed to set-up) and use this as your initial investment amount figure for the calculator.
Then add up ongoing costs such as buying food or the maintaining of your feeder food colony, electricity, bedding/substrate, consumable items such as heat globes, vetinary/husbandry costs, maintenance of equipment, any other sundry costs, your labour cost including ongoing administration and running around (the realistic labour cost would be what someone would have to pay an adult were employed doing it for them).
Calculate this as a weekly or fortnightly amount then use this amount as an equivalent ongoing deposit into the previously mentioned investment calculator.
I think you will find reptile breeding would come in second place in the money making stakes everytime when the same amount of initial investment and ongoing cost is fully accounted for.
And this is pretty much proven as very few people are able to make enough money from breeding reptiles to make a full time living out of it.
Octane