Can u Make a living off breeding & selling Boas???

[Brandon]

??? :-X

hey there everynody.
ive seen this question on Kingsnake as well, but i just wanted to know from the pro Boa Breeders what they think.

Can u make a living off breeding and selling boas.

a few of my buddies and myself, here in South Africa have been wondering if Jeff and Clay only breed snakes and rats all year long...or do u guys also have a 9-5 job.
is snakes ur hobby or is it ur full time job???

we only have 25 breeding pairs of snakes betrween the 3 of us and we know how much time it takes to keep them in optimum condition.
i can only imagine how much time it takes to breed rats as well.

so please, any comments will be grand thanks.
8)

[redtailboas]

Well speaking for myself, this is just a HUGE hobby that is out of control. ;D

I do have another business. I own a computer network engineering company. This company was started in 1994. It really requires a lot of time and dedication. A lot of mental work required in this line of work. I have a partner and 9 employees. Although I hope to get to the point that I only have to do specialized jobs, I do not intend to leave the company.

Boas are my passion. They are my mental "release" from the everyday struggles with networks and communications. I love everything about boas. I think about ways to improve things all the time. Would I like more time to spend with the boas? Absolutely, and hopefully the company will continue to progress to the point that I can chose when to work and when to play.

There are a handfull of guys that do this strictly as thier living, and they do it well. Jeff, Bob Clark, Pete Kahl just to name a few, although some guys also have those OTHER Boids ;D

[Brandon]

;D
hey there Clay.
thank for the reply.

I am a SAP Consultant.
i work for a a SAP(South Africa) partner.
i am enjoying it so far...even though i studied a BComm Accounts and did languages like Java before i got into SAP.

i also hope that i will be earning enough one day to be able to spend more time with my Boas.
i am still saving up more to be able to expand my collection.
but i will get there .

anyway, thanks for the reply.
chat to u soon.

[rottie]

Hey Clay I am a network engineer mostly do UNIX/Linux administration and firewalls now ... I can help you with both business.... ;)

I am looking to go to the states anytime now... Let me know if you wanna sponsor me ... :)



rottie

[The_Boaphile]

It would have been a lot easier if I had won the lottery first or had rich relatives to fund my start but I didn't. Took a lot longer than I thought it would have. It would have been easier if my wife were a Doctor or something too instead of the mother of my children who also delayed it... now that I think about it. Holy mackerel this whole family thing has meant that this whole thing has taken a whole lot longer than it would have! I wouldn't have had it any other way. Course the fact that I hadn't saved a penny for college for the kid hasn't made it any easier either...

The recipe...

Hard work (80-100 hours week for 15 years)
Baby Boas
Keep the best babies
Good records so you can have some idea what on Earth you are doing.
Did I mention the work thing?

[Brandon]

hey there Jeff.
thanks for the reply.

I dont think that i would ever give up my 9-5 job just to breed boas.
the market here in South Africa is not as big as the marketr in the States.
Here in SA, if u show someone a peruvian off the Boaphile Website, they say WOW, thats nice, and it ends there.
they dont really care about quality here, most of the guys just want a snake because its COOL.
but for myself and a few of my buddies and some of the big collectors here, snakes r a passion.
8)
i dont push 80-100 hours a week wqith my snakes. :-[
more like 26-30 hours a week.
2 hours a day and a lot more over the weekend. cwm32.gif

so for now, my snakes will remain my passion and my hobby.But SAP will have to be my income until one day i am the BOAPHILE of SOUTH AFRICA....ha ha. cwm11.gif 8)

take care.
and tanks again for the reply.

[Aztec_Fred]

cwm27.gif
Muuuuuuuahhahhahahahh!

Sorry, just had to laugh!

Lets see, can you make a living out of doing this?
Well, as a snake breeder myself, I can attest to this small factoid...about 85% of the snake and reptile breeders I know work FULL time jobs in additon to cleaning and feeding their snakes and cleaning and feeding the mice and rats they breed to feed TOO their snakes.

This doesnt leave a whole lotta room for families, which most dont have other than a spouse who joins them in all this fun.Throw in some kids and you have children that are ignored or dirty cages or both.

After haveing been a vendor at reptile shows for the last 10 years, been a herp society member off and on for the last 20 and being a reptile breeder myself, I would have to say that it is a hard road to hoe, and there are only SO many slots to be filled. As the cost of natural gas, gasoline, food elcetricity and housing go up, so do the increases in overhead of even a small business. A LOT of peopl get into the DUALITY business of brokering other peoples snakes in additon to the ones they produce themselves. This shows me that they cant make it purely on breeding and that there is more money in brokering, but I dearly HATE brokering and try to deal with the breeder whenever possible.

In California, there has to be 15 guys in my area alonecompeteing for the same buck. Luckily internet sales allows these guys to "disperse" the potential sales of their snakes, other wise it would be chaos andwas before the internet came along. This occurs because most of them breed THE SAME TYPES OF SNAKES.
I think if you keep what others arent, than you cut your own path,I hope my theory works. Best of luck to you.

Sincerely,

Fred
(Aztec Reptiles)

[Minus_1]

8) No brainer... my 9 to 5 would be forgotten by breakfast time (right about now), If I were blessed with the opportunity to work with my snakes full time...

If you're one of the few that is able to do this....and you happen upon this post.... listen... Dont take that for granted... There are MANY who would love to have that reality in their world... you're blessed...

Oh yea, and give me some babies, you have too many.. ;D