Breeding colimbians

goopyguy5 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-29-2007, 03:04 AM

Well... I want to breed boas especially columbians because there probably my favorite snake. I don't have any snakes right now but I have owned a few in the past. I am just pessimistic about breeding boas because I don't know if i can find homes for all the baby's. Especially if i want to breed albinos. Can i really expect to sell a whole litter of baby albino boas if there like 700 bucks a piece. I mean how many people can you find that wanna but a snake for 700 bucks. This is the only thing keeping me from acquiring a pair of boas even though I really want to. I just figured I would ask someone with experience in boa breeding if its so hard to find homes for all the baby's before I chuck this whole idea out the window. If anyone can help answer my question for me that would rock!

Aaron_NSBM · #2 (**permalink**) 06-29-2007, 03:25 AM

it can be diffucult to find homes. I am sitting on 16 normal colombian babies right now. cant say dont but wont say go for it..if you breed be ready to house the babies that you produce in case they dont sell. I guess thats my best advice I can give you.

TheBoaGuy · #3 (**permalink**) 06-29-2007, 04:03 AM

If you breed you have to be prepared to keep them for as long as it takes to find them good homes. Its just the nature of the beast.

TammyJamaica · #4 (**permalink**) 06-29-2007, 06:18 PM

I think you need to think more about this. If you are going into it for the money (breeding) then you need to know how to care for them properly so that you breed healthy babies. And as for the 700 bucks apiece, if you are set on that price then it may be hard to find buyers for them, especially if you are just starting out as a breeder and others are way ahead with their good reputations and a pack of experience on you. Just MHO.

goopyguy5 · #5 (**permalink**) 06-30-2007, 12:17 AM

Well, I have had boas before so i do have experience. I just don't have experience breeding them. I personally have never seen albino boas for less than 700 bucks so obviously you thought I was talking about normls Tammy. I will probably breed some someday. I think i could take care of some young boas for a while, just as long as i'm not taking care of them forever. I know there are people with allot more experience than me out there but so what. You have to start somewhere right? I am not just wanting to do this for the money. I just like boas a whole lot. Just having a boa would be great, breeding them and making a few extra bucks on the side would even be better. As long as i could sell a few babs here and there over a period of several months is ok. It's the idea of keeping them all till there adults that scares me a little. I don't know. I hope you guys don't have that happen regularly. Maybe theres a better snake to start off on out there. What do you guys think?

bblis001 · #6 (**permalink**) 06-30-2007, 12:51 AM

if the thought of having to keep so many of them because of the high price tag sets you back, remember you could always lower the price to move some quickly if you need the space. Im sure that there are many people out there ,myself included, that would like an albino, or morphs in general, but are not capable or willing to spend a ton of money. If you sold them cheaper than others, I doubt you would have more on hand than you would like. I think many people sell them for high prices because they want to quickly recoup the high cost to start a breeding project, as well as to gain a profit. If you aren't in the game to gain huge profits, then selling them a bit cheaper really shouldn't be that big a deal.

LukaTisus · #7 (**permalink**) 06-30-2007, 05:13 PM

I agree with what's been said. I'm planning on getting into BP breeding myself, but I purchased a pair of babies, so that I had time to prepare for everything I needed first and get the research and whatnot that I need to do, done. You have to be well prepared to keep some of the babies, and in worst case scenarios, you may actually end up stuck with one or two until they're in the adult stage, especially if you're heck bent on selling them at $700, Albinos or not.

Under the circumstance that you would be a first-time breeder, and people don't just jump up and buy from someone they've never heard of. If you're going to do this as a hobby, you should consider having to lower the price, even just a bit and be prepared to offer health guarantees and the like to the people who're buying the animal from you. Whether you see them for that price all the time or not, you have to keep in mind that petshops like to bump the regular price up quite a bit to make a profit off of the animal, and some of the breeders who charge the higher prices are probably already pretty well known and people will be more willing to pay a price like that if they know the quality they'll be getting out of their new pet is worth it.

Try to get a table at a small reptile show in your area as well, get your name out there bit by bit. Quality and health is definetely the most important thing when it comes to being a breeder because that's what the buyer will be looking for. I'm also a little stingy myself, and would be making absolutely sure that the person purchasing one of my babies would know exactly what they were doing, and I'd be willing to offer any advice they need and be available to contact if they had any questions about their new family member.

So basically, don't expect this to be easy in any sense. Tammy was right, and I'm pretty sure she knew you were talking about albinos. Listen to the advice given to you on this site because many of the people here are in the business and they've all started somewhere so they know what they're talking about.

dhonaker · #8 (**permalink**) 06-30-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bblis001

if the thought of having to keep so many of them because of the high price tag sets you back, remember you could always lower the price to move some quickly if you need the space. Im sure that there are many people out there ,myself included, that would like an albino, or morphs in general, but are not capable or willing to spend a ton of money. If you sold them cheaper than others, I doubt you would have more on hand than you would like. I think many people sell them for high prices because they want to quickly recoup the high cost to start a breeding project, as well as to gain a profit. If you aren't in the game to gain huge profits, then selling them a bit cheaper really shouldn't be that big a deal.

thats a great idea and why not completley destroy the market for people that do this for a living

Aaron_NSBM · #9 (**permalink**) 06-30-2007, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by goopyguy5

Well, I have had boas before so i do have experience. I just don't have experience breeding them. I personally have never seen albino boas for less than 700 bucks so obviously you thought I was talking about normls Tammy. I will probably breed some someday. I think i could take care of some young boas for a while, just as long as i'm not taking care of them forever. I know there are people with allot more experience than me out there but so what. You have to start somewhere right? I am not just wanting to do this for the money. I just like boas a whole lot. Just having a boa would be great, breeding them and making a few extra bucks on the side would even be better. As long as i could sell a few babs here and there over a period of several months is ok. It's the idea of keeping them all till there adults that scares me a little. I don't know. I hope you guys don't have that happen regularly. Maybe theres a better snake to start off on out there. What do you guys think?

well if it scares you thinking that you may have to take care of babies forever DO NOT DO IT! I have been seeing albinos at the $500 mark lately so $700 will still be expensive. but if you dont want to take responsablity that rest of the breeders have of taking care of boas that dont sell I cant say you are ready to breed and the way you make it sound by not wanting to take care of them forever you may not want to get a snake period!

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