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Possibly getting a pair that will produce whiteouts....

H

horsegymnast71

New member
Okay, so... I've never owned corns, but have done countless hours of research and all the stuff and things and I am ready to get a few corns. The two I'm interested in are both around 6 months old, so please don't go thinking I'm going to be breeding them any time soon. It will be at least a year before i even start thinking about finding a rack setup.

The male is a Phantom that is het bloodred/diffused, het stripe, and het amel.
The female is an Ultramel Pewter.

So from those two when I do breed them(If i am able to get them before they are snatched up by someone else) can produce Charcoals, Pewters, Blizzards, Whiteouts, Ultramel Charcoals, and Ultramel Pewters. And of course they would all have a few fun hets.

In the long run, if I plan to breed them and sell their offspring, is there enough demand for those morphs that I will make enough so that I'm essentially not spending "pocket money" on these snakes? I want to be making enough from selling the babies so that It gets to be around evened out with cost/income.

And obviously I don't plan on only keeping one breeding pair of snakes. I am just getting an idea of, hypothetically, if it is realistic to expect this particular pair to bring in a viable "income" every few years that I breed them so that they are essentially "paying their way"? It's a weird way to put it but the family is afraid of my snake hobby being a money drain...
 
If you want to see if you're 'breaking even', you need to tally *all* the costs put into these animals. It's not just the initial purchase price, but also their caging, the electricity used for the years leading up to breeding and then continuing after, the ongoing cost of food, etc. Selling them would mean spending time trying to find buyers online and purchase shipping materials, or vending at an expo which needs a seller's permit, purchase of a table space, etc... and at my local expos, most of those morphs you're listing are between $30 and $50. With an average clutch size of 15, that may seem like a lot... until you add everything up. And you need to be prepared to spend money taking your animals to the vet if something should go wrong.
 
Shiari already gave you excellent advice, but I would stress the necessity of shipping the offspring. Local sales are usually limited to people wanting a pet snake, and good genetics mean nothing, appearance everything. As you move up to higher priced morphs local sales won't bring anywhere near the true value of a high quality corn. I usually wholesale all my hatchlings except holdbacks, and that pays for most of my rodent costs. Associated costs. like bedding, electricity, etc are just a part of having a hobby for me.

You do have the right idea when considering the purchase of morphs that do not produce a high number of normals. Even the wholesale buyers don't want too many normals.
 
horsegymnast71 said:
Okay, so... I've never owned corns, but have done countless hours of research and all the stuff and things and I am ready to get a few corns. The two I'm interested in are both around 6 months old, so please don't go thinking I'm going to be breeding them any time soon. It will be at least a year before i even start thinking about finding a rack setup.

The male is a Phantom that is het bloodred/diffused, het stripe, and het amel.
The female is an Ultramel Pewter.

So from those two when I do breed them(If i am able to get them before they are snatched up by someone else) can produce Charcoals, Pewters, Blizzards, Whiteouts, Ultramel Charcoals, and Ultramel Pewters. And of course they would all have a few fun hets.

In the long run, if I plan to breed them and sell their offspring, is there enough demand for those morphs that I will make enough so that I'm essentially not spending "pocket money" on these snakes? I want to be making enough from selling the babies so that It gets to be around evened out with cost/income.

And obviously I don't plan on only keeping one breeding pair of snakes. I am just getting an idea of, hypothetically, if it is realistic to expect this particular pair to bring in a viable "income" every few years that I breed them so that they are essentially "paying their way"? It's a weird way to put it but the family is afraid of my snake hobby being a money drain...
Click to expand...

First let me say, thank you for choosing an INTERESTING first pairing. I see so many people want to start with their unknown pet store purchases "just for the experience" and it just seems like a huge waste of effort to me, not to mention the headache of someone who has likely never even seen a fresh out of egg normal trying to identify unexpected morphs.

Most people will tell you there is no money in corns, that you might break even. There is an old joke that is often applied to corns...if you want to make a million dollars breeding corn snakes, start with $2M. Meanwhile we all know of at least one or two people who do make a living on corn snakes, or at least a solid side income. If you're only worried about breaking even, careful analysis of costs will go a long way.

If everything had gone perfectly, I'd be well into the black by now with my corn snakes. Unfortunately a string of bad luck has led to high vet bills and lost income, so I'm still very much in the red. Assume something will go wrong. It frequently does. :shrugs:
 
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