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High Volume Breeders/ACR

westexherps

westexherps

I Brake For Snakes
My question is for other high volume breeders that work with ACR. Last year was a serious headache trying to keep up with pre-registered babies. Just wondering how everyone else keeps track of pre-registered babies etc. Last year I had a hard time figuring out the best way to do the forms and keep up with the right offspring. This year I'm thinking about filling out the forms as the babies hatch and just not filling out the sex until they are bought. Any other suggestions?

I have 22 adult females that will all be ACR registered so I'm looking at anywhere between 200-600 babies when all is said and done.
 
I didn't do it last year, but plan to do it this year. Can't you send in the info as soon as the eggs are laid, and have everything ready before hatching starts? And just throw away any papers for eggs that don't hatch?

I haven't looked into it completely yet, but have to soon, as the adults have started breeding now.

I also will be interested in hearing any tips from people who already did it.
 
is it absolutely necessary for each snake to be registered? I plan on breeding 1 pair of corns this year, and selling the hatchlings very cheap. In order to sell the hatchlings, do the parents and or hatchlings have to be registered?
 
No they don't have to be registered. I guess some of the problem is I'm trying to do a little more work than is necessary. Basically to pre-register the babies all you do is fill out the info from the parents and how many eggs are in each clutch that is to be registered....So, Kathy you are right on that. My problem is that there are so many people that wouldn't know how to fill out the paper work, I try to do that work for them as well. I thought it through last night, and when you pre-register they give you two stickers for each baby, (I had forgotten about that part) I guess the easiest way to solve this is for me to put one sticker on the feeding card and the other on the registration form......any way you look at it, it's going to be a lot of work, but well worth it if they will actually register the snakes. Last year I registered my adults really late and received the pre-registration info right before eggs starting hatching. Lesson learned on that account. I'm thinking about offering a discount to repeat customers this year if they register the snakes....maybe then I'd feel like it was all worth the effort.
 
Yes, that is what they suggest (for the little labels). I don't know if it is worth filling out lots of papers for EVERYONE since most beginners probably won't care that much and never will send it in.

Either you have to give them an incentive as you suggested, or just do it for those who have the interest. As it gets better known, more will want to join in.
 
I think I'll give the discount a shot this year.....if that doesn't work then I'll just do the paperwork for people that appreciate it, most first time pet owners seemed really interested, like AKC papers for their dogs.....but no one has registered so far.....
 
I use the excel file for the pre-registered hatchlings. I think that goes much quicker then writing it all in. Because a lot of my clutches will produce the same offspring in a clutch, I can just print however number of copies I need for a particular Phenotype (like my two pairings of Amel Stripe x Amel Stripe, they'll be no surprises there and I'll just print a bunch out). I don't attach the stickers with offspring until they're sold, that way I don't get confused.
 
I pre-register all the snakes once eggs are laid. Then when they hatch I just make sure I label ever snake correctly (in my own way). I use my own method as I just have too many snakes to remember ACR #XXXX is such and such snake etc.

The only time I use the stickers and the ACR sheet is at the shows (or when I sell online). I have a stack of blank sheets and when someone buys a snake from me I find the appropriate stickers and put one on the deli cup of the purchased snake and one on the sheet.
 
This will be my first year with pre-registering babies. I think I will do the idea of not attaching stickers until that particular baby is sold.

Now what do you guys think of this IDEA that's been floating in my head...

I am strongly considering just upping the price of my babies by $5 each and doing the registration for the babies myself. So I think it's what $3 US when they are pre-registered? So I will just get the information from the adopter <name, addy, phone etc.> and tell them that I will personally send in the papers for their snake to be registered!

This will kill a lot of birds with one stone. People will think you are going that extra mile for them, you can be more hopefull, that POSSIBLY, more people will keep track of the genetics of your babies, you are supporting a good cause, and you will also be guarateed more credits for YOUR OWN snakes that you will inevitably have to register each year..

The only downside I see, and it can be a MAJOR one for some, is the time it takes to send in the info. yourself. But hey, how much extra time would it really take to write down the contact info. of buyers and save up the sheets so you just send in like ten at a time. Another thing I have to look into is if you have to set up a breeder name/number for each new person registering...

I don't know, I could be way off course, and everything is new with a learning curve. I really think this could work for me. At least for the private sales. There is no way I could do this for my whollesale clients and pet store clients. Too bad, but hey, what's that line from the movie BABE? "... the way things are!"

Rebecca
 
There was a system last year (I can't find anything on the ACR website now) where a breeder could provide a gift certificate for each hatchling where if the new owner chooses they can send it in and the breeder would be billed for it. Might be something to consider if you want to pay for the registration of any hatchling you sell (which costs $5, not $3), but you don't waist the money on people who don't care to have there snake registered.
 
I've tried the gift certificate idea but so far none have been turned in!!?? :shrugs:

Some of the people were quite enthusiastic and said they were going to register immediately...but guess not.

Personally, I'm not going to register the babies for the people as I think that may just take too much time and since the ACR is still new many people don't want to do it. Plus...I find the people who don't know what the ACR is or are not intrigued by its establishment more times than not are the people who don't care what the snake is het for. (i.e. what does het mean?) I try to talk up the aspect of seeing the parents but according to my ACR registrations it seems the has little effect.
 
Maybe Chuck has just not gotten to it yet? I know it took a couple weeks (maybe months) for him to update my pre-registration count.

I like the GC option, but as you mentioned, some will just not take the bait on that one. I think with the ACR, it would come down to the type of person you market to or who is interested in your stock.
 
There is always the chance the people who register are waiting for the animal to grow up. Personally, I have a good number of snakes that will be registered someday (05 and 06 holdbacks), but only AFTER they produce for me. I don't want to register a bunch of snakes and pay the money to do so only to cut the project or have one of them die before it makes it to breeding size.
 
I don't know about any one else but I personally don't like filling things out and mailing them. I wish there was an ACR form that could be filled out and paid for online. If you could see your changes as soon as they were done that would be great. I'm sure this would lighten the work load chuck has entering all these too.
 
VinnyJ said:
I don't know about any one else but I personally don't like filling things out and mailing them. I wish there was an ACR form that could be filled out and paid for online. If you could see your changes as soon as they were done that would be great. I'm sure this would lighten the work load chuck has entering all these too.
Click to expand...

Yes, that would lighten the work load considerably. However the programming of such a site is tedious (trust me, I know...that's what we're doing for the LGR and we've been working on it for over a year!) and unless you pay someone to do it or can troubleshoot all potential problems with the scripting yourself, it isn't feasible. Maybe eventually Chuck will do that, but who knows what his future plans for the ACR is. :shrugs:
 
Yes, that would lighten the work load considerably. However the programming of such a site is tedious (trust me, I know...that's what we're doing for the LGR and we've been working on it for over a year!) and unless you pay someone to do it or can troubleshoot all potential problems with the scripting yourself, it isn't feasible. Maybe eventually Chuck will do that, but who knows what his future plans for the ACR is. :shrugs:
Click to expand...
I'm a web developer myself and code most of the day (when not on here or ccs. lol.) so I couldn't agree with you more. ;) I just find that websites that are easy to use... get used more. The ACR site, as valuable as it is, is not easy to use at all when it comes to entering or updating data. If I was a newb with a new snake that came with information to register it and I went to the ACR website I would just say "forget it. it's not worth my time" after seeing what it involved. As difficult as the task may seem I think it's like the movie Field of Dreams.... "if you build it they will come".

Please don't take this the wrong way. The ACR is a great site & idea and I love what Chuck and Connie have done with it. I also know the incredible time and effort that goes into doing something like this. Many thanks to Connie and Chuck for that.
 
I think I'm one of those who just buy "pets". I don't know that I'd register any of my babies with the ACR simply because since I'm not going to breed that animal, for me doesn't seem worth registering it. Same way I feel about the AKC registration for dogs. If I know I have a pure bred dog, I don't need the "registration" to prove my dog is a purebred if I have no plans to breed that dog.

Would it matter to me if I purchased a snake as a certain morph for something het because I was told the parents where such and it turned out not to be true, yes I'd probably be very upset.(Here comes the flaming) I don't think the genetics of corns can be pinpointed by the use of the ACR like the genetics of the AKC, hence would I really feel comfortable getting a baby with both parents registerd with the ACR? Possibly not. but again I'm just a pet owner with no ideas of breeding, so Probably my thoughts are all for nothing.....sorry if i'm not making sense, but felt i had to put my thoughts into this thread.
 
Great thread - lots of good ideas!

The ACR is so new that I think it will take quite a while for pet owners or very small breeders to even hear of it, let alone understand its value. But people like all of you, who promote it (over and over and over!) will eventually turn it into a snowball that will gain a lot of speed and size over time.

Although it is true that it is not "policed" in the same way that the AKC and other groups are, many people will (at first) fail to realize that the main value won't be in assuring compliance among breeders, but in long term record keeping. So that when something unusual pops up, a breeder can go back to the data base and realize that 4 generations ago there was a lavender, anery, etc, in the mix, but it has long since been forgotten. Or that there was a Cal. king 3 generations ago, but the two or three purchasers in between lost that fact, but kept up the registrations. It will be a long time before registration is so commonplace that we will be able to often look up such things. But the groundwork you all are laying now will be the foundation of that "cornutopia" (haha!!) of the future!
 
kathylove said:
The ACR is so new that I think it will take quite a while for pet owners or very small breeders to even hear of it, let alone understand its value. But people like all of you, who promote it (over and over and over!) will eventually turn it into a snowball that will gain a lot of speed and size over time.

Although it is true that it is not "policed" in the same way that the AKC and other groups are, many people will (at first) fail to realize that the main value won't be in assuring compliance among breeders, but in long term record keeping. So that when something unusual pops up, a breeder can go back to the data base and realize that 4 generations ago there was a lavender, anery, etc, in the mix, but it has long since been forgotten. Or that there was a Cal. king 3 generations ago, but the two or three purchasers in between lost that fact, but kept up the registrations. It will be a long time before registration is so commonplace that we will be able to often look up such things. But the groundwork you all are laying now will be the foundation of that "cornutopia" (haha!!) of the future!
Click to expand...

BRAVO!!! very well spoken. :cheers:
Jay & PJ :cool:
 
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