Advice on starting a tarantula breeding business?

[arachnidsrva]

T's

You should first get a nice job with benefits and good health insurance

I suggest after that you can pick between Tarantulas OR here are a few other suggestions

Running/Jogging with friends
Owning a yacht and renting it out to the public
Restoring a car and selling it
Rock Climbing Expert
Scuba Diving Instructor
Karate Teacher
Deep Sea Fisherman
Become an actual dinosaur

 

[Vespula]

Become an actual dinosaur

Tempting... very tempting.

 

[Ultum4Spiderz]

Are you just posting the first thing that pops into your head?

Breeding T's is downright easy compared to many snakes. Cycling, brumation (for some), incubating eggs in an incubator with a stable temperature....those are all things that are MUCH more difficult for breeding snakes than most tarantula species. There are a few that are difficult, but many are quite simple.

How long does it take a snake to mature? A couple years if you feed them up a lot and are lucky, three years they're usually good to go (boas and pythons at least). Quite a few tarantula species are mature and ready for breeding in the same amount of time. Outside of some of the slower growing species, you are completely wrong about that. The only reason that snake breeders may have a "more stable cash-flow" is because the market for snakes is much larger than tarantulas. Even then, breeding snakes is far from a "stable" source of income.

You are correct but did you hear about that one Record breaking Ball Python that sold for 59-60,000 dollars? Yet to hear of a T selling for 60k cash
Some Color morphs sell for $100-1000s a peice , Snakes are a lot harder due to temperatures I forgot about that.:sarcasm:

 

[SamuraiSid]

Breed cuz you love it. If you make money, consider it good fortune.

 

[jayefbe]

You are correct but did you hear about that one Record breaking Ball Python that sold for 59-60,000 dollars? Yet to hear of a T selling for 60k cash
Some Color morphs sell for $100-1000s a peice , Snakes are a lot harder due to temperatures I forgot about that.:sarcasm:

I don't think you read my whole post. Also people have spent far more than 60k on a ball python.

 

[mastercave]

I once heard someone say something along the lines of "It's only a hobby as long as you put in more money than you gain"......

 

[skar]

Ya I gave up on the breeding thing. I tried breeding humans business . . . . All I could get were a bunch of males LOL

 

[Anonymity82]

Step one: Breed tarantulas

Step two: ?

Step three: Big Profit!

---------- Post added 07-30-2012 at 05:03 PM ----------

Ya I gave up on the breeding thing. I tried breeding humans business . . . . All I could get were a bunch of males LOL

And unlike females, they may never mature...

 

[arachnidsrva]

tarantulas are fun.

if you have one or a few - then try and make a pair or two - then make tarantula love

feed slings - take care of them - then sell them all at 3rd instar... you can make money back for all the time and cost of T's


start with g rosea or avic avic - that way the slings will cover your 40 dollar cost

 

[captmarga]

Selling slings bulk at .50 each or even $3 each rarely covers the time and energy spent feeding them for 3-6 months (or longer). Sure, the high-end Ts can cover costs more, but with any business or hobby, you expect to put out more than you bring in for the first year or more in start-up costs. Remember that saying, "In order to make a small fortune, first start with a large one"? Holds true here. Believe me, I'm feeding some 600 slings, and they have not covered all my time, effort, cricket costs, deli cup costs, electricity costs, or headache medicine costs. It's a hobby. An expensive one, and I knew it when I started. I'm good if I get extra runnin' money here and there.

Marga

 

[BrettG]

Breeding is fun but most people do it for the wrong reasons.We do it to produce trade bait,or cheap deals for fellow hobbyists.I will tell you what,there is nothing more frustrating than doing all the work and then getting totally lowballed on the offspring.Posting 5 lots of something interesting for $45 and having jokers offer you much less(including shipping!!) makes you want to beat your head against the wall.You all know who you are.Be prepared for that because if you breed it WILL happen.If you try to sell full price be prepared to have the offspring FOREVER.Figure out what "dealers" you want to try to work with,and talk to them.Have a plan,so when you have offspring you are not STUCK with it.And don't get butthurt when the spiders you sold for $3.50 each are now selling for $29 each,and people are actually BUYING them,because well,it's from a"dealer" after all..Every last word I just typed is the honest to god truth,so decide if it sounds like a good plan for YOU or not.

 

[gottarantulas]

Conceivably one could make money. If you look at reptile trends and models (which of course differ from the tarantula hobby), every few years there's the new hot species...the must haves. Additionally at least within the last decade, there has been the introduction and recognition of morphs whether it be ball pythons, reticulated pythons, corn snakes, bearded dragons, leopard geckos, fat tail geckos, etc. A breeder will have the exclusive on a certain morph of animal and in the first year or two that given morph will sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars and then in the ensuing years, the prices drastically drop because everyone and their mother is breeding and selling them and there are more of them in the market. Having spoken with someone who was a pioneer in with the explosion of Tokay gecko morphs, he said you have to have contacts within the industry, international contacts, you have to be to recognize market trends and adjust accordingly, etc. I think you should inquire to the big or at least successful tarantula outfits like Ken The Bug Guy, Paul Becker, Tarantulas.com and Tarantulaspiders.com. Obviously, they've found a niche and formula to have some semblence of a profit margin to be in business for a few years now.

 

[jayefbe]

Ken The Bug Guy, Paul Becker, Tarantulas.com and Tarantulaspiders.com. Obviously, they've found a niche and formula to have some semblence of a profit margin to be in business for a few years now.

Yes, almost all of them import in large numbers. I think invert dealers do a lot more import/buying and reselling then compared to the reptile trade.

Also, ball python morphs sell for tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars and then drop to hundreds of dollars. It's actually held their prices better than I ever thought.

 

[Kodi]

Considering that he/she posted this nearly 2 1/2 years ago and hasn't posted again, probably not. Which brings up a somewhat important yet overlooked aspect of this hobby. Many people get into it, become obsessed with tarantulas, and within a few months have dozens to even hundreds of tarantulas. They dream of breeding every species they own, posting YouTube videos, and gaining the money and respect amongst their arachnopeers that will come with it. Then, a few months later, they're completely absent from the hobby and have sold off most/all of their collection. I've seen it happen with many, many people.

I am positive that nearly everyone who is reading/posting on this forum would insist that this is a lifelong passion that will never fade if asked. I'm also positive that the majority of those people won't even be in the hobby, or their interest will wane considerably within a few years.

I'm not saying that one shouldn't be enthusiastic or excited when they start off in this hobby. I know I had problems controlling myself in the beginning, and watched my collection grow at a ridiculous rate. I'm just saying that there is plenty of time to learn and grow within this hobby. Not everyone needs to have 50+ tarantulas and be pulling sacs every week. Not everyone is cut out for the extremely long hours that comes with trying to breed and sell tarantulas for a profit. My advice is to enjoy the hobby as that...a hobby. Buy the species you like. If you end up with a mature female and can get your hands on a mature male, by all means, breed them. You'll slowly but surely become one of the "experts" that you currently revere.

But if you come into this hobby dreaming of making a living breeding P. metallica, M. balfouri, Xenesthis species, and every other pricey difficult to breed species, you're only going to be disappointed. All of the dealers in this hobby have spent years to decades gaining the knowledge and experience necessary to do what they do. Even then it's a long and arduous process that few could do. I love this hobby and have kept tarantulas for many years, and I know that I couldn't do it. Not for the money that's available. So just be patient. Have fun. Who knows, in a few years you might be the biggest dealer of tarantulas in the hobby. Or you might not even own a tarantula anymore. In the end it doesn't really matter, just as long as you're enjoying your time in the hobby.

This has really fixed my view as a new T hobbyist. Thank you.

 

[AviculariaRob]

Wow that was awesome! You said everything that needed to be said about this hobby, hope more people read this.

 

[TheRealPsycho]

I think as a side business you can make a decent amount of profit. There are ways to do such a thing. Sell them to local dealers below their wholesalers price. You can start a small business where you specialize in Tarantulas and breed them but you would need other ways to .market and sell aswell. You can sell via personal website or craigslist. See if a local schools or colleges wants some for science or whatever and donate with a priced list zeroed out so you can claim tax credits. I mean there are several options however you will not get rich doing this or see any real income until you start producing healthy spiderlings and have patience. Do not sell privatly for the same price as dealers but at the same time do not go way below either because if everyone did that it would start lowering the price of that species.

* Also note I am not a dealer and I am just another person that is in the hobby.

 

[BrettG]

To make any cash you really need to be pairing 15+ spiders at the same time,so you HOPEFULLY end up with a few different sp producing sacks ROUGHLY in the same time frame.It is a pain,but do-able......

 

[TheRealPsycho]

To make any cash you really need to be pairing 15+ spiders at the same time,so you HOPEFULLY end up with a few different sp producing sacks ROUGHLY in the same time frame.It is a pain,but do-able......

Oh I completly agree! If you have a variety Spiders and good pictures of the species at roughly the same time your odds of selling greatly increase. I do plan on breeding mine but I will offer to local dealers first before I try selling on my own as I am just doing this as a hobby.