# How much $$$ is there in breeding/selling T's?



## unclechewy (Dec 17, 2011)

I have a seen a couple of people fairly new to the hobby post that they have a desire to breed and sell.  My 11 year old son also thinks it would be real cool to breed and sell them as well.  So I was curious as to what the income potential for a serious breeder is.  I know this can really vary, just looking for a ball park range.  Thanks for your input.


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## fisherprice1234 (Dec 17, 2011)

Not a lot. If just break even. Unless you go with some rare species like p metallica. Slings go for 10-20 typically. The rarest are hard to breed and that's why they're rare


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## 1hughjazzspider (Dec 17, 2011)

Millions of dollars(hey we can all dream right?)

Reactions: Agree 1


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## happysmile88 (Dec 17, 2011)

Depends on what you're trying to breed. It's difficult to breed most of the desirable tarantulas in the hobby. Sometimes the effort that you put in outweighs the outcome in breeding. There's also no guarantee that you'll be able to get a good sac once you've mated your female. Killing the male before insertion, molting out after a pairing, female eats the sac, mites attack the sac, the sac desiccates, the sac molds, etc. these are just some of the things that could happen. Most hobbyists breed for the sake of accomplishment or getting more of a certain species into the hobby and of course others that treat it as a business.

Honestly, I encourage you to do so. See for yourself if it's worth the effort. After all, it's just my 2 cents.

Happy Breeding :3


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## 19tarantula91 (Dec 17, 2011)

People do make money off of it. It takes time though and most likely will never be enough to make a career out of. It's a hobby so even if you do breed the more "expensive" T's it's not guaranteed you'll sell them all. I know I have very limited money I can spend on my hobby.


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## unclechewy (Dec 17, 2011)

I'm not ready to attempt any breeding yet, but who knows what the future will bring.


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## 19tarantula91 (Dec 17, 2011)

unclechewy said:


> I'm not ready to attempt any breeding yet, but who knows what the future will bring.


Do it. Even if for nothing else then just doing it for fun. It's a awesome experience!


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## jayefbe (Dec 17, 2011)

Very little money. I would hazard a guess that the only people making a profit off of tarantulas are those importing large numbers from Europe or are buying and selling in LARGE numbers. There's just too much uncertainty in breeding (males eaten, no MM at the right time, eaten sacs, females molting), and associated costs (enclosures, food, hundreds of vial, time it takes to care for a sac worth of slings) to make it a dependable source of money. By all means breed, it's amazing and nothing is more fulfilling. You may even get a rare species to breed and pay off your hobby.

Reactions: Like 1


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## Sage (Dec 17, 2011)

I would love to breed tarantulas although I'm still learning and my fiance and I haven't found our own place yet.  I'd like to breed a relatively simple pair first and sell until I make back the cost of my supplies, the rest I'd honestly love to give away to good homes and people who want to experience raising a t from a sling to adulthood.  From what everybody's saying it would be worth it, and as long as I don't go broke I'd love to try it.  Luckily although my fiance sometimes refers to me as a crazy spider lady (vs crazy cat lady), he supports me and with his assistance I'm sure I could do it.

A good way to sell slings would be any monthly reptile shows in your area.  There's always a dealer or two at the one I visit every few months or so and if sold for the right price they sell fast.  That's where I got my A. avic for $12 and my first rosehair for $5.  Being able to pickup locally and not have to pay shipping for anything was just awesome.  But I'm sure the cost of a table varies and that'd be something to look into.  Depends on the size of the sack too but if you're lucky to have a mature of both genders and you take the extra care to be sure the male isn't eaten I say go for it.  In the very least it would be interesting to watch.  c:


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 18, 2011)

selling/breeding tarantulas full time would be a awesome job....but you would quickly be poor...only thing i wish to do with breeding mine is, make some extra cash to purchase other species, trades, and to keep the species i am able to breed in the hobby..hey B. vagans are super cheap and easy to find right now, but down the road any of the tarantulas we see as common might be completely turned around...so i say if you have a female, or a male, breed them....any way you have to....loan out, recieve loans, purchase females or males....just keep those slings circulating.


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## Ultum4Spiderz (Dec 18, 2011)

Honestly Ts are not a Career.. if you want cash breed reptiles.. most people in the T hobby actualy care about the spiders not the money
There are only a handfull of sellers who make good cash off Ts...
IF you like animals be a vet if you want cash.. Thats I can say.. surely rick west is not rich

A very lucky breeder can make cash... but reptiles are better ..more demand Record ball python sold for 60k

Ts take too long to grow to make a career LOL


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## Kungfujoe (Dec 18, 2011)

I agree with catfish, I will breed for fun and maybe some extra cash and or trade for other species. Plus it is hard to turn a hobby into a full time job and most often people begin to hate it.


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## Earth Tiger (Dec 18, 2011)

If you start it as a career certainly you can certainly make a fortune from it, and many dealers here are full time breeders and I know a few that are quite wealthy. 

But the problem is will you or your son make it a full time career? If not, like everyone else in this thread commented, you can only earn some extra cash at best. One LP sac gives you 2000+ slings and LP is easy to breed without the frequent problems of dead sacs/got eaten, so you sell each of them for maybe $10, and you will have *$20,000*. Quite a fortune actually, *but the fact is you need to sell them ALL within a reasonable time frame* to get this fortune. Tarantulas are live animals, and the time, effort and money to keep 2000+ slings are enormous, not to mention communicating with 2000+ potential consumers and shipping 2000+ slings individually, and all these are something only a full time breeder can regularly do efficiently. *They have established a customer base and other connections to trade and sell them rapidly*, but as a private seller you can't. So you will just end up giving them away or 90% slings will die due to poor handling.


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## catfishrod69 (Dec 18, 2011)

i see exactly where you are coming from, but it seems like anymore, if its not cheap or free, it takes a while....so selling those LP slings for $10, your gonna be a happy owner of alot of slings for a long time.....





Earth Tiger said:


> If you start it as a career certainly you can certainly make a fortune from it, and many dealers here are full time breeders and I know a few that are quite wealthy.
> 
> But the problem is will you or your son make it a full time career? If not, like everyone else in this thread commented, you can only earn some extra cash at best. One LP sac gives you 2000+ slings and LP is easy to breed without the frequent problems of dead sacs/got eaten, so you sell each of them for maybe $10, and you will have *$20,000*. Quite a fortune actually, *but the fact is you need to sell them ALL within a reasonable time frame* to get this fortune. Tarantulas are live animals, and the time, effort and money to keep 2000+ slings are enormous, not to mention communicating with 2000+ potential consumers and shipping 2000+ slings individually, and all these are something only a full time breeder can regularly do efficiently. *They have established a customer base and other connections to trade and sell them rapidly*, but as a private seller you can't. So you will just end up giving them away or 90% slings will die due to poor handling.


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## Hornets inverts (Dec 18, 2011)

It does depend alot on where you live and how you keep your t's (what style enclosure, feeders, heating etc). I live in australia and i can easily make profit off 1 sac a year, not much but it pays for the collection with a bit extra. Here i dont need any heating, i breed my own feeders which are mainly fed with food scraps and i use cheap disposable container for most of my t's so the initial outlay of supplies isnt much at all.


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## grayzone (Dec 18, 2011)

Earth Tiger said:


> If you start it as a career certainly you can certainly make a fortune from it, and many dealers here are full time breeders and I know a few that are quite wealthy.
> 
> But the problem is will you or your son make it a full time career? If not, like everyone else in this thread commented, you can only earn some extra cash at best. One LP sac gives you 2000+ slings and LP is easy to breed without the frequent problems of dead sacs/got eaten, so you sell each of them for maybe $10, and you will have *$20,000*. Quite a fortune actually, *but the fact is you need to sell them ALL within a reasonable time frame* to get this fortune. Tarantulas are live animals, and the time, effort and money to keep 2000+ slings are enormous, not to mention communicating with 2000+ potential consumers and shipping 2000+ slings individually, and all these are something only a full time breeder can regularly do efficiently. *They have established a customer base and other connections to trade and sell them rapidly*, but as a private seller you can't. So you will just end up giving them away or 90% slings will die due to poor handling.


........ i hear that... or you could always sell the slings WHOLESALE... say 2000slings at 1.50$ a pop.   thats 3000.00$. not too bad but CERTAINLY not considered rich.  OP i will agree with what EVERYBODY is saying... the real money comes into play when youre breeding MORE DESIRABLE and expensive ts, but the overhead and loss rate play a big part in profit. i will be breeding P. regalis soon, and dont really CARE to make much money. i will admit, i may make SOME to buy the more expensive ts i cant spend my normal cash on, however i will give alot away to friends and members here.  ASSUMING EVERYTHING GOES WELL


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## syndicate (Dec 18, 2011)

Your not gonna get rich selling spiders I can tell you that right now hehe!If you want to become a big breeder/dealer I hope you have lots of free time to spare to feed 1000's of spiderlings and adult tarantulas.It is a lot of work and can be incredibly hard to make large profits especially in this bad economy!


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## Earth Tiger (Dec 18, 2011)

grayzone said:


> ........ i hear that... or you could always sell the slings WHOLESALE... say 2000slings at 1.50$ a pop.   thats 3000.00$. not too bad but CERTAINLY not considered rich.  OP i will agree with what EVERYBODY is saying... the real money comes into play when youre breeding MORE DESIRABLE and expensive ts, but the overhead and loss rate play a big part in profit. i will be breeding P. regalis soon, and dont really CARE to make much money. i will admit, i may make SOME to buy the more expensive ts i cant spend my normal cash on, however i will give alot away to friends and members here.  ASSUMING EVERYTHING GOES WELL


You can sell them in wholesale lots only if you have established some connections and a strong customer base - no regular hobbyist will buy 100 slings of the same species, only traders and dealers will. Will they buy from a private seller with an unknown track record or from other full time breeders they have been working with? So it's all about whether the op is willing to invest the time and effort to develop this career full time.

Reactions: Like 2


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