Cost of raising 69 baby Veileds...

Julirs

New Member
OK-these guys started hatching 07/08 and hatched for 10 days. 1 died early on after it's tongue appeared to get stuck on something, but all 68 others are still alive at 5 months of age. I still have 13 of them. Here is the cost breakdown...

3 plastic totes @ $7.99 each $23.97
15 rolls of papertowels @ $1.59 $23.85
1 48" Lowes flourescent bulb holder $9.00
1 48" Zoomed UVB $13.99
6 plastic plants @ $4.50 $27.00
3 clamp lamps @ $7.00 $21.00 Total $118.81

Feeders: Lucky Lure orders on the following dates @45.00 each (This includes crickets for adults...)
6/4, 6/17, 6/30, 7/7, 7/15, 7/20, 8/3, 8/14, 8/26 Total $405

From Ghanns
9/21 @ $45.95
10/2 @ $55.65 Total $101.60

From Lazy H Total $279.00

Snail Tail Fruit Flies
$19.91+$19.85 Total $39.76

Shipping supplies (Boxes, shipping cups, cold and heat packs)

I am going to take a guess at this...
(I got off easy here-someone gave me a bunch of stuff) Total $100.00
I am not including electricty, supplements, or the gas it took me to drive home from work to ship these guys out from work when gas was $4.00 a gallon!


TOTAL $1044.17

Maybe later I will make this even more scary by seeing how much I made off of them-I can tell you it isn't much! :)
 
I'm sure it was allot of fun....the babies are sooo cute but it certainly is an expensive hobby and ALLOT of work.
 
it must be fun raising 68 veileds, and see them grow up like that. i love taking care of my reptiles, but i cant imagine 60+
 
Bravo, Julirs, great thread.

This should be a sticky on the breeding subforum. :)

Did you have any advertisement costs, such as Kingsnake?

I suppose, for compensation, we could consider they're entertainment value :eek:- all those little guys running around in their tubs, bopping each other on the head and yanking each other's tails was pretty cute.
 
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=/ thats pretty steep, i think i will old off on cham breeding till im in a bit more stable econ, job.
 
i did the math, and you made about 1000$ at 40$ a piece. 40$ x 68= 2729 if you sell all 68.

There were a lot that sold for less due to tail grabs, nicks, etc. Plus factor in that gas and the cost shoots up for sure. So I bet Juli barely broke even, hopefully she made a little for all of her hard work. She sure can raise some amazing veileds! I get the joy of seeing one of them everyday:D
 
long long ago, before i had any clue what i was doing(not that im sure i do now, lol) i bred panther chameleons, i was in sixth grade, i used lights i already had and a old terrarium, "Blossom" my cute little girl, pushed out about 80 babies in two clutches(total) and i kept them about a month and then sold them to my reptile store (La Habra Pets) who got me into chameleons, i sold them for cheap too(i didnt know what they were worth). Ended up makin like 2500$. Split it with my mom and went on a shopping spree like no sixth grader ever did before, lol. Now i have panthers again, and thanks to this forum, i have invested a ton of money to keep them styling, huge cage, lots of expensive lights, automated watering system, vet visits. After one or two clutches ill be lucky if i break even(but i doubt i will), and if i made any money, it would go right back into chameleons anyway. But its the passion for the hobby that keeps us going, right, not the money(well unless your a professional breeder:D)?

oh, and good luck on selling the rest of those babies!, if i had room, i would buy one from you!
 
WHY did I read this???

Great, I was just worried about the babies being ok from the two cluches of veiled eggs I have. First cluch is due to hatch in Feb and I am in Montana close to Canada. These little buggers will cost a fortune, but watching the babies will be worth it all. It has taken me two years to get the nerve to breed any of my chams, wish me luck.

Laurie:confused:
 
Good luck! 1000 is a low # too... Just think if you have 2 or more...

What part of MT you going up too? Ever hear of Sunburts?
 
My thought was to get them into good homes rather than profit and the experience was worth a million dollars! I did not figure in Kingsnake advertising. Or the cost of my domain for my website. Nor the hours and hours of care and cleaning! I am thankful that my Nosy only laid 27 eggs. 69 was just way too many! :)

I am truly thankful for this forum and the many members that have one of my Veileds!
 
Nice breakdown.....

I would expect you can extract the 118.81, as a Capital cost and not a consumable. You can use all those items for subsequent clutches. The shipping boxes, deli cups can be charged to the customer also, but the remainder certainly is genuine expenses directly attributed to these babies. And the heat and electricity is also a cost.

Your expenses make for a strong argument towards raising your own feeders.
 
40$ is a steal for an animal that was raised like this at least all your customers a satisfied to say the least!!!!!!!!
 
Nice breakdown.....

The shipping boxes, deli cups can be charged to the customer also, but the remainder certainly is genuine expenses directly attributed to these babies. And the heat and electricity is also a cost.

Your point about charging incidental shipping expenses appears logical, on the surface. In reality, however, the veiled cham business is quite competitive, and so the pricing, and shipping charges, must be competitive, as well. We lose money on shipments (that is, we cannot charge enough for shipping to actually cover the cost of the shipping), because we don't yet qualify for the best pricing index with the shippers, and because of the cost of shipping materials. If we bumped our shipping charge up another $10, we'd lost business to the next guy. I am just speaking for my husband and I, not for Julirs.
 
Let me again be thankful for where I work since I use their discount and get the absolute best prices on overnight shipping I have ever seen! :) Plus the warehouse guys are so nice and helpful and my office gets a kick out of seeing such rare animals running around my desk!
 
Great, I was just worried about the babies being ok from the two cluches of veiled eggs I have. First cluch is due to hatch in Feb and I am in Montana close to Canada. These little buggers will cost a fortune, but watching the babies will be worth it all. It has taken me two years to get the nerve to breed any of my chams, wish me luck.

Laurie:confused:

Stay with this forum and you'll do just fine. It is a joy and a pleasure to raise these guys, from start to finish (from the breeding day to the shipping date).
 
Let me again be thankful for where I work since I use their discount and get the absolute best prices on overnight shipping I have ever seen! :) Plus the warehouse guys are so nice and helpful and my office gets a kick out of seeing such rare animals running around my desk!

Ah, that explains your shipping prices. I almost PMd you one time to ask how you could ship these dudes for $40, or $35, or whatever it was you were charging at that time. Good job. And your animals were absolutely beautiful.
 
Wow, somebody really needs to start breeding their own feeders! :eek: That's pretty much your whole costs there. That must have been easily 25,000 crix just from Lucky Lure! I can't wait till my Dubia & Turkistan colonies are fully going!
 
Well-the whole raising cricket thing here in Florida means more spiders than are already residing in my house. I already vacuumed up a few of what I am almost certain are black widows! I have been to a few places where they breed crickets on a large scale and the spider thing just creeps me out. When you have spiders that can catch a full size cricket or 3" long roach, that is a BIG SPIDER! :(
 
ahh!!! black widows are that bad down there! I guess that's another good reason why it's nice to live up north, although w all the snow and cold we have the reasoning is getting harder and harder to justify...
 
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