# Reptile holiday home, good or bad idea?



## sam-bayliss- (Jun 2, 2011)

Hello i have kept reptiles for a fair few years now, keeping and breeding them, but i have been wondering over these last few months of setting up some sort of reptile holiday home if you would so wish to call it. Basically my idea is to house reptiles while people go away on holiday or when people can otherwise not look after there reptiles for a period of time (If the owner is ill in hospital or so on). Now i know a fair few pet shops will do this for you but as far as ive seen there prices are stupidly high and pet shops so have a few problems with doing this, one is that they can only do if there is space in there shop to do so, two they will only provide the bare minium for your repitile, and three that because they are not the pet shops animals they will come at the bottom of the pet shops to do list only getting fed and cleaned after all other animals which is ok but sometimes it will not get done. Some may wonder how i know this and i know this because i did work in a few pet shops from time to time and saw this all happen. So i thought id post this on here and see what you guys think as ive heard this site is really good and full of fun filled reptile lovers! Thank you for all of your comments. Sam


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## GeeUK (May 2, 2011)

Hello Sam,

I am going to simply assume you are the lady I bought my Bearded Dragon from last week, as you mentioned this type of business.

I think it is a good idea if there is a demand for it and I would consider letting someone reputable with reptile knowledge look after my beardie rather than trying to get a family member to do it who is scared of bugs LOL

If ya interested in how 'Troy' is getting a long, see the link in my signature.

Good luck.


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## RachaelBee (Feb 1, 2011)

A place near me offers it and the prices actually seem quite reasonable however my big concern is other animals being housed, is there any way to know for sure that they're free from disease or mites? Personally I would quarantine any snake I bought (I'm very glad I do as my newest turned out to be ill) rather than just allow it near the ones I currently own but in reptile boarding there's so many animals going in and out it wouldn't be practical to adhere to quarantine practices.


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## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

RachaelBee said:


> A place near me offers it and the prices actually seem quite reasonable however my big concern is other animals being housed, is there any way to know for sure that they're free from disease or mites? Personally I would quarantine any snake I bought (I'm very glad I do as my newest turned out to be ill) rather than just allow it near the ones I currently own but in reptile boarding there's so many animals going in and out it wouldn't be practical to adhere to quarantine practices.


This would be my main concern too. I think if you could go to the house of the person on holiday or offer it as an option that could be good. If there are other animals you would look after eg cats, rabbits i think that would be beneficial too. Also how much experince do you have with harder to keep species or would there be some you wouldn't look after?

I like the overall idea as i have lots of different sorts of pets so holidays are tricky and finding someone willing to look after them all is not easy. What area are you in if you don't mind me asking?


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## emmilllyyy (Oct 9, 2010)

RachaelBee said:


> A place near me offers it and the prices actually seem quite reasonable however my big concern is other animals being housed, is there any way to know for sure that they're free from disease or mites? Personally I would quarantine any snake I bought (I'm very glad I do as my newest turned out to be ill) rather than just allow it near the ones I currently own but in reptile boarding there's so many animals going in and out it wouldn't be practical to adhere to quarantine practices.


my thoughts also, id rather risk it staying home and letting my nan come round and feed my animals :lol2:


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## toolrthebest (Jan 16, 2011)

*great idea*

I really like this Idea there is good potential


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## Dustcart (May 31, 2008)

Put some cards in your local shops for a few miles around.......Advertise on here and in the local paper.
I personally think it's a great idea! Not sure how you could turn much of a profit though.
Good luck!!


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## grannykins (Oct 9, 2006)

To my mind you would have to have a different room to house each reptile in, due to quarantine issues. I wouldnt board my reps out as I would be worried about any illnesses/mites etc they could pick up from the other reps.


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## Athravan (Dec 28, 2006)

Well, firstly, as a specialist reptile shop that has offered reptile boarding for the last 4 years I want to address some of your points



> there prices are stupidly high


Obviously I don't know what the prices are in your area, here we charge £1.50 per day for a bearded dragon in a 48 x 18 x 18" Vivarium, I'm not sure if you are correctly adding up the costs of doing it.

You will need to decide whether people have to bring their own vivariums, which may be problematic for people who don't have their own transport, or a car big enough, or aren't strong enough to load/unload vivariums into their car etc. or whether you will have to buy the vivariums yourself, including all the heating, and the lighting - this could be a very expensive outlay and you'll want to try and recoup those costs as soon as possible, bearing in mind every vivarium will need heating, temperature control (thermostats), lighting, UVB lighting, light guards, bowls & decor etc.

Obviously "bring your own viv" is a lot cheaper, but a lot less convenient for people - shops generally offer their own vivs, which is why their prices might be slightly higher than home-businesses.

Even if running from home, take the time to work out how much extra electricity it will be using - you might be in for a surprise!

You'll also need to know if people are going to provide their own food, or if you will be providing it, if you are providing it, factor in the costs of you having to travel to buy it (or paying delivery), as well as the full cost of the food.



> they can only do if there is space in there shop to do so


Is that not the same issue for yourself? Unless you have an infinite amount of space in your house - at some point, there is always a space issue.



> two they will only provide the bare minium for your repitile


If you are providing your own setups, you really need to provide the bare minimum, it may seem harsh to keep an animal on newspaper with just a few bowls for a few weeks - but this is the best way to ensure that everything is sterile. You will need to use new substrate for every animal, you will need to thoroughly disinfect, ideally with a high-end vet approved disinfectant, every single item, including the entire vivarium, all the bowls, decor, etc. The more stuff you re-use, the more quarantine becomes an issue. Furthermore, if you put an animal in with a whole bunch of decor they're not used to, it could be more stressful for them then having the bare minimum.

Again, this is only an issue if people are not providing the setup themselves, but there are good reasons to provide a "bare" and "sterile" setup in shops for boarders.



> three that because they are not the pet shops animals they will come at the bottom of the pet shops to do list only getting fed and cleaned after all other animals which is ok but sometimes it will not get done


Any shop doing this should lose their license, every animal in every shop must be treated equally, all must be cleaned, fed and watered every single day, regardless of how busy it is. If a shop can't manage that, they need to hire more staff. Shops are licensed and as such will lose their license if they do not provide for the animals in their care - including boarders. I only have a small shop but we have never ever had an issue where any animal is left wanting for everything because there wasn't time and this should really never happen. You must have worked in some very poor pet shops that need a visit from their council to remind them of their responsibilities 

Some additional things you will want to consider are insurance, liability, health guarantees and how much time it will take in a day. 

The reason it works well in shops is because they are usually staffed at least 8 hours a day, meaning the reptile is kept an eye on, the setups are usually already there, and most shops have a fairly good handle on quarantine and cleaning (and people can see for themselves from visiting the shop in advance what the hygiene levels are), shops already have access to food and therefore don't need to worry about buying livefood, and shops are generally insured and of course all are licensed, so if something goes wrong, the customer has a port of call to go for complaints, which just isn't available from a private individual.

The cons are of course that shops do have a large intake of animals, meaning that quarantine is ALWAYS going to be a risk, and that stress is a factor in a busy environment.

The best "service" for the reptiles-sake is if they are kept within their own home and visited at least once or twice a day by someone who checks the temperature, feeds and waters etc. This way it eliminates all the quarantine and stress risks and I think there is a market for this in almost all areas of the UK - but it comes with the address costs of travel and time travelling which is why there aren't many organisations offering it.

Finally, please bear in mind you will be offering a service for a price, you will have to pay taxes after you pass the minimum tax-free threshold, and if you are unemployed and currently receiving any benefits, this income has to be declared to the benefits agency and may affect your benefits (even if it's only £5 a week.) That needs to be factored in when you work out the price.

Getting yourself known is also an issue, pet shops have a large number of customers who buy the animals there, and go back for food etc. so they know they're there. If no one knows you exist, then you will struggle - advertising on places like RFUK is generally slow for boarding, people will be very worried about quarantine, and anyone with a large collection will probably have someone visit rather than board elsewhere, so you have to consider how people are going to find out about you.

Overall if you do it right and you put the time and effort into it there's no reason it can't be successful for you, personally I don't see it offering the sort of profit that makes it worth the time, I've never seen someone actually successfully running it from home but if you're willing to put the time and money into getting it going, I guess it might make a little money once your name is well known in the area.

Long post sorry, hope something in it was helpful :lol2:


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## soul_girl (Mar 25, 2009)

I probably would use a service like this but would have concerns about the vivs being disinfects after each dragons has been in there.

Have you thought about offering a home visiting service? There is someone near me who does this but only for cats dogs and furry animals. 

Ok if you went down this avenue you would probably be better getting police checked, but you would be able to offer a wider service for instance I have 2 dragons, 2 guinea pigs, 3 giant african land snails and a fish, oh and roaches for live food which are breeding so they need regular food as well, would be a nightmare for me to find someone that would take them all on at a reasonable cost and get them to their place as I dont drive, so offering home visit would be excellent.


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