# Costs to fund your passion.....



## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

I was thinking last night, that it must cost quit alot of money for people to keep there 'large' reptile collections, or even for something like a large monitor (Bosc, Nile etc) or Purmese Python/Reticulated Python , especially if you are young and dont have a job to fund your passion.. Or is that not the case depending on if you breed your own food, buy in bulk, or buy lots of things like vivariums/exo's/heating second hand...
So how much roughly would you spend a month or year on your reptiles...
Like food, heating, bedding, etc etc.... : victory:


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## emmabee (Oct 29, 2010)

why have you made me think about that!:lol2:

simple answer is i aint got a clue, dont keep records of what the bills to keep them come to.. but now i will be! thanks!!
oh and yes we bulk buy food, have a good relationship with our local rep shop, build our own vivs and buy stuff second hand where i can!


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## Trice (Oct 4, 2006)

It would take me a year to guage what i spend in all honesty lol


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## 53bird (Sep 30, 2009)

i do breed a few livefoods, but i could not put a price on what i spend, it scares me even trying to think of it


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## emmabee (Oct 29, 2010)

Trice said:


> It would take me a year to guage what i spend in all honesty lol





53bird said:


> i do breed a few livefoods, but i could not put a price on what i spend, it scares me even trying to think of it


 
oh good, not just me then!!:2thumb:


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

emmabee said:


> why have you made me think about that!:lol2:
> 
> simple answer is i aint got a clue, dont keep records of what the bills to keep them come to.. but now i will be! thanks!!
> oh and yes we bulk buy food, have a good relationship with our local rep shop, build our own vivs and buy stuff second hand where i can!


:lol2: I might starting buliding vivs! And every good second hand thing is to far away!



Trice said:


> It would take me a year to guage what i spend in all honesty lol


:lol2: So you spend a fair bit !



53bird said:


> i do breed a few livefoods, but i could not put a price on what i spend, it scares me even trying to think of it


Ummm its interesting to think how much we actualy do sepnd on our reps!


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## SleepyD (Feb 13, 2008)

53bird said:


> but i could not put a price on what i spend, it scares me even trying to think of it


I keep a detailed ledger of all monies (both incoming and outgoing) and even with the modest collection I have opening that and seeing the latest total (in red) gives me grey hair lol


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## 53bird (Sep 30, 2009)

SleepyD said:


> I keep a detailed ledger of all monies (both incoming and outgoing) and even with the modest collection I have opening that and seeing the latest total (in red) gives me grey hair lol


 
:lol2: dont, im looseing my hair and found my first grey hair last week :gasp:

i couldnt do that just incase the missus found out :whistling2:


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Well, I live with my parents, and am lucky as they fund electricity, so that's one less worry :2thumb:

Currently, with my small collection (6 snakes, however it's still growing :2thumb: ), I spend just over £120 on food for a year! Which I don't think is that bad :2thumb:


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> Well, I live with my parents, and am lucky as they fund electricity, so that's one less worry :2thumb:
> 
> Currently, with my small collection (6 snakes, however it's still growing :2thumb: ), I spend just over £120 on food for a year! Which I don't think is that bad :2thumb:


Thats not too bad!! £10 a month!


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Trootle said:


> Thats not too bad!! £10 a month!


Indeed! I just buy in bulk from TSM!

It's basically my pocket money (monthly) goes towards the care and needs for my snakes. All birthday + Christmas money goes towards either equiptment, snakes, or photography equiptment. I want a job though!

Although I'm skint, many people "complain" saying I shouldn't have snakes, as I can't care for them. I am lucky, and if any of my snakes needed veterinary care, my parents WILL pay, as the welfare of my animals is paramount, and it's good experience for younger kids in my opinion, to have the responsibilty of looking after animals, and being able to "save up". :2thumb:


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Yeh, im only 13 so most of my monthly allowance goes on my pets!!! And it is a good responsibility! Well i think so...


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Trootle said:


> Yeh, im only 13 so most of my monthly allowance goes on my pets!!! And it is a good responsibility! Well i think so...


 
I got my first when I was a tad younger than you, I'm now 16, and studying too hard to become a vet, to get a job. It kinda sucks, however it means that now I have less, but when I'm older, my salary will be reasonably good, which means I'll be able to have more when I'm older :2thumb:

I agree. I have friends who have had hamsters, and only managed to keep them alive for a few weeks, if not days. Me however, I've managed to breed hamsters, and then with different bloodlines, been able to breed their young. Mice too, and hopefully snakes this year. :2thumb:


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> I got my first when I was a tad younger than you, I'm now 16, and studying too hard to become a vet, to get a job. It kinda sucks, however it means that now I have less, but when I'm older, my salary will be reasonably good, which means I'll be able to have more when I'm older :2thumb:
> 
> I agree. I have friends who have had hamsters, and only managed to keep them alive for a few weeks, if not days. Me however, I've managed to breed hamsters, and then with different bloodlines, been able to breed their young. Mice too, and hopefully snakes this year. :2thumb:


Sounds cool! Wish i could breed something, but my mum wont let me!


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Trootle said:


> Sounds cool! Wish i could breed something, but my mum wont let me!


 
Guppies? I had them for years! They bred without me even knowing :lol2:

I may even start again, as I want my garters to have a variety of foods.

In the long run, I'm hoping to make money for my snakes, through my photography, but need more/better lenses and lighting.

You can browse through some of my photos on my website.


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Ive seen they are very good! Ive already tried that with platys/swordtails/ghost shrimp etc! Want something that will fund my passion but it looks like i will be breeding stick insects!! :lolsign:


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Trootle said:


> Ive seen they are very good! Ive already tried that with platys/swordtails/ghost shrimp etc! Want something that will fund my passion but it looks like i will be breeding stick insects!! :lolsign:


I had indian stick insects! They were rather awesome! :mf_dribble:

Sadly, it's hard for younger people (like us), to make profit, or even money for our hobby. Breeding tends to not really create profit, as the snakes, equiptment, food and stuff tends to cost more that the money you make. 

So far, I've spent at least £400 on my snakes, which includes a now-empty tub-rack for 32 hatchlings, which will hopefully be full in a few months! And if I'm lucky, I might get 10 hatchlings, which might go for around £20-30, so it may take a few years before I start making profit.


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

The initial setup of all the geckos vivs wasn't much, probably around £150 each (x 4)

The PDFs setups though have cost around £5 - 600 each (without livestock)

Upkeep isn't too expensive, the supplements come over from america but this cost is offset by me culturing Fruit flies, Bean Weevils, Mealworms and waxworms. The only feeder insects I occasionally buy are locusts and crickets.


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

detail3r said:


> The initial setup of all the geckos vivs wasn't much, probably around £150 each (x 4)
> 
> The PDFs setups though have cost around £5 - 600 each (without livestock)
> 
> Upkeep isn't too expensive, the supplements come over from america but this cost is offset by me culturing Fruit flies, Bean Weevils, Mealworms and waxworms. The only feeder insects I occasionally buy are locusts and crickets.


Whats a pdf set up? :blush:

So, it was £600 for the set up, and if you don't mind me asking, how much did you make in the first year? (what gecko's were they)?


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> I had indian stick insects! They were rather awesome! :mf_dribble:
> 
> Sadly, it's hard for younger people (like us), to make profit, or even money for our hobby. Breeding tends to not really create profit, as the snakes, equiptment, food and stuff tends to cost more that the money you make.
> 
> So far, I've spent at least £400 on my snakes, which includes a now-empty tub-rack for 32 hatchlings, which will hopefully be full in a few months! And if I'm lucky, I might get 10 hatchlings, which might go for around £20-30, so it may take a few years before I start making profit.


I know ita really hard! And indian sticks are immence!
What you planning on breeding corns or milk snakes?



detail3r said:


> The initial setup of all the geckos vivs wasn't much, probably around £150 each (x 4)
> 
> The PDFs setups though have cost around £5 - 600 each (without livestock)
> 
> Upkeep isn't too expensive, the supplements come over from america but this cost is offset by me culturing Fruit flies, Bean Weevils, Mealworms and waxworms. The only feeder insects I occasionally buy are locusts and crickets.


So its not to bad.. Im being really dumb but what is PDF? Im gunna no it when you say it but i cant think what it could be!! :lol2:


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

Trootle said:


> I know ita really hard! And indian sticks are immence!
> What you planning on breeding corns or milk snakes?
> 
> 
> So its not to bad.. Im being really dumb but what is PDF? Im gunna no it when you say it but i cant think what it could be!! :lol2:


:lol2: I just asked what a pdf set up was too!



Well, last saturday I paired my corn snakes, and there was a lock. I tried again yesterday, with no success. I'll be trying again tonight.

This means either she's gravid (which is good news), or she's not, but doesn't want to lock with the handsome fella! :bash:


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> Whats a pdf set up? :blush:
> 
> So, it was £600 for the set up, and if you don't mind me asking, how much did you make in the first year? (what gecko's were they)?


Poison Dart Frogs. I keep two species :

- Phyllobates Terribilis 'Yellow' 0.0.4
- Ranitomeya Vanzolinii 0.0.4

The above livestock cost about £230 for each species.

How much did I make? I don't intend to turn a profit - even if/ when the frogs breed this is not my intention. My intention was to have a slice of the South American rainforest in my living room with 2 interesting groups of frogs with which I can observe interactions between the frogs, the plant growth and also offspring care.


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Sounds good!#And i realised that after aswell!


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## waynegarland (Feb 1, 2007)

I'm finding that I spend quite a bit a year to feed and care for my lot.

£2500ish a year electricity.
£700ish a year on rodents and increasing as collection grows.
Most livefood free as I breed my own but sell the excess.
Buying a bigger house to keep everything.
Plus buying all the equipment and accessories.
The list keeps growing.


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

detail3r said:


> Poison Dart Frogs. I keep two species :
> 
> - Phyllobates Terribilis 'Yellow' 0.0.4
> - Ranitomeya Vanzolinii 0.0.4
> ...


 
I fully understand, my aim is too, not to make a profit, all money made will go back to my collection.

I was asking with the gecko's....


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

detail3r said:


> Poison Dart Frogs. I keep two species :
> 
> - Phyllobates Terribilis 'Yellow' 0.0.4
> - Ranitomeya Vanzolinii 0.0.4
> ...


That was soo obvious! And they are quite expensive!


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

waynegarland said:


> I'm finding that I spend quite a bit a year to feed and care for my lot.
> 
> £2500ish a year electricity.
> £700ish a year on rodents and increasing as collection grows.
> ...


Wow, that's alot. Aberdeen I see! :2thumb:

I presume the weather you have doesn't help with the heating prices! :whistling2:

(I'm from aberdeen) :2thumb:


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> I fully understand, my aim is too, not to make a profit, all money made will go back to my collection.
> 
> I was asking with the gecko's....


I keep Leopard geckos (1 viv contains 1.1.0, the others all 0.1.0)

I also keep Underwoodisaurus Milli (2 vivs 1.0.0), but sourcing females in the UK is near impossible!


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

detail3r said:


> I keep Leopard geckos (1 viv contains 1.1.0, the others all 0.1.0)
> 
> I also keep Underwoodisaurus Milli (2 vivs 1.0.0), but sourcing females in the UK is near impossible!


Thats quite a bit!!!!!!!!!


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

detail3r said:


> I keep Leopard geckos (1 viv contains 1.1.0, the others all 0.1.0)
> 
> I also keep Underwoodisaurus Milli (2 vivs 1.0.0), but sourcing females in the UK is near impossible!


 
The uk really does lack many reptiles! :bash:


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> The uk really does lack many reptiles! :bash:


You should try keeping PDFs. There is only a single outlet for PDFs in the entire UK (although both groups have been bought from accomplished private breeders)

The last lot of orchids / bromeliads I wanted, I had to ship over from Holland!


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## waynegarland (Feb 1, 2007)

Anthony Laing said:


> Wow, that's alot. Aberdeen I see! :2thumb:
> 
> I presume the weather you have doesn't help with the heating prices! :whistling2:
> 
> (I'm from aberdeen) :2thumb:


Got to keep the heating constant for the Royal room and heat the other reptile room and the invert room.

Hopefully the heating bill will be cheaper in the summer.

If Aberdeen gets a summer.


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

waynegarland said:


> If Aberdeen gets a summer.


That was to be my attempt at wit - damn you:devil:


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

detail3r said:


> You should try keeping PDFs. There is only a single outlet for PDFs in the entire UK (although both groups have been bought from accomplished private breeders)
> 
> The last lot of orchids / bromeliads I wanted, I had to ship over from Holland!


Is there no dwa requires?

Currently, I'm still aiming to save up and succesfully breed uncommonly kept _Thamnophis_. However other less commonly kept herpetofauna probably would interest me too :2thumb:



waynegarland said:


> Got to keep the heating constant for the Royal room and heat the other reptile room and the invert room.
> 
> Hopefully the heating bill will be cheaper in the summer.
> 
> If Aberdeen gets a summer.


I got up to aberdeen quite often, and the summers aren't *ALL *that bad :whistling2:


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## detail3r (Jul 13, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> Is there no dwa requires?
> 
> Currently, I'm still aiming to save up and succesfully breed uncommonly kept _Thamnophis_. However other less commonly kept herpetofauna probably would interest me too :2thumb:


Nope - They are toxic in the wild primarily due to the insects they consume- in captivity they're relatively harmless.

Sweet - good luck with them: victory:


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

detail3r said:


> Nope - They are toxic in the wild primarily due to the insects they consume- in captivity they're relatively harmless.
> 
> Sweet - good luck with them: victory:


Really, wow! I never knew that! 

So, do they eat poisinous inverts?


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Anthony Laing said:


> Really, wow! I never knew that!
> 
> So, do they eat poisinous inverts?


I think poisonous ants or something!


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## fantapants (Jan 4, 2008)

When i was at the biggest ( collection wise) i ws spenidng around £40 a week in electricity. Running costs for food and eqipment and also live stock probably ran at about £80 a week over 3 years.


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

fantapants said:


> When i was at the biggest ( collection wise) i ws spenidng around £40 a week in electricity. Running costs for food and eqipment and also live stock probably ran at about £80 a week over 3 years.


 
Wow!

And how many members were there in your collection?

Mainly snakes?


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Approx £80 a month on electric. 
£800 on frozen (that's just the snakes) 
£400 on live food
But there will be other costs like maintainance of vivs, repairs, replacement bulbs, cleaning equipment, etc.
Also have mammals to cost up and two owls which eat a lot in the year. (a long eared owl can cost up to £1000 to feed for a year on mice and rats, as I don't like feeding them chick).
I buy frozen in bulk 3 or 4 times a year. (£300 was last time) which helps to reduce costs.


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## Meko (Apr 29, 2007)

Costs me a fortune in petrol and everything seems to be falling apart on it now. I should just sell it and but a push bike.


Luckily my pets cost bugger all to run


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## Darklas (Mar 25, 2009)

My OH got a real shock the other week when he realised how much frozen mice ought to cost.
As I used to work in a pet shop I go there to get our mice, and get a heavy discount. But Chris went to visit a new rep shop that opened nearby and decided to get some mice while he was there, ended up costing him £30! Which he wasn't expecting. 
When I buy I'll get 30 or so large mice, and 6 med rats for a fiver.


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

detail3r said:


> You should try keeping PDFs. There is only a single outlet for PDFs in the entire UK (although both groups have been bought from accomplished private breeders)
> 
> The last lot of orchids / bromeliads I wanted, I had to ship over from Holland!


the outlet you mention has only be around a few years and yet PDFs have been kept here over the past 20-30 years without any problems. How do you think the owner kept them for years before he opened his shop? 
There is actually more than one dart frog outlet in the Uk but most is online. 
Holland has always been more up on PDFs than britain, butit is good to see equipment specially designed for them now on the Market.


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## Avpl (Nov 13, 2007)

animalstorey said:


> Approx £80 a month on electric.
> £800 on frozen (that's just the snakes)
> £400 on live food
> But there will be other costs like maintainance of vivs, repairs, replacement bulbs, cleaning equipment, etc.
> ...


You have owls! How cool! :mf_dribble:



Darklas said:


> My OH got a real shock the other week when he realised how much frozen mice ought to cost.
> As I used to work in a pet shop I go there to get our mice, and get a heavy discount. But Chris went to visit a new rep shop that opened nearby and decided to get some mice while he was there, ended up costing him £30! Which he wasn't expecting.
> When I buy I'll get 30 or so large mice, and 6 med rats for a fiver.



Wow, that really is cheap!


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## JustJack (Apr 19, 2010)

Meko said:


> Costs me a fortune in petrol and everything seems to be falling apart on it now. I should just sell it and but a push bike.
> 
> 
> Luckily my pets cost bugger all to run


:lol2:



Darklas said:


> My OH got a real shock the other week when he realised how much frozen mice ought to cost.
> As I used to work in a pet shop I go there to get our mice, and get a heavy discount. But Chris went to visit a new rep shop that opened nearby and decided to get some mice while he was there, ended up costing him £30! Which he wasn't expecting.
> When I buy I'll get 30 or so large mice, and 6 med rats for a fiver.


Thast not to bad! 



animalstorey said:


> Approx £80 a month on electric.
> £800 on frozen (that's just the snakes)
> £400 on live food
> But there will be other costs like maintainance of vivs, repairs, replacement bulbs, cleaning equipment, etc.
> ...


Wow! That is wuite alot! And you have owls!!! Wow that is sooo cool, im gunna come and steal them! :Na_Na_Na_Na:



fantapants said:


> When i was at the biggest ( collection wise) i ws spenidng around £40 a week in electricity. Running costs for food and eqipment and also live stock probably ran at about £80 a week over 3 years.


£80 a week, thats ok you must have a had a few reps then!


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## BenjaminBoaz (Jan 6, 2006)

Just for the owl lovers:
Gruff: 









Hoot:


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