Who works in the reptile industry for a living?

Just curious how many people besides myself work in the reptile industry full time with no other job?
I know tons of people in the industry but only 12 that are full time with no other job.

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well i definitely wish i can incorporate this industry/hobby into a job or some sort of supplemental income where i can at least do this as a job part time. My biggest dream is to own a house and renovate a spare room or area like a garage or basement into a full blown reptile room and even though i do not do this as a job i do know two people locally that do this full time and have done so for a few decades. One of my neighbors also does this as a part time business and owns several other businesses on top of that so thats 3 people i know who do this on a pro level.

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I hope to turn my hobby into a full time job. It’ll probably take me a few years before I get to that point though, given this is my first year producing clutches.

I do not have a job outside my reptile business, but I do collect some money from social security.

Oh yeah, I do get a trust fund check every month… plus I do art commissions on the side as well as work for a local breeder doing cleaning and maintenance with their snakes and rodents. I have several side hustles going for me :joy:

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Mine has become my full time job for pretty much the past 4 years after having to stop working due to going into kidney failure for the second time and going back on dialysis. Got my second transplant just over 2 years ago now and have made growing my business into my full time job. Couldn’t really go back into healthcare.

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Well I respect the hussle. I do a few side gigs as well so I know what it’s like

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I started Azo Reptiles in a 1 bedroom apartment. Now I have 3910 SQ foot 3 story building that I own, and another space I rent. Took me almost 10 years to get here so it can be done. I don’t live like a rock star and live in an area where the cost of living is low.

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Wow. That’s rough. I’ve seen what that’s like and I would not wish that on anyone.

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Wow, that’s serious! Hope everything is oke with your health now and this kidney will keep doing it’s job for many years. Being forced to stop work is not a good thing, but than replacing it with reptile business, I can not think of any other better and nicer replacing job.

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As the saying goes, you will never work a day in your life doing the job you love.

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I wish!

It’s definitely something I would love to do though, and even if I was unable to get a job working directly, I would love to side hustle doing educational events with reptiles. We need more people coming into this, and less people who are scared and think that scalies are horrible :slight_smile:

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It’s still very much work. The reptile end is easy. It’s all the business stuff that sucks. Still better then working a 9-5.

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