Before You Breed
During our years in the animal world, we've seen what can happen when someone starts breeding without thoroughly considering the decision. Adult animals end up neglected. Babies receive little -- if any -- handling, so are poorly socialized. And, sooner or later, the person regrets the choice to breed. Before long, bonded adult pairs get split up, critters that were originally pets are given away, the quality of care deteriorates, and sometimes worse.
An example of this is a phone call we once received from a woman who had just gotten four pairs of adult sugar gliders, some with pouch babies. This woman had, quite frankly, made some of the biggest mistakes possible in buying any animal, especially breeding stock:
1. She had gotten them from a breeder whom, in her words, "didn't seem particularly knowledgeable about them."
2. She knew nothing about the history of the gliders, although she had bought them as proven breeding pairs.
3. These bonded pairs were shipped a long distance in two crates -- all the males in one and all the females in the other -- to save shipping costs. She didn't know which animals went together to make the bonded pairs.
4. She acknowledged she had rushed into purchasing them, even though she didn't know anything about their care, because they were a "good deal" and she was sure she could sell the babies.
By the time she contacted us, the adults had gone through the stress of shipping -- some with pouch babies -- and adjusting to a new environment. The gliders had been randomly put into pairs. One of the females had lost her litter. Another litter had been destroyed by the male in the cage, which was probably not the father. They were also being fed an extremely poor diet of frozen vegetables, canned fruit, parrot seed mix.
What was most upsetting, however, was that the woman wasn't interested in providing quality care for the adults or determining why the babies had died. She didn't want to hear our feeding recommendations. She wasn't licensed to sell exotic mammals and didn't care about this requirement. All she wanted to know was how soon the survining babies could be weaned, how to go about selling them, and how much to charge!
To provide quality care, you need quality knowledge. For this reason, we strongly recommend not beginning with a breeding pair. Get one or two same-sex animals and spend some time getting to know their needs and habits. No amount of research can replace this "hands-on" experience. Later, if you decide you want to proceed, get breeding stock or mates for your original critters.
If you're committed to breeding responsibly, you should be willing to take the extra time this will require, allowing you to continue learning as you go and avoiding many common mistakes -- such as buying inferior animals in a rush to get started, having more babies than customers, and becoming overextended in regards to time, space or money.
On the other hand, going slow may give you time to decide breeding was not the right decision for you, before your home is full of breeding stock and their babies!
Some questions to ask yourself before you decide to breed:
Why do you want to do this?
If your reason to breed is you think it would be fun, the animal is cute, or you want to make money, then don't do it! The objective of any breeding program should include improving the quality and condition of the animal, not just creating more of them.
What are you going to do with the babies?
Consider this before you ever put a male and female together. A responsible breeder wants to make sure babies go only to good homes. This isn't easy when breeding on a small scale. You will quickly run out of friends to give babies and a small breeding operation will not generate the income to make advertising cost-effective. In our expereince, low cost advertising methods -- such as classified ads in local papers -- do not "find" qualified customers, so are not useful.
Do you have space?
Don't count on the babies being sold or given away on Weaning Day. In fact, good breeding practices include keeping recent weanlings for at least a few days. This helps assure the animals are eating well and there are no complications. You'll need nursery cages.
Do you have even more space?
With some animals, the males needs to be separated during pregnancy or nursing. You'll need cages for this. Also, your animals may require specific conditions to breed, while pregnant or when nursing. Finally, the more animals you have, the more likely one will become sick. You'll need hospital cages in another room. And, trust us, once in a while an animal won't be sold as soon as ready. You need to plan for this as well.
Do you have time?
Caring for one or two pets is significantly less time-consuming than even the smallest breeding program. The more animals, the more cages to clean and the more time spent feeding. Most babies also need regular handling to become well-socialized, good pets. And you don't want to neglect the adult animals. This all adds up!
Have you investigated the federal, state and local laws?
If you plan to sell, trade or even give away any exotic mammal, you are required by federal law to be licensed by the USDA. Despite what you may have been told or read, there are no exceptions for the size of the breeding program and all exotic mammals -- including hedgehogs, sugar gliders, and rare rodents -- are covered by this federal law. There may also be state, county or local regulations.
If after giving the above careful consideration, you decide that breeding is the right choice for you, keep these points in mind:
Animals are not commodities
They deserve your respect, understanding and total commitment. Be responsible in your decisions and provide your special critters the care they deserve.
Breed what you love
Only breed those animals with which you are obsessed and completely committed. These are the animals you will be happy to spend hours working with each day.
Don't breed more than you can sell
It takes time to build a customer base and reputation. Start small and keep the reproduction levels low. As your business grows, you can always expand.
Don't breed because there's a "hot" market
Fads come. Fads go. By the time you have babies available and built a customer base, that hot market could well be gone. If you're breeding only to make money, you won't.
Above all, remember that you work for the animals
Breeding is not about spending time with cute, cuddly critters. It is about cage cleaning, feeding, handling, socializing babies and more, all which needs to be done every day -- including holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, and all other special occassions.
If you're interested in breeding, your motivation is hopefully the animals. However, we strongly encourage you to be realistic about the expenses involved. Consider this example, for a hobby breeder with two pair of sugar gliders:
| Income | Expense | |
| Annual Sales Based on 2 litters per female, 2 joeys per litter at $125 each | $1000 | |
| Annual USDA License Fee | $80 | |
| Annual Vet House Call Required by the USDA |
$100 | |
| Annual Feeding Costs | $650 | |
| Cost of Other Consumables | $125 | |
| Total Income | $45 |
In this example, most of the expenses are low estimates. Initial costs for breeding stock, housing and equipment are not included. Also, keep in mind that if you start with young animals, you'll have fewer babies the first year.
With that meager $45 income, you'll need to cover depreciation of equipment, advertising, unusual and unexpected vet expenses, lost babies or breeding stock, replacing and caring for "retired" breeders, the need for more cages, office expenses, the cost of heat and lighting in the breeding facility, travel expenses, and other incidentals.
By the time these additional costs are covered, you've lost money. If you're a hobby breeder, you probably couldn't deduct these costs as business expenses, but the gross income would still be taxable. If you're a "real" business, you can only declare a loss for three of the first five years. After that, the IRS will consider your activity to be a hobby. You'll also have the added expense of business licenses, fee, and taxes.
After doing the math, you may be tempted to increase the size of your breeding program. This means you'll have more babies to sell. Also, some expenses are fixed and others wouldn't go up significantly. So you'd actually make money, right? Well, maybe. However, the more babies you have, the more customers you need. Until you develop a customer base, more animals probably just means more expenses.
For more on any of this, consult your accountant. Then, add that fee to this growing list of expenses.
When you start looking for breeding stock, you're likely to encounter various terms which can be used differently. The generally accepted definitions are:
Experienced breeder or Proven breeder
An animal which has successfully mated and produced young. If a female, she should also have successfully cared for her young until weaning age.
Proven pair
A male and female which has successfully mated and produced young together.
Breeding pair
A male and female which are unrelated. However, this does not mean they have mated or produced young.
Retired breeder
An animal which is past breeding age. If you are looking for breeding stock, you would be uninterested in these critters.
You're likely to pay more for an animal which is proven or experienced, so be sure to ask the seller exactly what is meant by the use of these terms. Request breeding records and relevant history on any animal you buy. Also, ask why the seller is willing to part with quality breeding stock. Finally, remember that just because an animal is a proven breeder does not mean the animal will ever breed for you -- just that the animal has done so in the past.
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