How successful is an exotic reptile shop? What does it take?

I feel that the "reptiles" category is best to ask this since the "small business" section won't answer this.

I found a small retail space in a shopping center and I would like to open an exotic reptile shop since there are no competitors in the area. The rent every month is $5,000 a month.
What makes a reptile shop the most money... supplies, or the actual animal sale? In order for a reptile shop to succeed does the store rent have to be below a certain amount like $3k or so?

thanks!

its extreamly dificult because of the over head... for instance if your selling cloths you dont have to feed them.. they dont need. watter, electrisity, exe.. as a shop you definatly make the most money on suplys and feeders. not so much on the animals... its not easy and you have to have allot of all around reptile experience to pull it off... plus conections. do you have any? is there a zoo med rep in your area, what about importers and wholesalers? feeder suply.... its all stuff to think about

You get the most return on the supplies. If you figure that a $35 lizard or snake also needs a tank, lighting (hood + bulb), heat source, water dish, and food, the cost of the supplies are several times what you make on just the animal. Plus items like food and light tubes (especially UVB) need to be replaced on a regular basis. So about the only animals you make money on are those sold as feeders.

Also in my experience from working in a pet store (in the fish and reptile section) more people are interested in the lower-cost animals - geckos, anoles, frogs, bearded dragons, water dragons, iguanas, red eard sliders, and common snakes - and you'll have a good turnover on these. And you'll get some sales on tarantulas and scorpions. But you don't get as much interest from people who want to buy tegus, larger monitors, or anything with a big price tag. If you have the room, you can get a few of these in, but let customers know you'll special order the higher-priced exotics for them with a deposit.

I'll post a link related more to the fish business, but much of the info applies no matter what pet is involved. It might be able to help with the more business-related question: http://www.wetwebmedia.com/AqBizSubWebIn... One thing I've heard from people who run their own business is when you draw up your business plan and apply for a loan, consider all your start-up costs, plus enough to cover rent and bills for at least your first year. This gives you time to establish a customer base.

if you start it, put ads on CRAIGSLIST dot com and advertise.
also carefully adopt from some people.
do a used fish tank trade.

fish are easy to maintain in larger tanks.
get a hot tub filter and some pumps to keep them clean.
also you will want to breed crickets.

Most exotic stores make their money on supplies, not the animals. In order for you to succeed, you'd obviously need to bring in more than your overhead. Initial overhead will be quite high. You will need display cages, the animals themselves, food, supplies and all the heating etc. After that, it will be keeping up the inventory, food, replacement of broken heating or caging, and the animals. You really should do some market research first to see if there is actually any real market for exotics in your area. Many snakes and other reptiles are purchased online these days. I haven't been in a reptile store in years, and that was to see where my snake had originally come from. Most of my sales of my animals are done online. Regular petstores that carry snakes and reptiles still get most of their profits from pet supplies of all kinds. Unless you are extremely large, or have some sort of gimic to help get people in, you probably would have a hard time paying rent.

I don't think a reptile shop will earn lots of money as not alot of people want reptiles.The thing that would make you the most money is supplies because people will only buy the reptile once and will buy the supplies for how ever long the reptile lives.Good luck Abbie.