braige thomas
Member
So I've been told you can buy a baby albino sulcata raise it to 3 to 6 years old and sell for 20k plus 25k plus even is this true if so would it be worth me growing a few long term and selling
Is buying a few Albino sulcata tortises a good investment to keep grow and resell when bigger
- Thread starter braige thomas
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Generally no. So much can go wrong.
Do it because you love it and want to do it. Don't do it for money.
braige thomas
Member
Well I do love the turtles want to come some to but wondering if you could do that whilst having others for permanent keeping of course
no
braige thomas
Member
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braige thomas
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True or ?
I say no, But if you buy several and raise them to adults and breed them then sell the hatchlings. You can make a profit. If you raise them right they can produce fertile eggs in less than 6 years. I've had 2 female regular sulcatas in previous years do this. I never wanted to be a sulcata breeder so sent the 3 adult females to Florida along with a single male. I kept Walker my first sulcata and now back up to 5. 4 males and 1 60 pound female. Which I may have hopefully found a home for.
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It'd be no small undertaking.
Each Sulcata would need it's own enclosure. Each enclosure would need to be a hundred square feet within a year at least. Then each would need much more room. And the enclosures would need to be substantial and strong.
You'd need a lot of outdoor space. And you'd need a lot of heated "night houses".
You'd also need a good vet on stand by.
It'd take a lot of work. But if you had the space, money and the time and patience required, you could make it a business.
Sure.
But I'd warn against it just because of what it'd require.
(Probably why you don't see many others attempting it)
Each Sulcata would need it's own enclosure. Each enclosure would need to be a hundred square feet within a year at least. Then each would need much more room. And the enclosures would need to be substantial and strong.
You'd need a lot of outdoor space. And you'd need a lot of heated "night houses".
You'd also need a good vet on stand by.
It'd take a lot of work. But if you had the space, money and the time and patience required, you could make it a business.
Sure.
But I'd warn against it just because of what it'd require.
(Probably why you don't see many others attempting it)
braige thomas
Member
You couldn't just have a whole kind of backyard and put the. Together obviously enclosure them but you couldn't just house them together in a large space with a large turtle house also wouldn't I just keep them inside for a year until there a bit bigger
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There can just be so many issues with attempting most of that. You could be financially ruined with just a single disease outbreak, etc.
You're assuming that that there would be no problems. But I'm a little less optimistic.
You asked if it was feasible. I'm just being cautious.
I've had a bunch of issues just keeping between 3 and 7 Redfoot tortoises together. A much smaller and more easy going tortoise in general on my tiny 1/5th acre lot. (Outdoors)
What you're thinking about is a big deal. Even if it doesn't seem that way now.
How about a compromise?
Buy one. Grow it larger. See how it goes.
braige thomas
Member
So I'm not very experienced with the tortoises I do have one though it's just a regular sulcata but I do have like a passion for the turtle I really don't think if I kept it for five or six years and I'd even sell it honestly but do you think it would be okay to just buy one albino keep it with my regular one and eventually maybe sell it because it'll be worth way more than the 2KObviously I won't make a huge profit but even if I could just buy the one and sell it for 10K 20k one day would still be something I would be fine with I definitely have the space for 2 what do you think ?
I would go on fauna classifieds and see how much an albino sulcata sells for. I'm not an expert but I would say no. My opinion. And watch the ad to see if it sells. Clearly most of the experts here say no.
braige thomas
Member
That's another thing I can't find any big ones for sale I can only find babies for like 2K the lowest and then I can't ever find any bigger ones on any website so I'm not sure
You can't buy one and keep it with the one you have. They can't be kept in pairs
Buying a group is better then a pair, but no guarantee that they will get along in a big yard. It would have to be really big, like an acre with lots of site barriers, feed and water stations and a hide for each. Then if you had all males, you'd for sure would probably have to separate some or all. If you had one female and the rest males, you'd probably would have to separate for sure the female and again some males
As for selling them for big money, you'd have to find just the right person, likely a breeder, as sulcatas in general are a dime a dozen. Then you also need to be prepared to keep them for life if you couldn't sell them.
You'd be better off selling them at hatchling size. Most people spending 10k and up are not buying sulcatas, albino or not.
But first, you need to learn how to properly care for them so they are raised smooth and healthy. Build the proper closed chambers, they should be housed around 2 years in a closed chamber or until ruffly 10 inches long.
Also better if you have buyers already set up, like a really good dog breeder would do. Don't breed/hatch/buy more then you can handle if none are sold.
Buying a group is better then a pair, but no guarantee that they will get along in a big yard. It would have to be really big, like an acre with lots of site barriers, feed and water stations and a hide for each. Then if you had all males, you'd for sure would probably have to separate some or all. If you had one female and the rest males, you'd probably would have to separate for sure the female and again some males
As for selling them for big money, you'd have to find just the right person, likely a breeder, as sulcatas in general are a dime a dozen. Then you also need to be prepared to keep them for life if you couldn't sell them.
You'd be better off selling them at hatchling size. Most people spending 10k and up are not buying sulcatas, albino or not.
But first, you need to learn how to properly care for them so they are raised smooth and healthy. Build the proper closed chambers, they should be housed around 2 years in a closed chamber or until ruffly 10 inches long.
Also better if you have buyers already set up, like a really good dog breeder would do. Don't breed/hatch/buy more then you can handle if none are sold.
EricW
Well-Known Member
Simply - is not easy money even though it comes across as easy. In 5 years, maybe they aren't worth as much either. I think a huge tortoise with red eyes is freaky. But that is me. The money and time spent to raise them is also a factor that will deteriorate the "profit."
Some time ago, I trained retrievers for hunting and trials. I wish their was a business raising puppies into trained dogs, that is what I like doing. I can get a pup for $500 and after raising it and training it, I can sell it for $3-5k at about 1-2 years old. However, the market is small and when you considered my time, there was no profit to be made. I raised a few pups into hunting dogs to sell. Sometimes took me 6 months to a year before I could find a buyer for a trained hunting dog. At that time it was $550 per dog per month to train. That was $6,600 in revenue right there in one year of raising that pup to turn around and sell it for a max of $5k. And every moth it was at the kennels cost me $550. No profit.
Some time ago, I trained retrievers for hunting and trials. I wish their was a business raising puppies into trained dogs, that is what I like doing. I can get a pup for $500 and after raising it and training it, I can sell it for $3-5k at about 1-2 years old. However, the market is small and when you considered my time, there was no profit to be made. I raised a few pups into hunting dogs to sell. Sometimes took me 6 months to a year before I could find a buyer for a trained hunting dog. At that time it was $550 per dog per month to train. That was $6,600 in revenue right there in one year of raising that pup to turn around and sell it for a max of $5k. And every moth it was at the kennels cost me $550. No profit.
With that amount of money for just albino baby sulcatas, I rather put this amount into agressive growth stocks, funds to invest instead of these babies. Less work and the yield could be more.
braige thomas
Member
One more question could I keep my sulcata outside once it's big enough in the TENNESSEE winter with shed cause obviously this tortise needs to be outside it gets pretty cold in TN so I'm just wondering for the future what I would have to do at this point the sulcata is my lifetime pet I'm committed 😂 so but also would like to get one more to add with it so there's 2 mabye a male female pair last question thank you all for your help
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Many members here keep Sulcata outdoors in less than perfect climates. With heated houses. And they're successful.
I'm not one of those people. I only keep Redfoot. And it just so happens that the conditions outdoors here in South Florida are nearly perfect year round for that species.
I'm one of the lucky ones as far as that goes.
You can't keep a pair together, period! Some species might do fine as a pair, sulcata are not one of them. Plus they do not want company. They are happier and less stress being alone.
As for keeping him outside year round, yes, that's what you need to strive for. He will need a large heated night box or shed to retreat too when it's to cold too be outside for too long.
