Discoid Sales Advice

M

Mikhail_Karkarov

Second Instar
Hello

I'm keeping a colony of discoidalis for supplying my own animals and hopefully to the local community. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on price. For my other insects I sell them for half of the pet store price, sometimes less. I was wondering what would you consider a good price on discoidalis.

The best on the net is .38 for mixed sizes if you buy 100. I'm looking for a more size structured price chart.

I apologize if this is the wrong forum I was just looking to get everyones opinion. I want to give everyone a great deal and at the same time make it worth while. I plan to supply several local reptile breeders so I will have a lot of volume.

Thanks all.

 
Rather than moving your post to the correct category, why don't you satisfy our curiosity and list the animals that you have for sale here in the ad listings section (I'm simply curious what I might be able to purchase for half price! ;) ).

I'm trying to understand your price question. If specified, roaches are often sold in the following sizes:

small nymphs

medium nymphs

large nymphs

adults

and mixed lots

People raising different kinds of pets need them in various sizes as you know. Price is dependant on size, quantity ordered as well as factors of supply and demand in the micro/macro hobby. It sounds like you already know the discoid market better than I do since you've got the numbers there.

What's it worth to you? Your local customers won't have to pay for shipping so they'll already be getting a great deal (shipping is often the most expensive part in buying feeder roaches).

 
Sorry for the wrong post category, I just figured if people were looking in the want ads they might have a frame of mind for this.

I'm not terribly interested in mixed lots, but once I get a population boom anything is possible. I service a few smaller geckos that I'm assuming will be on the small to medium nymphs and a bearded dragon breeder, a turtle rescue and a few things of that nature that should wolf down the large numphs/adults. I had thought about doing .05 for small nymphs (1/4 to 1/2) and for the 1" guys .1 and then the large 1.5 for about .15. Do those numbers make sense to you? Just trying to establish a baseline. Another thing worth mentioning is that most my people who have shown interest in roaches are breeding animals so they will probably be buying in large numbers. The dragon breeder had about 125 dragons last year so I should be moving some volume.

Let me point out that nothing is for sale as of yet. I'm just conducting preliminary research.

Thanks for the help

 
From a business standpoint, I'd suggest you base your price on their answers to the following questions:

1. What are they using as feeders currently?

2. Where are they getting them?

3. What are they paying for them?

Usually the answer is crickets and you can just work the "roaches are healthier" angle. It's true!

Customers will pay more for feeders that are healthier for their pets. If they're paying for shipping on their roach feeders you can save them money because they can buy locally. If they are using crickets currently, match or beat the local pet stores' cricket prices and let everybody know that roaches are healthier feeders.

 
Thanks for the help. That's the approach I took with my other insects I guess I have had a hard time comparing roaches to crickets. I pulled out the tape measure and started measuring crickets today and found that even quite a few of the adults arent a full 1". Not to mention that an inch of roach has more meat than an inch of cricket.

When you asked what they were using now I started to really break down what they are paying per inch of cricket. It helps the pricing make more sense. Also shows that I can run a better deal because all of my items will be measured and selected for them, whereas at the petstore some crickets are larger some are smaller, some are dead.

You know I've been wondering why roaches are healthier than crickets. I mean I've heard it a million times, and I've noticed that some crickets do die mysterious deaths. Occasionaly the local pet store crickets just die in the dozens. I guess I was wondering what actually makes the roaches healthier. Are less parasites interested in roaches or do they have better defenses against them and better living habits.

Off topic but I do love that roaches don't bite. Heard a million stories of crickets biting animals they were left in with overnight. As an owner of an argentine horned frog it makes sense. If he's not hungry he wont move for any reason, he would just sit there and get bitten.

 
I'll PM you the nutritional content information because it may be copyrighted and I don't want to post it publicly.

 
Thanks for sending me the nutritional data, have actually had a lot of people ask about it. I found a few charts myself but nothing definitive.

I didn't realize that you were the guy from bugsincyberspace. Nice collection there, especially the lucihormetica subcinta and Panchlora nivea.

 
So you got it then? Strangely, I got a message in my email that I'd received the PM from myself. I was just about to resend it to "you".

 
Do you still have the nutritional data? I was just saying thanks in advance. I never received the PM.

I must say these things are growing on me. I'm amazed at their weight compared to a cricket. It's also interesting that they don't eat a lot. At least compared to my crickets. Animals seem to take more readily to them as well.

 
Saw your PM. Replied.

Roaches beat crickets hands down. A percentage of pet store bought crickets die within a few days and always start to stink immediately.

Male B. lateralis are favored by all my predatory pets. Very active.

 
That is so true. Although I've developed my own bag of tricks to keeping crickets alive there are inevitable some deaths. The more you buy the more deaths there are. Another interesting fact that I heard, not totally sure of its accuracy, is that a dead cricket produces fumes which can kill the other crickets. If this is true it can easily be a problem in larger colonies.

Could be total hogwash though

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top