So I have 500 crustaceans living in my room...

[Ernman]

Being in Facebook groups and in the hobby more than others, there is 0 merchandise with good designs that enthusiasts can buy. The big sellers in the hobby are older and probably aren't in touch with things like this.

I can kind of understand. But I'm still not sure you'll get a lot out of it. I recall when I was a homebrewer back when the hobby was having a rebirth. T-shirts were things the merchants would throw in the box after I bought a bunch of bottle caps, yeast, or air locks. They offered T's for sale as well, but I never bought any. I was investing in my hobby and didn't care much about what I was wearing, just what I was drinking. I hope for you my perspective is off.

 

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[Colton]

Got any rubber duckies?

 

[Primeperiwinkle]

Can you make a little cartoon isopod dude whose tagline is “I serve the King”

And then he can talk about protecting his people.. you could call him the Duke of Isopods.. and then there could be like a little story every week about you tryna meet a chick and the Duke messes it up for you but he always manages to take care of his people.

This idea sounds really good in my head..

 

[Guest34764]

Got any rubber duckies?

Nah I'll be holding off on Cubaris for quite a while, Duckies are way too expensive and are also very small and have small broods. I just don't think it's worth it. In a year or two their prices will have dropped quite a bit so I can wait. They are indeed adorable as all hell.

I might pick up Cubaris murina though!

I can kind of understand. But I'm still not sure you'll get a lot out of it. I recall when I was a homebrewer back when the hobby was having a rebirth. T-shirts were things the merchants would throw in the box after I bought a bunch of bottle caps, yeast, or air locks. They offered T's for sale as well, but I never bought any. I was investing in my hobby and didn't care much about what I was wearing, just what I was drinking. I hope for you my perspective is off.

I've asked some of my community around me if they'd be interested in it and I got positive responses. I could package some merch in my sales but profits are already pretty low on Isopod sales so that would eat into it quite a bit. I'm getting some more designs done tomorrow and fixin' up an online store for it and running ads. I really want to try this so I'm not going to change my mind now.

Can you make a little cartoon isopod dude whose tagline is “I serve the King”

And then he can talk about protecting his people.. you could call him the Duke of Isopods.. and then there could be like a little story every week about you tryna meet a chick and the Duke messes it up for you but he always manages to take care of his people.

This idea sounds really good in my head..

Well, that's certainly an interesting idea! What I'm glad about is that you're thinking about Isopods! Perhaps you'll dream of them tonight lol.

 

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[minivanman]

I thought you wanted to be the KING of Isopods. In order to do that, you have no time to just sit around. You have 50,000-100,000 words to write in 20-40 different articles and those need to be done in the next 180 days. You have $1 bills on your mind while I have $1 million bank accounts on my mind.

 

[Roli]

I got into making my own business recently and I figured it was unique enough to share.
It's been a goal of mine to own a successful business and I don't consider this business to be a success yet but eventually It will be. The goal for right now is to whittle down the initial investment and start making an actual profit.

So what is this business? Well, as it says in the title. I have 500 (or more) crustaceans living in my room. Particularly, terrestrial ones. I am keeping, breeding and selling Isopods. I have various species and containers that line the wall of my room and that are stacked up. Now there is only so much that someone new to this hobby can understand since It can get complicated.

"Where's the market? What's even the point of these guys?"

The market is growing pretty steadily, new species are being introduced into the trade every month and prices are slowly changing. There are isopod markets in most countries that all have different prices. Why is this? Each country, of course, has laws that may or may not allow invertebrates to enter their land with or without permits. The prices in the US are higher than the prices in Germany for the fact that Germany lets species come in mostly unhindered. If I were to import species to the USA, there would be quite a chance of the species being caught at customs, eliminated, and then I'd be heavily fined. So species get imported to the USA illegally but it's much slower than other countries for importing.

What's the point of these guys? For the most part, the more expensive species are traded just for the novelty and for the hobbyist to collect rare species. However, there is almost another market for isopods, and that is the market for clean up crews.

Clean up crews provide a valuable service when they are put into a terrarium or vivarium...They eat waste which could be either feces or dead leaves/ rotting wood. Clean up crews will also help control mold and a few other things inside terrariums/vivariums.

How do clean up crews and isopods link together? There are a few species of Isopods that are commercially advertised as clean up crews. One such species is called Trichorhina tomentosa, or its common name, "Dwarf whites". They're a very small species that reproduces insanely fast, they're sold all the time in the hobby to reptile keepers and the like.

I have acquired various expensive species but I am just now breeding Trichorhina tomentosa in mass in an attempt to get small contracts with local exotic pet shops to carry the species, sell them, and give me a slice of the profit.

What's the limiting factor in all of this?

The limiting factor is how much each species can produce offspring and the time it takes for the offspring to mature enough in order to survive shipment. Each species produces mancae (babies) at different rates and they all have different growth times. As far as the rare/uncommon species are concerned they can just sit in my room and I can sell them off at any time, Some range in prices from 6$ each to 15$ each, and most broods of mancae are around 15-25. However, you can't expect 100% of the mancae to survive until sexual maturity.

How do I work around this limiting factor?

The (really) only way is to increase my inventory, supply and the number of containers I have. 4 tubs of Trichorhina tomentosa won't produce as many mancae as 8 tubs.

What's the plan?

I'm in the process of getting a logo done before I contact any stores I want to have a good supply of dwarf whites in case it goes well. I don't want to get a contract and say "oops, sorry I can't supply that amount". I'm working a job, I have income and I have time. I don't want to sit on my a$$ all day however rushing things and making a bad impression would not go well. In the case that I can't secure contracts, I can simply sell them online and create a website. I already have a facebook/ Instagram presence and I've been building that up every day.

The rare/uncommon species will be very easy to sell as the demand for them is crazy. However, most of the money in this hobby is with clean up crews. A culture of 20-30 Dwarf whites could sell for 15-20$.

Let's say I could start off supplying 10 cultures every week, that's a cool 200$ in my pocket as I seek to reinvest and expand.

How Fastlane of a business is this?

Honestly, I know the metrics and I know the market. There's not an insane chance of money unless you're one of the few big hitters in the market in the USA. At that point, I'd have permits and I would be importing new species, I'd also have a separate room or someplace I could rent out to get extra space.

My generation of money is tied to crustaceans and how fast they can breed and reproduce. It's tied to how many I keep and care for. Currently, I probably have around 200 mancae developing, but If I can't sell them I don't make money. However, there is a possibility of getting different products that aren't animals. Selling vivarium/terrarium supplies can be very lucrative. So I will seek into expanding into that later.

I'm currently not sitting on a bad spot. As soon as I can seed other containers with Trichorhina tomentosa I can start contacting local businesses and take it from there. My replies to this thread will be for questions and my updates to this business will be big updates, and for those curious as to what the hell these look like, I'll post a few pictures of mine.

Fascinating! Can't wait to find out more about this business.

 

[Kid]

Interesting read.

So the next step could be a good blog.

There was a guy that was doing fish tank reviews as main topic of his site.
He was getting about $700 per month in Amazon Affiliate sales.

So the blog/website might be viable project to do.

 

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[njord]

Intesting topic, I was wondering you are going to scale this up with larger populations, how do you prevent inbreeding your stock?

And how do you prevent diseases striking your farm, how do you keep them healthy if you have billions of these crustrations?

 

[Guest34764]

Intesting topic, I was wondering you are going to scale this up with larger populations, how do you prevent inbreeding your stock?

The good thing with crustaceans and Isopods is that inbreeding doesn't seem to bring any negative effects to off-spring or the health of the Isopoda. Some people occasionally buy new blood (isopods of the same species) from other sellers to introduce into their enclosures but It doesn't seem necessary.

And how do you prevent diseases striking your farm, how do you keep them healthy if you have billions of these crustrations?

They are rather hardy, I don't really have to worry about disease. The biggest worry about keeping isopods is that you hit their humidity requirements right. Having so many different species, knowing how much you need to mist their enclosures every day or every couple of days can get a bit confusing for new keepers. As if they don't have enough humidity they will die and if they have too much humidity, they will also die. So it's all about hitting a good balance which isn't as hard as it sounds but the more expensive species...you really don't want to make mistakes with Isopods costing more than $15 each...

 

[Guest34764]

There was a guy that was doing fish tank reviews as main topic of his site.
He was getting about $700 per month in Amazon Affiliate sales.

So the blog/website might be viable project to do.

Yup, I'll be working on one today actually while I wait for my designs to be completed for merchandise.

 

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[BlokeInProgress]

I remember a product I was looking to re-sell previously - "Ant Farm" by Uncle Milton.

The product has different parts they can sell:

1. A package - complete with container and sets of Ants.
2. Ants - additional live ants if you need them.
3. Just the container - different types, sand or gel.

Maybe you can model it from them?

 

[minivanman]

I remember a product I was looking to re-sell previously - "Ant Farm" by Uncle Milton.

The product has different parts they can sell:

1. A package - complete with container and sets of Ants.
2. Ants - additional live ants if you need them.
3. Just the container - different types, sand or gel.

Maybe you can model it from them?

I think for a person that is interested in something like this, it could be huge if done correctly. Make himself known as the go-to guy and sell people once they get there.

 

[Guest34764]

I think for a person that is interested in something like this, it could be huge if done correctly. Make himself known as the go-to guy and sell people once they get there.

While selling setups isn't a bad idea, there are definitely droves of other people already doing it that are much bigger than me. People blend their own substrates and sell it etc.

 

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[Valhalla]

This seems like a great business and absolutely grosses me out at the same time.
To become the kritter king, to get rid of your job, what kind of space do you need? I pictured stacks of 20 gallon tubs, but it looks like a pretty small operation.

 

[Guest34764]

This seems like a great business and absolutely grosses me out at the same time.
To become the kritter king, to get rid of your job, what kind of space do you need? I pictured stacks of 20 gallon tubs, but it looks like a pretty small operation.

Yeah, what's pictured is actually quite a small operation. I don't nearly have enough to start selling a lot. Probably need to triple the number of containers I have.

 

[Valhalla]

Yeah, what's pictured is actually quite a small operation. I don't nearly have enough to start selling a lot. Probably need to triple the number of containers I have.

I think you're onto something. Sounds like others feel the same and giving you tons of good ideas. Good luck and I hope I never walk into a house like yours.

 

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[Guest34764]

I think you're onto something. Sounds like others feel the same and giving you tons of good ideas. Good luck and I hope I never walk into a house like yours.

Haha, yeah I do understand the fear of them.

The greatest enemy of this business is time and that's why It's probably smart to find other streams of revenue other than just selling Isopods. That's my idea behind merchandise, and I'm in the process of getting a website up with WordPress that'll be figured out when I wake up. I'll have a blog on the website.

 

[minivanman]

While selling setups isn't a bad idea, there are definitely droves of other people already doing it that are much bigger than me. People blend their own substrates and sell it etc.

Said every never was.......

Merry Maids started out in Omaha, Nebraska and dominated there because everyone knew of Merry Maids..... before the internet was in every home. While several other cleaning businesses...... several = LOTS..... were in business WAY before I was and had WAY more money than I did (I started with $3.17).... I became very big in Omaha. Then I started a business in Lincoln, Nebraska where the clique's are VERY tight and squeezed my way in and by the end, I had a good share of the customers in Lincoln. So the moral of the story is..... you can roll over and say you're beat before you even try (what you seem to want to do), or you can go out and prove YOURSELF wrong, because you are wrong. If this wasn't such a gross business (that is why I think it is a GREAT business), I'd get in to it just to show you I could be the KING if I wanted to (why be afraid of competition?)..... just like you can..... IF you wanted to, but by the way you talk, you don't want to be. Sounds like way too much work huh? Bank of America just raised the start pay to $20 an hour.... not bad for a J.O.B.

Tough love brotha

 

[Guest34764]

Said every never was.......

Merry Maids started out in Omaha, Nebraska and dominated there because everyone knew of Merry Maids..... before the internet was in every home. While several other cleaning businesses...... several = LOTS..... were in business WAY before I was and had WAY more money than I did (I started with $3.17).... I became very big in Omaha. Then I started a business in Lincoln, Nebraska where the clique's are VERY tight and squeezed my way in and by the end, I had a good share of the customers in Lincoln. So the moral of the story is..... you can roll over and say you're beat before you even try (what you seem to want to do), or you can go out and prove YOURSELF wrong, because you are wrong. If this wasn't such a gross business (that is why I think it is a GREAT business), I'd get in to it just to show you I could be the KING if I wanted to (why be afraid of competition?)..... just like you can..... IF you wanted to, but by the way you talk, you don't want to be. Sounds like way too much work huh? Bank of America just raised the start pay to $20 an hour.... not bad for a J.O.B.

Tough love brotha

I believe you took that the wrong way, I was only making an observation in the market. I intend on growing this business further. One thing that has taught me with working with hundreds of animals in my room and various other invertebrates is that patience is a virtue. I will expand as much as I can until I can no longer.

I understand the mindset that you're trying to instill in me. That mindset, I already have believe me. I don't need to psyche myself up, there is a list of things I must accomplish and I am simply going down that path accomplishing them.

 

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[Kid]

I see your attitude, and i think the "long term" is the keyword

Anyway, there is a channel on youtube ,if i recall correctly, "antscanada"
that recorded videos about ant-keeping.
(I never thought i could watch ants videos so interestedly)

So the thing is that maybe you could record videos around Crustaceans-keeping.
Since you are starting there will be crucial points/milestones that other enthusiasts might like to educate themselves about.

 

[Guest34764]

I see your attitude, and i think the "long term" is the keyword

Anyway, there is a channel on youtube ,if i recall correctly, "antscanada"
that recorded videos about ant-keeping.
(I never thought i could watch ants videos so interestedly)

So the thing is that maybe you could record videos around Crustaceans-keeping.
Since you are starting there will be crucial points/milestones that other enthusiasts might like to educate themselves about.

I actually have a youtube channel that has a video or two up on it but nothing crazy. My plan is to upload videos detailing care for various species. There was one content creator on Youtube that helped me a lot when I first started this hobby, passing around that knowledge as much as possible is ideal.