According to a friend in the pet trade, it is. Much to his relief.

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Posted by filthy on February 07, 2000 at 06:00:22:

In Reply to: is the ig "fad" starting to run down?(some questions) posted by paul on February 06, 2000 at 23:00:02:

Joe and his wife Randi run a small, very tidy retail pet opporation. They breed many of their own birds, do a lot of dog grooming, and carry a fair number of reptiles, mostly CB kingsnakes and a few lizards: monitors, beardeds and so forth. Also tropical fish and various inverts Along with the usual snake fuel. He hates to mess with Igs because of the mortality rate, but, being in business, he will special order one.

Here, according to Joe, is what happens: To sell one Iguana, he must order four. One will die almost at once or even arrive dead, and quite possibly two. The customer will take one. There is a good chance that the customer will show up a week later complaining that the Ig died. If he brings in the corpse, Joe will make good on it with the remaining Ig, if it too has survived and he hasn't sold it, or a refund. If an Ig remains from all of this, he is stuck with a high maintainence animal until someone comes along that wants it. After hearing Joe's description of adult Iguanas and their care, a lot of folks change their minds. So, believing in taking good care of his stock, the little Ig might take up space for quite a while.

In short, it takes 4 Igs to sell one, garenteed. The wholesale price for an neonate Iguana is something like $2. In order to get any profit at all, Joe must sell for at least $15 and he'll usually mark it up higher.

The only people to actually score big $$ in the Iguana game are the importers, who pay next to nothing per for hundreds of animals, and pass them on to the wholesalers ASAP, before too many of them croak, for double that. The wholesaler's markup reflects the mortality he faces, and he too, wants to get rid of them quickly. A pretty disgusting business all together. Because there is so little profit per animal and because they are so incredably inexpensive at the import / wholesale levels, and because there are just so damned many of them, they become 'throw-aways'.

Joe says that he is getting fewer calls for Igs, and hasen't had one in the shop for several months, that I know of.

And there you have it.

filthy

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: Joe and his wife Randi run a small, very tidy retail pet opporation. They breed many of their own birds, do a lot of dog grooming, and carry a fair number of reptiles, mostly CB kingsnakes and a few lizards: monitors, beardeds and so forth. Also tropical fish and various inverts Along with the usual snake fuel. He hates to mess with Igs because of the mortality rate, but, being in business, he will special order one. : Here, according to Joe, is what happens: To sell one Iguana, he must order four. One will die almost at once or even arrive dead, and quite possibly two. The customer will take one. There is a good chance that the customer will show up a week later complaining that the Ig died. If he brings in the corpse, Joe will make good on it with the remaining Ig, if it too has survived and he hasn't sold it, or a refund. If an Ig remains from all of this, he is stuck with a high maintainence animal until someone comes along that wants it. After hearing Joe's description of adult Iguanas and their care, a lot of folks change their minds. So, believing in taking good care of his stock, the little Ig might take up space for quite a while. : In short, it takes 4 Igs to sell one, garenteed. The wholesale price for an neonate Iguana is something like $2. In order to get any profit at all, Joe must sell for at least $15 and he'll usually mark it up higher. : The only people to actually score big $$ in the Iguana game are the importers, who pay next to nothing per for hundreds of animals, and pass them on to the wholesalers ASAP, before too many of them croak, for double that. The wholesaler's markup reflects the mortality he faces, and he too, wants to get rid of them quickly. A pretty disgusting business all together. Because there is so little profit per animal and because they are so incredably inexpensive at the import / wholesale levels, and because there are just so damned many of them, they become 'throw-aways'. : Joe says that he is getting fewer calls for Igs, and hasen't had one in the shop for several months, that I know of. : And there you have it. : filthy

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