How do you manage to keep breeding without going broke

[Ylva Helendale]

(11-17-2013 01:34 AM)jc aferdita Wrote:  jc agrees with most points! :3 Keep it as small as your budget allows, maybe get a job inside sl to help pay for food-costs? Cuz sales are no good to rely on, and if you don't have too much money in rl then an sl-job you can do a couple of hours a week will be awesome and really really helpful. But most of all, don't open every box, keep it to as many breeding pairs as you know you can afford for certain every week, rubber bands on the wrist helps! And sticky post-it notes on the computer screen! And the whole, don't go take a stroll i nthe markets unless you are actually looking for something specific <.< cuz just strolling around will sucker you in >.< them cute faces looking at you

OMG yes! Do NOT go to the secondary markets unless you are looking for something specific! Seriously. Don't. Or if you do, send all your cash to an alt account before you go so you can't buy anything. Because "resistance is futile"!

[Icestron Resident]

fantastic summary - outline - and plan.
nicely said, thank you

(11-11-2013 10:58 PM)Mellyn Llewellyn Wrote:  I used to have an SL budget of about $50 a month to pay for my land, decorating, and shopping addictions, but now, most of the time (most but not all) my sales cover food, my cart rent, putting 10k a month into a sim I share with others, an occasional splurge on a kitty with a newish trait, with a little left over for a shopping budget. I also at one time had 200 cats that overwhelmed my time and my budget, left breeding for awhile because of that, but the kitties just wormed their way back in. The second time around, here's what I've learned:

1. Do it because you enjoy it and don't expect to make any profit. This is a hobby, not a business.

2. Live sells better than boxed. I sell more cats at the 100% love tables than anything.

3. Use bidboards and auctions if you can afford the time. I don't have enough time for auctions, but use bidboards regularly. Advertise when you do.

4. Recessive sells better than not recessive, no matter how pretty the cat.

5. 8-9 traits or new traits sell best.

6. Go beyond eyes and fur. Well-traited cats do sell.

7. Don't overprice, don't underprice. It's very hard to hit the right spot and I probably underprice, but then sales are steady and I can feed my cats. I do try to comparison shop so I'm not terribly undercutting my neighbors.

8. Be patient: Patience is a virtue in all kinds of ways, in long-term breeding projects, in waiting for a good cat to sell, in breeding starters for that trait lottery (not a game to everyone's tastes).

9. Stay focused. Choose your projects carefully and limit yourself to just those projects.

10. Use the menagerie liberally. Don't keep cats that disappoint or duplicate or simply aren't meeting your ambitions.

11. Be ambitious. Do try to get all your favorite traits on a single cat. May never happen, but it's fun to try.

12. Control numbers #1: Rotate in, rotate out. I try not to open new boxes unless I am removing some older breeders. I have some pairs of boxes I haven't opened because I don't have room, and it's okay if I never open them.

13.Control numbers #2: Reassess regularly. I sometimes find I have too many pairs trying to achieve the same goal and didn't realize. Every week when I open boxes and repartner kitties, I am looking for ones I should weed out.

14. Control numbers #3: Don't breed cats too long. Once a pair has passed on their DNA to 1-3 breeding offspring pairs, I sell or menagerie the parents. Some really good cats I'll breed all 120 days, but most of the time I don't keep them that long.

15. Rent a cart, not a cottage. It's cheaper. I've never needed all that room.

16. If possible, get a good location. I'm by the bidboards at Too Adorable where there's a lot of regular traffic. By 100% love tables is good too.

17. Advertise but don't spam 497 times a day. If you can be just a little bit witty or clever, you'll get noticed more. I only send out notices a few times on weekends or when I have something special. People do respond to notices.

18. If you're going to buy cats, buy fewer and the best you can afford. One strong cat is worth 2O mediocre ones and eats far less. Negotiate prices. It never hurts to ask if a breeder will take less than the asking price. Try trading rather than buying when you can.

19. Wait for new traits to become cheaper before investing. Yeah, I've broken that rule a few times. Jolita Korobase makes me do it, damn her to hell.

20. Use the online cattery. Don't pay for land prims except for the kitties you love and want to keep close. I use it exclusively for breeding and love it.

Hope that helps,

Mellyn Llewellyn, the wise sage of Kittydom.

(11-10-2013 04:17 PM)Troubadoura Resident Wrote:  Anyone care to share some tips and tricks to keep breeding under control and not break the bank?

Do people really cover their costs through the sale of kittys? If so, how? there seems to be 100's if not 1000's of kitty's out there for sale?

Are there strategies for not going over board in the breeding?

I didn't get into this to make money, I enjoy the intellectual puzzle of it, but I see my expenses growing more than I thought they would. And feel like I have to start backing off or even pulling out of this.

Any words of wisdom or support?

[Aubreygrace Starlight]

I tend to only keep a few kitties out to breed. If I get some good boxes that I want to breed I put them in my "future breeding folder" and I unpack them when older ones can no longer breed. I try and only have a few pairs out at a time because it does cost money to keep them breeding. When I first started I ended up with over 100 cats because I kept opening ones I wanted to keep. I no longer open every single box. I just stick them in that folder and wait to use them. Good luck.

And my residential land allows breedables so I don't pay extra for a separate piece of land. I also do not buy vitamins anymore. I keep it to milk and food only.

[MiuKitten Resident]

In general, the expectation that you can turn KittyCats! into a profit mill is a setup for disappointment. Yes there are big name breeders who sell their lovely cats at auction for huge prices, and sometimes you may get lucky and land a new trait you can sell for many thousands of L$, but usually you cannot expect to earn a tonne by breeding cats. It should be viewed as something you do for entertainment and enjoyment, rather than to pay the bills. However, you can usually make enough to pay all the expenses of your cats and occasionally bring in a profit.

1. Keep your cattery large enough to hold a diverse pool of traits, and small enough to remain manageable. Remember, for the first few weeks at least you will need to cover all of their expenses out of pocket. Either you'll be line breeding your starters, whose kittens probably won't sell well for a few generations, or you'll be buying highly traited cats from other breeders, which will use up any profit you might make selling kittens. Remember to leave space for the next generation when deciding on a cattery size; for instance if you start with a ten pack of starter kittens, you will want a cattery size of twenty or thirty to allow you to open the boxes and begin line breeding. Reevaluate your size in a month or two. If you've got really wonderful cats, you might expand. If you're struggling to break even, you might want to do a quick sale or menagerie and reduce the size.

2. Once you've established your cattery size, stick to it. I bought my first pair, went back for a St Pat's Kitty, and ended up with 280 at the height of my breeding career. It's very easy to let your cattery grow out of control, so work hard to streamline it. You will want to keep track of each cat's breeding so you can spot those who aren't producing. Sell if you can, or use the menagerie system to remove non-productive cats. This sounds heartless, but failing to remove non-productive cats will swell your cattery and eat up the profit you make on the other ones. Obviously I have pets like everyone else, but you have to be careful about not keeping every sweet face. If you're really attached to a cat, hold it in inventory for future perma-petting or at least turn off breeding so it consumes less food. Like others have said, be careful about opening boxes, too. It's tempting to open every box but make sure you remove a cat for every new box you add once you've reached your cattery size. Choose those whom you think are the best bet. The others can wait in inventory or you can sell them.

3. Minimize your costs wherever possible. Probably the biggest savings comes from moving cats to cattery, which allows you to get a smaller parcel and pay less tier. Avoid using vitamins, even though it's tempting (I'm a slave to the 10% love). Hold your cats and keep them fed instead of using happiness vitamins, don't perma-pair to avoid break up drinks, wait an extra day or two instead of using love vitamins for instant gratification. If you must use vitamins save them for your very best; for example if one pair's kittens are selling like hotcakes, give them the love vites and drops and let your other pairs wait it out.

4. As other have said, shop carefully. It's so easy to buy a starving cat out of pity, or a cute one just because it's cute. You end up purchasing cats you really don't need who will not improve the cattery. Evaluate every purchase. If you're looking for something particular, check out the forum posts or create a new wanted thread. Auction houses usually advertise lineups ahead of time too, so you can check out the offerings and see if the cat you need is selling there. It's wise to do some price checking before you buy, too. Look around for the cat you want and see what different sellers are listing it for.

5. Save your earnings! OMG this is such a problem for me because as soon as something sells I decide I must spend the money on clothes or furniture. What works for me is to immediately click the cattery dock and pay in so my profit is stored in K$. Alternatively, make an alt and pay it, then log on only when you need the money for your cattery. Often I've thought my cattery was deep in the red only to find it was actually making a small profit, only I was spending the profit and the expense money on other things. Keep a spreadsheet or something to record your incoming and outgoings.

6. Get involved in the cat community. Your breeding friends will have information and tips for you, and may even buy your cats or swap with you. Groups are good for price checking and advertising. Visit the auction houses, in my experience cats sell higher there because of the excitement and the crowd. Go to social events. Once you're established as a breeder, you will actually develop a clientele because people will know your cats. It's so much fun when someone goes to you because they know you specialise in something. Earn L$ by becoming a market manager, auctioneer or by renting land to other breeders.

7. Have fun and enjoy yourself. If you're nervous and frustrated about not making money, you're going to miss the point.

[Roselyn83 Resident]

I have been breeding kitties for 9 to 10 months now, One thing that you should consider doing to keep your kitty expences at a stable amount is to invest in the perma pet as your kitties reach retirement. That way you will always be feeding the same amount of kitties every month instead of it increasing with every new pair you get to breed. If I had not done this I would have had to get rid of all my cats. I have 68 of them running around my house as of now but I am only needing food for the ones still reprodusing kittens. The retired I turned to the perma pets so they no longer consume food

[Tad Carlucci]

Perma pet kits cost about 3 years worth of food. What many of us do is pass the cats to an ALT, and store them in that Cattery, without food. If the cat is not yet 121+ days old, this saves food until it's old enough to get the discount. And you're only purchasing pet kits for cats you're actually going to keep in-world long-term (or, if it was a Starter, intend to sell).

If you're only going to have a cat out for a few weeks, then switch to another, it can be *VASTLY* less expensive to starve it for the months you do not have it out, pull it in a week early, feed it to get it healthy and for the few weeks you have it out, then send it back to starve until the next time you want it out. Consider: if you have the cat out for two months, each year, you can starve-and-feed it for 18 years for the same price as a pet kit!

[Roselyn83 Resident]

well in my case, I am keeping every cat for my existense of SL. I get to attached to every one. I have every single kitty I have ever birthed and could not bare to part with even one.

[Kayleigh McMillan]

(08-19-2014 01:33 AM)Roselyn83 Resident Wrote:  well in my case, I am keeping every cat for my existense of SL. I get to attached to every one. I have every single kitty I have ever birthed and could not bare to part with even one.

I know that feeling all to well
I tend to work around that by putting the "permapet candidates" in a similar named folder in my inventory and evaluate a few months later if I still feel that attached.
If so I set them either on pet food or they get the royal treatment indeed and I make them a Permapet.
I noticed I Permapet way less frequently than I used to do.

[Vrem Vaniva]

Thank you, everyone, for taking the time to write out the strategies you have developed through your experience! Many of your replies need to be printed out and taped to my computer monitor.

I have named my system for not going broke. My kitties are sustained "On a Wing and a Prayer."

Some helps to the Wing&Prayer system, for me, have been ...
*getting a shop in an excellent location. (I've tried many locations: if your cats are not seen, the person who wants them won't be able to find them. Advertising could compensate for a poor location, I guess.)
* paying attention to ears, whiskers, tails, and shade (so the cat has more than furs and eyes)
* setting a few cats on Marketplace -- it's work to prepare them and make the listing, but they do sometimes send you a few lindens just in time
* attending auctions and buying there as well as selling. (As was said earlier, a great cat is worth 50 mediocre cats -- I guess this comes under the heading, "shopping carefully." Careful shopping can also be done in the secondary markets.)

I vow to try harder to follow the guidelines so thoughtfully set out in earlier posts, Mellyn's and Miu's and others'.
My practice of keeping them all breeding for the full 120 days is not smart ... best to do as recommended and remove the ones that are not helping with your goals.

I don't menagerize them any more, at 120 days. I take them into inventory instead. Then, they at least can potentially get Permapet vitamin. One thing for sure: don't spend your Menagerie Kitty $ on food. Never touch that unless you are really getting lots of menagerie boxes ... save for a tiger instead.

You can sell menagerie kitten boxes in a Gatcha -- to people who are trying to get a tiger -- for more than the 20L worth of kitty bucks that you would get by actually menagerizing your bad boxes.

[Roselyn83 Resident]

Smiles, Yea they do certainly get royal treatment lol. My husband built a home espeacially for them with stain glass windows and everything we even built special bunk beds for them, and we put one house on each side of our castle. One house can fit 68 kitties with plenty of space. lol I posted pictures in the showroom i you want to see it lol. Thank you both for your responses.