Arachnid Breeder Career Profile
- Career Name - Arachnid Breeder
- Category - Business
- Skills Required - Life skills 45% - Career skills 55%
- Basic School Subjects - Biology, Business Studies, Language
- Minimum Required Education - High School Certificate
- Species Worked With - Arachnids
- Kind of Interaction with Animals - Direct
Do you want to work as an arachnid breeder?
READ: This page helps you to read about the career and the info you need to decide on whether this is indeed the career you want to follow.
RESEARCH: ​Learn about the skills required and minimum subjects to enter this career, as well as the places where you can study further after school.
PREPARE: If you want to plan and prepare for your career, then join the OZT Community! Members have access to tools while chatting with other students and experts from around the world. Prepare to be amazed!
CAREER MENTORS
UPDATED: 12 June 2023
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What is an arachnid breeder?
A person who breeds carefully selected arachnids (scorpions, spiders) of the same species to reproduce offspring with the same qualities and characteristics.
Arachnid Breeders generally Breed specific species for the pet trade.
Careers where arachnids are bred for science, are discussed separately, as they have different career paths. You can read through the following:
- Venom Researcher
- Silk Researcher
- Horseshoe Crab Breeder
Career Categories
The Arachnid Breeder career can be found within the following OZT career categories:
- Business
Most bred species?
Tarantulas (all the different species) are the most bred arachnid species for the pet trade
Most expensive?
Horseshoe crab can be extremely expensive, as their blood is worth an estimated $15,000 a quart
What does an Arachnid Breeder do?
Groups of animals an Arachnid Breeder works with
What is the level of Interaction with the Animals?
- Directly - A person works directly with the animals with some form of physical contact at least once every few days
- Indirectly - The career doesn't require direct or physical contact at all.
With who does an Arachnid Breeder work?
Besides working with all of the animals, Arachnid Breeders will need to interact with other people while doing their daily tasks. The people might include fellow staff members or the public.
Fellow staff might include:
- Supervisors/Managers
- Operational staff, such as Human Resources, Finance and Maintenance
- Sales Staff
What does an Arachnid Breeder focus on?
The main focus of an arachnid breeder is to mate selected species (such as tarantulas) as their own pets, to supply the pet market, to help in the conservation of the species, and in producing medicine.
What are the daily tasks of an Arachnid Breeder?
- Feeding and caring for the arachnids
- clean the containers
- talk with suppliers
- ensure registration is in place
- ​discuss budget with bookkeeper
- manage marketing campaign
- talk with prospective buyers
- arrange, prepare for and transport animals to expos
Working conditions of an Arachnid Breeder
Where does an Arachnid Breeder work?
Environment –
Most arachnid breeders usually register and set up their businesses at home. The physical enclosures or terrariums for the animals are almost always indoors to protect the animals from being caught by predators or escaping. Horseshoe breeders work at large medical facilities.
Places of Employment –
Most arachnid breeders are self employed and run a profit seeking business.Â
What is the average annual salary of an Arachnid Breeder?
The average income of breeders will be determined by a few factors, such as the scarcity of the species, the country wherein the business is registered. The average yearly income in the US is around $40,000 per year.
What kind of difficulties can an Arachnid Breeder face?
Entry breeders do not make a huge amount of money as most of the startup costs can be high and need to be recovered. Running a business also means dealing with bills that need to be payed. Certain arachnid species are Venomous and can be dangerous in handling.
Future growth and Possibilities
​The pet industry is one of the fastest growing animal career industries, and there will always be space for good growth. Breeding horseshoe crabs, instead of harvesting them from the sea, is far more ecologically friendly.
Which Skills are required by an Arachnid Breeder?
The skills required for a career as an arachnid breeder can be divided into two very important groups. The first is the group containing life skills, which are the core skills that are necessary or desirable for full participation in everyday life. The second group is career skills, or the specific skills required to allow a person to enter and operate effectively within a specific career. Some or maybe even all of the life skills can assist in strengthening the career skills, and they might even be the same for specific careers.
Life Skills
- Self-awareness
- Empathy
- Critical thinking
- Creative thinking
- Decision making
- Problem Solving
- Effective communication
- Interpersonal relationship
Career Skills
- ​Basic animal handling and care techniques
- Basic business skills
- Basic customer service skills
- Good health and physical fitness
- Basic computer literacy
Which Subjects must I have at School to help prepare for this career?
Biology is the best subject to have at school if you want to follow a career in working with animals. It will also be compulsory for college or university admission, if you do want to study towards a animal science course.
Business Studies is a must have subject if you want to start your own breeding business. If your school doesn’t have this subject, try to substitute it with something in the line of Bookkeeping, Economics or Business Economics.
Continuing your high school grades with one or two languages will be important to teach you the finer skills of communication, used in business.
These subjects are the ones recognized around the world. The subjects you choose at school are important as they lay the foundation for further studies at college or university. While still at school, it’s also important to learn more about the animals you will work with, as well as gain some experience.
OZT has a list of various tertiary institutions where you can study further, after school. Each of these institutions also have their own Group page on OZT where you will find the exact subjects they require of you to have passed in school. Keep these requirements in mind, and discuss it with your school, guidance counselor and parents to ensure that you are prepared!
What will I need to Study to become an Arachnid Breeder?
Minimum Requirements
There is no minimum requirements to become a breeder, although a High School Certificate would be beneficial to prepare you to deal with setting up a business, dealing with costs and basic marketing techniques.
Study Focus
It is important that you learn as much as you possibly can about your chosen species before you think about opening your breeding business. Short Courses in behaviour, health, business setup and marketing are recommended.
Study Duration
The duration of Short Courses can be between a few hours (online) to a few months.
Possible Career Preparation Paths
If this is your dream career that you want to pursue, then it’s important to plan the way forward.
Why is planning important?
​To ensure that you understand the requirements for your career, and that you are always prepared for the next step on the road towards your dream. A Preparation Path is like your road map to where you want to be.
Possible Paths:
Possible Combined Career Paths
It is possible to sometimes combine two or more related careers. This normally happens when you study and practice a specific main career, but the knowledge and experience gained also help you to have a paying hobby or secondary income career.
Possible Alternative(s):
Stepping Stone Career
Being an animal breeder can also be used as a stepping stone career. A stepping stone career is one which is used to help you get to another career, normally because the other career is too difficult to reach (sometimes due to things like high fees etc).
You can begin as an arachnid breeder after basic short courses and expert guidance (maybe working under a mentor). The money made can then be used to pay for studies towards a promotion or another career, and the experience helps in gaining knowledge. One paying to help get to the other.
Some of the possible paths:
Training and apprenticeship
Even though it is important to study to get into some of the animal breeding careers, most of the skills you will need will be acquired through on-the-job training. This means that you will learn how to perform some of the daily tasks by actually doing it a few times and learning the steps.
In some cases entry level positions (or junior positions) require training sessions even before you are allowed to actually perform your job duties. These sessions are offered by the place of employment, after you have successfully applied.
Apprenticeship is also possible where you need to learn skills from a more senior person or expert.
Join the Arachnid Breeders Group in the Community to learn more and even interact with the educational institutions that will help you secure your dream career!
Average level of education of those entering the career
Licenses, Certificate, Registration and Professional Associations
Certain animal careers require some form of legal certification to prove that you can indeed do the work, and work with the necessary equipment.
In certain countries arachnid breeders are required by law to have a license, especially when running a business. There are also certain arachnids which are not allowed in breeding or selling.
Learn more about requirements by joining the Community.
Professional Associations
- Still to be loaded
Where can I study further?
All of the above information will help you understand more about the Career, including the fact that there are different paths to take to reach it. But if you are almost done with High School (Grades 11 or 12), you also need to start thinking about further studies, and WHERE you will study.
See the List of Universities, Colleges and Online Training Academies who offer courses towards animal care and training.
Do you want to Contribute?
Do you have information that you would like to contribute to this career?
Join the OZT community and career Group
Join us as a special member and learn more about becoming an arachnid breeder. Membership is FREE!
Members of the Platform have special access to:
- Info on the best places where you can study (colleges, universities and online)
- Expertly designed advice to prepare you for the career, and links to places where you can gain valuable experience. For some career experience is necessary, otherwise you wont get the job!
- Top notch info on each of the different species you will work with
- Make friends around the world and share knowledge
- Compete and win points, badges, games, prizes and certificates. Be the best of the best, while you learn and prepare!
If you have decided on being an Arachnid Breeder, please click on the JOIN OZTÂ button. Members will be directed to the Group, while non-members will be assisted to register first.
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This is a link to some of arachnid career pictures that you might find interesting.
Websites that might help you decide on taking Arachnid Breeder as a Career:
