Kim's Story : Exotic Animal Breeder

One of the baby hedgehogs born under Kim's care
meeting his new family. 

Hi, Kim. Could you introduce yourself?

My name is Kimberly White and I breed exotic pets, mainly hedgehogs and Peterbald Cats (a hairless breed much like a Sphinx). 

A lot of people would love to be able to say that. How did you get into breeding exotics?

I've always been into animals and when you do enough rescues, you definitely deliver a few babies. So when I started having health problems that took me away from normal jobs I need something I could do at home . One of the things I was still doing daily was talking care of my animals. I remember someone once telling me "find what you like doing and find someone willing to pay you for it. That a job you'll never regret." It's true that I love my animals. 

Is there anything NOT to like about being a breeder?

There are downsides. People believe my job is playing with animals all day, or [that] it isn't a real job because there are so many "backyard breeders"* who basically just throw two animals together and hope it works. I haven't figured out quite how to make people understand the difference. I guess time and education will help. 

How does a typical day go for you?

...My day starts sometime earlier then most normal jobs. It depends deeply on what's going on. I break my job into three time periods: 1. Pregnant animals, 2. Babies are born, and 3. The rest of the year. 

Non babies season is mostly down time. You take the animal for regular checkups. Have genetic testing done on new animals track down and acquire new blood lines. Feed, play, bath, socialize, and maintain the animals. The easy part. 

Uh-oh. When does your day start during baby season?

Baby season is... a lot harder; say good bye to sleep. The day begins at 3 a.m. with bottle feeding an extra bottle to the kitten whose mother's milk didn't come in or isn't producing enough milk... If you feed them with out the mother you'll be doing this every 2-4 hours - you learn to sleep around anything. 

At 6-ish feed the parents or your adult animals and again at 8. Some where in there you have weighing and socializing hedgehogs, etc. So what I am saying is the typical day non-baby season is maybe 15 -20 hours of work, [while] baby season (which is about a 5 month period) you work round clock. It's worth it. 

Is breeding your only job?

Yeah, this is my only job.

What advice would you give to someone reading your interview, saying to themselves "I want to do this"?

To anyone getting or trying to get into this line of work, I recommend finding a mentor. Most enthusiast groups TICA (Cats), AKC (Dogs), HRI, etc. have a mentor programs.

*"Backyard breeding" is a term used by rescue organizations and professional breeders in reference to individuals breeding their animals without full knowledge of the health of the animals, their genetics, or proper breeding practices. These individuals may or may not have obtained state licenses to breed animals. A license is a good thing to ask to see when choosing an animal from a breeder, but you should also ask to see the areas the animals are kept, meet the animals parents, and ask questions to make sure the breeder and his/her program are on the up-and-up.