£5k a month for teen selling exotic insects
Cameron Reardon, 19, has always been passionate about entomology – the study of bugs.
After seeing a presentation in college on how to start your own business, he decided to import insects to breed and sell.
Cameron found there was interest in exotic bugs in the UK and Europe. But as a teenager with little cash, he started out by storing hundreds in his parents’ home.
The teenager, from Felinfoel near Llanelli, said: “We had the stock in the house and they used to always escape. I don’t know why but they would always head for my mother’s bedroom. She hated it.”
He began importing and breeding exotic insects while at college, flogging them on his Bug Box website.
The business also offered birthday parties, education workshops and “fear classes” to help people beat their phobia of insects.
Cameron’s idea really took off when he won a £5,000
Beacon Bursary for young entrepreneurs from Carmarthenshire Council. It meant he could buy a shed to store the bugs. Now he makes an average of £5,000 every month. Some species cost just £3, but he can breed from them and sell offspring for £25 each. Giant African land snails (inset top left) offer his best profit margin at about £70 each. Also in Cameron’s catalogue are venomous and bird-eating spiders, scorpions, millipedes and crabs. He said: “Nothing would hurt more than a bee sting, but people are still wary of insects even though they are really important for the environment. “Right now we have around 100 different species.”
Most insects are ordered as pets and sent to buyers in countries including France and Belgium. Cameron added: “I’d love to expand the business. There is a huge market in America, where kids have pet tarantulas, so that would be amazing. I have a lot of plans.”