What do you hope to achieve professionally from starting your business?
“There are lots of challenges every day. Not giving up will help later in life. If I have a problem, I won’t just quit.”
Ellen Gambel isn’t your average 10 year-old.
A fifth-grader at Holy Ghost Catholic School in Hammond, Gambel plays soccer, takes voice lessons and wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.
Gambel also owns and operates Hoppy Days, a rabbit-breeding business that started a year ago with two pet rabbits named Momma and Smoky. When the twosome had babies, the idea for Hoppy Days was born—literally.
“My mom wouldn’t let me keep them all,” Gambel says with a grin. “So we sold them to the Feed & Seed, and then we decided to have some more. Then we kept on having more, and we kept a few and just decided to keep doing it.”
The Gambel household now includes seven rabbits, which reside in raised wire cages equipped with fans and heat lamps that control the temperature as needed and insulated from passing traffic and neighbors by shrubs and a fence. Gambel feeds and waters the rabbits at least once a day, cleans cages and replaces the cedar chips that cover the ground beneath them.
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Gambel decides when to breed each of her four producing rabbits, which can have between eight and 10 babies at a time with a gestation period of three to four weeks. After giving birth, it takes three to four weeks to wean the babies and the same amount of time for the mother to be ready for breeding again.
Gambel sells the baby rabbits to Feed & Seed stores in Hammond and Ponchatoula for $10 apiece. Depending on the month, she makes anywhere from $70 to $200 in sales.
She saves about 75% of her profits and uses about 25% for supplies and pocket money, keeping track in a pink-and-white composition notebook exactly what she spends and on what in neat, meticulous handwriting.
Gambel took a hiatus from breeding her rabbits this month while her family traveled on vacation, but plans to breed all four of her producers in July. That will result in her biggest sales month in August, where she will have around 30 baby rabbits for sale. Her goal is to have two producing rabbits with litters every month.
“I really like it,” Gambel says, looking at her rabbits with affection. “I want to keep on doing it.”
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