#76349

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

I have one male bearded dragon, and I am considering buying a female to breed them. I am trying to figure out all the costs, and one thing I am unsure about is how many tanks for the babies I will need once they are hatched. Can I house them in low plastic tubs up to a certain age? If so, what age? I know dragons can be prolific breeders, and that is what makes me wary about breeding them. Is it sometimes hard to sell babies? I live in an apartment (although thinking about moving into a house), and am concerned about space. I am a little mystified as to why people don’t find dragon breeding to be lucrative. It sounds like it would be at least a little lucrative, because once supplies and breeders are bought, additional costs are minimal. I’m not trying to make a career out of this, but I would hope to make some money. How much money could I expect to make using 1 male and 1 female?

 #76428

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

Specific questions, I like that. Ok, figure on housing say 5 babies to a 10-15gal tank (or equivilant space). So, say your average clutch is 20 eggs (some lay more some lay less) and they can pop out this many every days or so for several months (up to 18 that I’ve heard of but mine usually only go 4-6). But lets say you could sell all your babies at 8 weeks old (impossible but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt). You’d have about 60 babies in the house at any given time. Thats 12 cages that you have to light and heat (initial cost, +UV needs replaced every 6 months). Plus you have 60 babies that you have to feed upwards of 50-100 crix each per day = 3000-6000 crix every day just on babies ($$$$$), they also have to be the right size so you can’t buy them in big bulk and get the real savings. Then there is the electric bill (mines about 400-600 per month depending on how many rearing tanks I’m running), salad, supplements, vet bills, etc. If you’re lucky you’ll be able to break even on them, maybe make a little money over the cost of raising them but that goes back to initial set up that takes several clutches to cover. Forgot one more thing, TIME, how much do you value your time. You can never be away from babies for more than about 6 hours. Those are the facts, not to be discourageing but that’s just the way it is. It is fun, and I do it for the love of my animals (and because I can afford to). There are some people that can make a living at it, but they do it on a very large scale. sean

 #76481

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

Hey sean how many tanks/setups do you have going at once? That is a huge electric bill. Ours isn’t anywhere near that. I honestly don’t think it’s possible to profit much if at all from one breeding pair. You also have to account for babies that grow at different rates and may have to be separated from their clutch mates into smaller groups. I keep just about all of mine that are not adults in tubs of some sort. I know it is not permanent and I can easily adjust the size of the group and enclosure that way with minimal cost. You can always use tubs as temporary enclosures for any even adults if you have a large one. They are great for sick animals, quarantines or monitoring a single animal easily.

 #76644

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

What if, to keep costs lower, I were to only let my breeding pair breed once or twice a year? My bearded dragon doesn’t eat as much as other people’s seem to. When he’s really hungry, he’ll eat at most 30 crickets ever since I’ve had him at 2 months old. If I only had 20 babies at any given time, then I would use 20 crickets per baby per day, which would be 600 crickets per day. If I buy them wholesale over the internet, I could get 1000 crix for ~ $16. Over the course of a month, that would cost $288. If I have them separated into 3 plastic tubs, I would need 3 sets of lights, and would it be correct to estimate that that would add $100 to my electric bill per month? If so, my monthly costs would be approximately $400 per month. If I sell 4 dragons a month, I come out even. Is it unreasonable to expect that I could sell more than 4 dragons a month? I live in a large city (pop 300,000) with multiple pet stores (prob 7-8 that sell reptiles).

 #76645

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

Oh, and is it really true that I can’t be away from the babies for more than 6 hours? If that were true, then I really shouldn’t consider doing this.

 #76686

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

there is no way to only get one or two clutches, the female can lay up to 8-10 clutches from one mating! she will lay and 30 days later will lay again, even if she hasn’t been with the male. and you will probally not get $100 for each baby dragon.and they have to be 2-3 months old before you can sell them. and they eat more than 20 crickets a day, you have to feed them 5 times a day. if money is a big issue for you, i would not do it.

 #76726

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

thankds for the advice everybody. guess I won’t do it. It would be fun, but both time and money are big issues for me, as I’m a college student. Maybe later in life!

 #76742

 Thinking about breeding, and I have SPECIFIC questions :)

definatly! when you have more time.