Looking for breeder recommendations after a traumatic loss

Hi everyone!

Ive learned so much on this forum.

I just lost my sweet baby Gizmo at 8 months old after a long fight with ADV. I tried so hard to save him and he was such a fighter. I have a huge bearded dragon sized hole in my heart now.

I would love to get another baby and give him the love I gave to Gizmo.

I am searching, but I have an absolute fear of getting another sick baby. I know ADV is super prevalent in the community and not many breeders test so I feel like that part could be unavoidable. But if the baby was super healthy to begin with maybe that would help.

I am looking for breeders who make healthy babies, with good temperaments (super sweet and great as pets) from strong trustworthy bloodlines to hopefully avoid some of the issues that can come from morphs being in-bred.

Is there any breeders I should look into or any I should avoid?

And also, are there morphs I should avoid? Of course I love Zeros and Witblits but I know they might not be as strong as some of the other morphs just because they are newer (am I correct with this?)
Also would that be avoiding any baby that says "X% Het Zero" because that means they have zero in their blood? Im just overall confused by this part.

I just want to make the right decision and love another baby.

Thank you!

Hi there,

I'm glad you are wanting to get back into it!

IMO, Dachiu is one of the best for healthy dragons around. They have been breeding for decades, and they are very affordable compared to many other breeders. My Moro came from them.
Dragintails is another similar company, although I haven't purchased from them personally.

There are a few others out there that I would be willing to recommend, such as Kidsanddragons, dragonsdenherp, and Phantom Dragons. All been in the game for awhile.

Phantom breeds more for rare breeds, so if that's what you are looking for, he might be a good choice, although he is quite expensive.

Wits and Zeros are relatively safe morphs IMO, as long as you are buying from a responsible breeder. There are a few breeders actively breeding them, you just want to make sure of their genetics. I would aim for getting a hetxhet pairing of a zero or witblits if that's the path you want to go. Many new breeders, or irresponsible breeders, will breed visxvis because it produces many more zeros/wits per clutch. But these are much weaker bloodlines and should be avoided.

-Brandon

Thank you so much Brandon!
I just realized how much love I have to give for a bearded dragon, I would of done anything to save Gizmo and made it my main focus for the past few months. I feel like Gizmo wouldnt want that love to go to waste he would want me to give it to another baby who could use it.

I appreciate this so much.
I heard some weird things about Daichu and ADV that scared me a bit....

That makes me feel better about the Zeros and Wits, those are def the colors im most attracted to. But I wouldnt want to choose a zero or wit if there was a chance of health complications, id much rather a healthy baby than anything. Great point about the hetxhet!

Claudiusx":246b2h0o said:

Hi there,

I'm glad you are wanting to get back into it!

IMO, Dachiu is one of the best for healthy dragons around. They have been breeding for decades, and they are very affordable compared to many other breeders. My Moro came from them.
Dragintails is another similar company, although I haven't purchased from them personally.

There are a few others out there that I would be willing to recommend, such as Kidsanddragons, dragonsdenherp, and Phantom Dragons. All been in the game for awhile.

Phantom breeds more for rare breeds, so if that's what you are looking for, he might be a good choice, although he is quite expensive.

Wits and Zeros are relatively safe morphs IMO, as long as you are buying from a responsible breeder. There are a few breeders actively breeding them, you just want to make sure of their genetics. I would aim for getting a hetxhet pairing of a zero or witblits if that's the path you want to go. Many new breeders, or irresponsible breeders, will breed visxvis because it produces many more zeros/wits per clutch. But these are much weaker bloodlines and should be avoided.

-Brandon

Click to expand...

I would recommend Draggintails as my top choice. And I can understand the attraction to the zero's + witblits but I personally feel they are still the weakest + most badly bred dragons now that they've become so popular.

I agree, the zeros and wits being the newest of the morphs, their bloodlines generally won't be as strong as other bloodlines just because no matter what you might here, lots of inbreeding was done to develop those lines. Using hetxhet pairings gives you the strongest chance at good blood, but it still is a slight risk being so new.

I have a witblits, that I bought from dachiu. It's my first witblits and time will tell how her health progresses compared to past dragons and current dragons I have.

-Brandon