I am a looking to be a first time owner soon so I have done a lot of research on care for dragons. As of right now, the only thing I need to figure out of exactly where to get my bearded dragon from... I live in an area where there are not a lot of available bearded dragons (Southern Illinois) and the closest options I have found are Petco which is 15 minutes away and Petsmart which is an hour and a half away. I don't really intend to buy from these stores because I am really fearful of buying one infected with parasites or ADV, something I do not want to handle as a first time owner. Of course, if I did buy one with a health problem I would give the beardie the best care I possibly could, but I would mainly want to avoid that. So, after pretty much knocking out Petco/Petsmart, I looked into buying online from a breeder. Problem is, I have yet to find any I can put my trust in/afford. I am not looking to put $200 into a bearded dragon as I am not interested in colors that much, all I really want is a little companion regardless of how he/she looks. After searching around a lot I can tell most breeders do not test for ADV... So I want to ask you guys, is this something I should worry about? It really scares me to think of buying a dragon for the first time and have it die very young. Should I really be worried about even buying from pet stores like Petco? From what I have heard they are pretty terrible a lot of the time but there are also examples of people buying a bearded dragon from Petco or Petsmart and it living a natural lifespan with no problems at all, so I am really conflicted. It would also be great to know where you guys got your dragons from. Any help is appreciated.