Am I a cheapskate or what?

[routzong]

I am looking to get a bearded dragon for my son, 8. Of course, I also want one just as bad or worse. We've kept a couple of wild caught anoles from our backyard in Florida and he's proven to Mom that he will stick with it. It also gave us the opportunity to purchase most of the necessary equipment. All that being said, we now have the official OK to get a beardie and I am looking at the various options. I understand the problems with buying from a PetSmart or PetCo, but I really like the prices I see ($55, no shipping and instant gratification), but I would love to get it from a breeder. However most of the breeders I see are offering beautiful, colorful beardies, but the prices are from 100-600. This is a bit cost prohibitive considering the costs of the equipment as well. Also I notice that the cheaper bd's are the babies which require more care upfront. Am I setting myself up for failure is I try to hit the $50 price tag for our 1st beardie? If not, do you have a breeder you recommend, or should I keep looking in the For Sale discussion boards here? :help:

 

[DuddyOwns!!]

Im also in Florida, dpending on where you live you could go to the Daytona Breeders Expo this Saturday and Sunday August 18-19. Thats where im getting mine.

Cameron

 

[kimmyk]

I bought our Beardie from Petsmart, and he/she is healthy. We haven't had any probs with Beardie, so I would say just check out the beardies they have, make sure they look and act healthy and check their living conditions. Also, ask to talk to the animal care specialist and see how well they know their beardies. If all is well, you should be ok.

 

[redn3ckkittycat]

I bought from a petstore like petsmart, no issues

 

[raynekeeper]

i bought from a guy a petstore told me was a breeder and he didn't know like anything which i didn't find out till i joined this site but here in canada pet stores charge 89.99 cad for the cheapest baby beardi but thats petsmart or i can go to a place that knows a bit more but its 149 for a regular baby

 

[AnnArborGuy]

$50 or $150, doesn't matter, as long as the beardy is healthy and has a home to be loved and cared for 8)

 

[Sophie A]

Good point!

But if you're trying to save money, you could have a go at building your own tank.

My boyfriend built ours so we got a great tank for a quarter of the price. It's just plywood and perspex with a UV light fitting, normal light fitting for basking bulb and heat mat.

Also, buy kiln dried fine builders sand rather than reptile sand from a pet shop, as you get loads for next to nothing and it's sterile.

 

[jinxie]

Babies are very expensive to feed, that is also something you might think about. When Jinx got to be about 3 months old her appetite really picked up and the expense nearly doubled to about 80 dollars a month. If I had to do it again I would probably pay more to get an adult. Don't get me wrong I love Jinx but I am looking forward to her appetite decreasing in about 4 or 5 months!

 

[Dragon Lady]

If your looking to save money, check animal shelters or local ads. They usually aren't babies, but they still need a good home and it gives you more experience before jumping head in to a really needy baby!

 

[routzong]

Thanks for all the great advise! We are going to wait awhile and watch the local ads, freecycle and this site. Thanks again for the advise.

 

[The_Bearded_1]

Baby beardies are pretty expensive. Here in Canada a baby beardie from petsmart is $89.99. Oh well I got my baby from there!

 

[zimbabwepegasus]

I would check around for reptile stores. Generally you can find one that's breeding beardies and if you hit them at the right time they are CHEAP. Because they have half a million baby beardies...

Just check out the beardie's environment. One of the nice things about buying from someone who is breeding is that it means they are keeping several bearded dragons- therefore there will be well cared for crickets going into your little dragon. It seems like Petco's vary dramatically from store to store. Some people seem to have really awesome Petco's near them. The one near me is ummm... I don't think it will let me post the words I want to..

You could also check the for sale section here- I think there was somebody selling beardie babies pretty cheap. Do keep in mind that very very quickly the beardie itself becomes the cheapest part of having one.

 

[beads2theknees]

We got our first baby from a breeder on craigs list for $50. Paid $80 for one from a small pet shop and then another baby from the same pet store for only$45. The cost of the beardie is the least of the costs. I had no idea when we started. Don'e get me wrong, we love all our beardies, but I think it would have been much easier and cheaper to find one that someone is getting rid of. Just today I got a 2 yr old female with tank and all accessories for $85. If I had it to do all over again, I wouldn't get a baby first. They take up LOTS of time and costs LOTS of money to feed and maintain them and most are sold too young. We thought we were losing two of the babies several times. You will find people that are tired of them or they are moving, etc. You can get very good deals like this.

 

[tlc4beardie]

We just got our first,bought it @ PetsMart have had good luck with him so far. Warning though, I would take all the advise they give you with a huge grain of salt, have learned the hard way many of the employees there haven't a clue. That is if your a begginer yourself, I was, well...still am! Kinda the same situation. My Daughters 9th bithday was the forth of July, thought it would be a cool gift for her and us. Good luck!

 

[chickcasa]

I guess I just lucked out that my boyfriends local pet store sells beardies for reasonable prices, HEALTHY ones that the store takes proper care of. My first 2 were $50 each, their younger brother $35 and the adults are all 'on sale' right now for $70. Thats in Virginia Beach.

There are some breeders that offer beardies for lower prices, but yeah they do always get more costly to purchase one the older they are. I'd recommend going for the extra cost of getting a sub-adult or adult, as feeding it will cost like 1/3 as much as feeding a baby, so it will end up costing you less in the long run. Because if you want to keep it to about $50 for the beardie, imagine how much you'll like spending $50+ a MONTH on feeding a baby!

I'd say go around to the pet stores in the area, see which ones take the best care of the beardies, see if you can find a somewhat older one. One of the biggest problems with Petsmart and Petco is the babies they sell tend to be smaller/younger than most reputable breeders would sell for. See if you can find a store that has slightly older ones that look healthy and alert

~Katy