Bizarre reasons for breeding?!?-AAAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!!!

[lizardgrrl]

I don't know what to do. Stopped by the local reptile shop for a look around this afternoon. While I got Kang there, they are very inconsistent in their care, depends on who's working or not, and they have a lot of rough looking adult beardies that people have dropped off. Many with MBD, although they are active and alert, and at least getting the UVB lighting and proper food there. What I saw today, though! A woman apparently brought a dragon in specifically to be bred, then take home again. The dragon was undersized, maybe 15 inches long, MBD underbite, bony and looked like her tail was broken (maybe healed, or not) at the vent where there was a bony hump, and the tail dropping at almost 90 degrees from that hump, listless, a dragon in need of a lot of vet care, not a dragon that should be bred by any stretch of anyone imagination. The store apparently had one of the guys tell the woman over the phone to bring the dragon into to be bred. When she brought her in, no one apparently has the guts to tell this woman they won't do it, and someone had put one of their MBD but very active males in with her. What do I do, what can I do? I'm sick, thinking about this poor dragon.

 

[dolcedragon]

Can you talk to the store manager and threaten to report them? This makes me so sad, it's painful to read. WHY are people so ignorant?!

 

[BarkAtTheMoon]

I don't get it. They were under no obligation. What about the risk the sick dragon posed to their "merchandise?" Perhaps the owner or manager should institute a policy that they are the only ones allowed to approve this type of request and they must personally evaluate the "visitor." Speaking personally with the manager, expressing your concern about what you saw, and offering a solution is usually the best first approach. Remember, you catch more flies with honey . . .

 

[lizardgrrl]

Well, I did go and talk to the store owner today. He said that the dragon was brought in because she had laid infertile eggs, and nearly died with egg binding as a result. Their vet told them that it is easier for a female to lay fertile eggs rather than infertile eggs, and, as she was already laying eggs, safer for them to be fertile. Has anyone here ever heard such a thing before? :dontknow: I haven't read all the breeding posts, but have never seen anything about this in all my travels on the web! :?

 

[Eventide]

And it's even easier for a female to lay NO eggs. >.<

 

[lizardgrrl]

And it's even easier for a female to lay NO eggs. >.<

Only if they are surgically sterilized, and I don't think that's an easy operation. Egg laying has nothing to do with a dragon being bred. They will produce eggs, although a female that has not been bred can ONLY produce infertile eggs. It is only when they are bred that they produce fertile eggs.