Breeding my beardie?

[Saddlepatch]

I'm interested in breeding my male bearded dragon. He's a 4-year-old 16" sandfire morph. He's a bit petite, probably because he was quite sick when I received him as an 11" juvie; he had some improper caring, but he healed quickly and I take him to the vet regularly. His illness had nothing to do with genetics; it had to do with parasites and impaction from his last home.

But anyway, I don't really know that much about cooperating with another beardie owner with breeding. I've never had any experience with breeding reptiles, so I would expect the owner of the female to incubate the eggs and all that, but how do people normally do the business? Do they split the babies 50/50, or what? I would only be interested in keeping at least one of the babies (so my motive isn't money lol).

The main reasons that I'd want to breed him is because: 1. He's a really beautiful specimen (I know all pet owners must say that, but he really does have a very youthful and symmetrical head structure and his colors are beautiful - I can provides pictures and videos to anyone interested), and 2. I simply want to keep one of his offspring, so that after he passes on I won't be too distraught (he was my first lizard, so he has a special place in my heart), because I'll have his baby.

My main concern, however, is criticism due to unknown genetics: I bought him from an obscure pet owner from Florida; I don't know who his breeder was, and I've lost contact with his old owner. I'm afraid no one will want to breed their beardie with mine due to that reason...

What do you all think? Will it be possible to breed him? And how would I go about finding a fellow beardie owner who would be willing to mate their female with him? I regularly go to a monthly local reptile expo, but the beardie breeders there usually only breed normal morphs, and I would honestly prefer a female who's a color morph of some sort.

I'd appreciate any advice!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Most actual breeders are monitoring bloodlines. So the chances of a true breeder being interested are slim.
That being said there are ALOT of people trying to make a fast buck or just want to breed because they think its cute.
These are more than likely the people who would be interested.
With that in mind its up to you to be just as responsible as the females owner to make sure the other owner can do what they say they can.
1 breeding can produce 10 to 100 eggs over 4 to 5 months time.

 

[Saddlepatch]

Okay, thanks very much. I'm not the kind of person who does anything on a whim, nor am I an irresponsible pet owner. If he is unsuitable for breeding, then I won't breed him.

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

Since his genetics are unknown, I wouldn't risk breeding him. Anyone who breeds bearded dragons seriously will be interested in good, proven genetics as well as visual characteristics.

I'm sure that if you found someone with a female who would like to breed with your male, they wouldn't split anything 50/50 with you since the male only needs to donate sperm, and that's it. It's the female who is in danger throughout the gestation period, then laying, and if the other owner also incubates the eggs, they have put in much more work than you and should be entitled to much more of the payoff.

4 years old is a bit old, also. A good stud should be about 18 months- 3 years old or so, possibly older. I'd be worried about the clutch size he could produce.

Are you sure he's a sandfire morph? "Sandfire" is sort of like a trademark and can only be applied if the dragon came from a certain genetic line. Colors are not enough of a marker to tell what morph a dragon comes from.

 

[Saddlepatch]

That's what I thought, though I wouldn't have wanted 50% of the clutch anyway; I'm not in it for the money.

He was sold to me as a sandfire morph...

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

If it was a reputable breeder who sold the dragon to you, then he probably is a sandfire morph. However, a lot of people who have a colorful dragon with unknown genetics will assign a name to it because they don't know morphs aren't just colors.