And I am, for my beardies of course! I'm rather new to the beardie world but I have been around reptiles/amphibians since I was 5. (Raising iguanas is about as hands on as you'll ever get. They literally are like having a dog in the house, except bigger and a lot more needy. :lol: )
I began my search looking for ONE and before I got my box yesterday I some how ended up with FIVE! :shock: It came as a shock to me because going through most breeders inventory will yield a lot of either the same type or the same style dragons regardless of however many parings and then good luck getting anything collector/holdback quality at a decent price or even in stock. I'm a reasonable man and set the budget cap at $300 knowing I'd be building a brand new 4'X2'X2' viv as well as buying a bunch of supplies to factor it all in. I saw plenty of nice babies, but none popped out as "the one". Through some sort of devine intervention after searching fauna I wound up on the Facebook page for DiamondDenReptiles. It just so happened to be on a Sunday (a week + ago) and they were having one of their auctions. I signed up and waited and made my first bid on a Citrus Italian leather poss. het Trans, het hypo that was from Phantoms Lavender line citrus trans silk and a citrus double het italian leather from Dachiu.
He'll be a deep yellow with orange similar to his father bellow (earlier pic of him as a Sub-adult and in shed, he later became quite more yellow)
With a last minute vote I able to secure him for a RIDICULOUS price. at this point I was hooked nd WELL under budget.
Next up was an Orange/red/citrus Hypo 100% het trans boy with absolutely amazing coloring. (Saturated red trans het hypo *phantom dragons X Orange Citrus Hypo het trans *Bloodbank dragons*) He was a hot ticket item and I fought to the very end, ebay style with a bid that had to be judged by the time stamp to varify. All mine!
Not only did I score 2 little guys but I was even under budget!
Both were set to be possibly shipped out the next day (monday) so I began working on a stackable double viv setup and then I got a message back from Jammie of DDR that temps in Detroit were a bit low and she'd like to wait till Weds. Unfortunately due to my job its difficult to get time off and I had already asked for a Tuesday (didn't say which fortunately) so they would stay there another week.
A blessing and a curse?
During this time period I got a chance to do some more research and start planning what I personally wanted to do if ever I began breeding and I got to looking through other various breeders and wound up right back at DDR checking this time looking for an awesome female. They had a GORGEOUS silkie baby on display named "Ultra Violet"
As gorgeous as she was I knew the impracticality of breeding a silkie female and at that time she was definitely not available FS so lucky me she had a twin but even better in a Trans leather het Hypo version.
Naturally you'd think I had found the golden ticket and I was done right? Wrong. Some how DDR had enough inventory that some how I managed to find darn near everything I wanted in so many different variations that the sky was the limit. DDR is known for their silkies and considering they are a smaller private breeder they probably have one of if not the largest selection of silkies available. They are so rare and I love a challenge but then for anyone who has ever priced out a silkie you quickly learn why few people still have them lol. At the same time I expressed interest in their pink/orange line and on a whim and somewhat on accident Jammie sent me a pic of one of their males and it was a wrap. "Put him in the box, he's mine." I got word he was going through shed and she'd be taking pics within the next couple days and then I was floored.
All done!
Sike.
Both of the above were scheduled to be in the upcoming auction but there was no way I'd risk it and bought them up front. However what this meant is that with my babies not shipping till Monday that I'd have to sit through another auction and try to convince myself I "had enough." I had already begun building the modified stackable vivs that went from 4X2X2 to 4X2X1.5 to avoid the structure being 8ft tall. (Even though I'm 6'3" I found that highly impractical.) I got wind of what Jammie had up her sleeve since I basically purchased 2 top pics right before auction time and she said the magic word.
"SILKS!"
Yes, they auctioned off not one but TWO silks that night and I'd be damned if I didn't get one. There were a pair of adults/sub adults, a brother to my Hypo boy a gorgeous pink female silkie an EXTREME orange/red trans leather that replaced the One I nabbed and star of the show a Citrus Trans silk boy fathered by the same silkie posted in the beginning. Naturally I'm looking at the pocket book damage knowing the money spent including the suplies, the vivs etc etc has increased far into 4 digits, not really a big deal but I still didn't want to get too carried away (as I do with everything.. can't just do anything basic. It's the Engineer in me. :roll: ) JAmmie mentioned I would be able to trade back my first citrus boy for full credit to go after one of the silks and if I didn't win I'd be able to keep my original one. "ORLY??!" I said and it was off to the races. The Prowbowl sucked so I was able to concentrate.
SCORE! :headbang:
4 beardies in a weeks time. All of them are EXTREME opposites of eachother, all from the same breeder. Awesome. Now what wasn't awesome is that I had grown attached to my first citrus boy, he was cute as a button and even the wife loved em. I mentioned it as a whim to Jammie and she absolutely hooked it up and needless to say 5>4 :laughhard:
They arrived yesterday and I am working on editing my unboxing video as well as loading up some pics I took. I'll be updating this thread regularly with progress on all 5 of these gorgeous guys.
Again, HUGE thanks to DiamondDenReptiles Corky and especially Jammie who helped make this a smooth transaction and offering high quality beardies at affordable prices as well as alternate means such as auctions. All of these guys were bought and naturally the shipping fees were negated for all the additional beardies I purchased, this is an important point considering their auction pricing INCLUDES SHIPPING! :notworthy: So the more you buy, the better the price gets literally wear as most other breeders ADD shipping to all of their prices meaning when they don't charge you for the extra shipping you aren't saving sh*t from the upfront pricing perspective. Yet with DDR the savings are obvious. $300shipped at DDR is not the same as $300+ shipping somewhere else meaning that Buying 3 from DDR would cost you $820ish yet the other place would still cost you $940. HUGE difference.
More to come! Thanks for your time guys!
I began my search looking for ONE and before I got my box yesterday I some how ended up with FIVE! :shock: It came as a shock to me because going through most breeders inventory will yield a lot of either the same type or the same style dragons regardless of however many parings and then good luck getting anything collector/holdback quality at a decent price or even in stock. I'm a reasonable man and set the budget cap at $300 knowing I'd be building a brand new 4'X2'X2' viv as well as buying a bunch of supplies to factor it all in. I saw plenty of nice babies, but none popped out as "the one". Through some sort of devine intervention after searching fauna I wound up on the Facebook page for DiamondDenReptiles. It just so happened to be on a Sunday (a week + ago) and they were having one of their auctions. I signed up and waited and made my first bid on a Citrus Italian leather poss. het Trans, het hypo that was from Phantoms Lavender line citrus trans silk and a citrus double het italian leather from Dachiu.
He'll be a deep yellow with orange similar to his father bellow (earlier pic of him as a Sub-adult and in shed, he later became quite more yellow)
With a last minute vote I able to secure him for a RIDICULOUS price. at this point I was hooked nd WELL under budget.
Next up was an Orange/red/citrus Hypo 100% het trans boy with absolutely amazing coloring. (Saturated red trans het hypo *phantom dragons X Orange Citrus Hypo het trans *Bloodbank dragons*) He was a hot ticket item and I fought to the very end, ebay style with a bid that had to be judged by the time stamp to varify. All mine!
Not only did I score 2 little guys but I was even under budget!
Both were set to be possibly shipped out the next day (monday) so I began working on a stackable double viv setup and then I got a message back from Jammie of DDR that temps in Detroit were a bit low and she'd like to wait till Weds. Unfortunately due to my job its difficult to get time off and I had already asked for a Tuesday (didn't say which fortunately) so they would stay there another week.A blessing and a curse?
During this time period I got a chance to do some more research and start planning what I personally wanted to do if ever I began breeding and I got to looking through other various breeders and wound up right back at DDR checking this time looking for an awesome female. They had a GORGEOUS silkie baby on display named "Ultra Violet"
As gorgeous as she was I knew the impracticality of breeding a silkie female and at that time she was definitely not available FS so lucky me she had a twin but even better in a Trans leather het Hypo version.
Naturally you'd think I had found the golden ticket and I was done right? Wrong. Some how DDR had enough inventory that some how I managed to find darn near everything I wanted in so many different variations that the sky was the limit. DDR is known for their silkies and considering they are a smaller private breeder they probably have one of if not the largest selection of silkies available. They are so rare and I love a challenge but then for anyone who has ever priced out a silkie you quickly learn why few people still have them lol. At the same time I expressed interest in their pink/orange line and on a whim and somewhat on accident Jammie sent me a pic of one of their males and it was a wrap. "Put him in the box, he's mine." I got word he was going through shed and she'd be taking pics within the next couple days and then I was floored.
All done!
Sike.
Both of the above were scheduled to be in the upcoming auction but there was no way I'd risk it and bought them up front. However what this meant is that with my babies not shipping till Monday that I'd have to sit through another auction and try to convince myself I "had enough." I had already begun building the modified stackable vivs that went from 4X2X2 to 4X2X1.5 to avoid the structure being 8ft tall. (Even though I'm 6'3" I found that highly impractical.) I got wind of what Jammie had up her sleeve since I basically purchased 2 top pics right before auction time and she said the magic word.
"SILKS!"
Yes, they auctioned off not one but TWO silks that night and I'd be damned if I didn't get one. There were a pair of adults/sub adults, a brother to my Hypo boy a gorgeous pink female silkie an EXTREME orange/red trans leather that replaced the One I nabbed and star of the show a Citrus Trans silk boy fathered by the same silkie posted in the beginning. Naturally I'm looking at the pocket book damage knowing the money spent including the suplies, the vivs etc etc has increased far into 4 digits, not really a big deal but I still didn't want to get too carried away (as I do with everything.. can't just do anything basic. It's the Engineer in me. :roll: ) JAmmie mentioned I would be able to trade back my first citrus boy for full credit to go after one of the silks and if I didn't win I'd be able to keep my original one. "ORLY??!" I said and it was off to the races. The Prowbowl sucked so I was able to concentrate.
SCORE! :headbang:
4 beardies in a weeks time. All of them are EXTREME opposites of eachother, all from the same breeder. Awesome. Now what wasn't awesome is that I had grown attached to my first citrus boy, he was cute as a button and even the wife loved em. I mentioned it as a whim to Jammie and she absolutely hooked it up and needless to say 5>4 :laughhard:
They arrived yesterday and I am working on editing my unboxing video as well as loading up some pics I took. I'll be updating this thread regularly with progress on all 5 of these gorgeous guys.
Again, HUGE thanks to DiamondDenReptiles Corky and especially Jammie who helped make this a smooth transaction and offering high quality beardies at affordable prices as well as alternate means such as auctions. All of these guys were bought and naturally the shipping fees were negated for all the additional beardies I purchased, this is an important point considering their auction pricing INCLUDES SHIPPING! :notworthy: So the more you buy, the better the price gets literally wear as most other breeders ADD shipping to all of their prices meaning when they don't charge you for the extra shipping you aren't saving sh*t from the upfront pricing perspective. Yet with DDR the savings are obvious. $300shipped at DDR is not the same as $300+ shipping somewhere else meaning that Buying 3 from DDR would cost you $820ish yet the other place would still cost you $940. HUGE difference.
More to come! Thanks for your time guys!
