Is breeding profitable.?

[SkittlesK]

Hey, I wanna start breeding bearded dragons because soon I might not have a source of income.
I can't take the medicines I'm on forever so I want to start my operation so I can breed some quality morphs.

I have a few business ideas but I'm not 100% sure what type of morph I should get for this idea.

I'm a little concerned about this country lately.
Cops don't do anything anymore.
And it's all medical-related or technical advances.

thanks.
Because soon the Medical Directors will leave me alone. & I won't have money.
That's America for you.

Profitability...?

 

[Claudiusx]

To directly answer your question, it depends.

Can it be? Yes. Will it be? Likely no, and not for a long time until you get yourself established and can consistently produce the popular morphs with proper health.

The amount of money it takes to feed babies from just 1 breeding pair of dragons is insane. Now scale that up to 2 or 3 dozen breeding pairs and you will soon realize that just owning the amount of space needed to house that many dragons is expensive.

To do it for a hobby is one thing, to do it as a business model is completely different.

My advice would be to find a better business plan, and save the breeding for something you do as a hobby if it interests you.

-Brandon

 

[Rocky2022]

I jumped in here because there are people around the internet that spoke about how we have too many beardies and people arent taking care of them. They are breeding them for greed. I just wanted to add my two cents here because like @Claudiusx said, it's expensive and I am sure there has to be extra care. I know my second dragon ....omg, I am not a breeder but he eats NON STOP. I want to give him 1 bug at a time. I am sure for healthy, happy beardies you would still need to give them the care and attention they deserve as well so if you are serious about it, best of luck but please think twice...maybe 3 times. There are so many ways to make money these days (legally- let me add so you may want to continue to research some ideas and see what's the best fit for you. Good luck~

 

[SkittlesK]

Yeah.
Retirement seems really hard to become a part of and it seems like a big deal.

I have a few business models but they would take years to become 'beginner' to 'professional'.
These people seem like they're struggling to make ends meet and a lot of them work until they die.
It's not what it used to be.

I see a lot of people are promised some form of retirement yet never make the full amount.

Sodas are on tap at restaurants as well as Liquor at bars.
People are getting dumb.
Politics rule the world.

It is easy nowadays to make money
Some of it is illegal because of Silicon Valley
Or people investing in stocks.

 

[Rocky2022]

@xp29 you are full of ideas. Can you assist here?

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

Hey, I wanna start breeding bearded dragons because soon I might not have a source of income.
I can't take the medicines I'm on forever so I want to start my operation so I can breed some quality morphs.

I have a few business ideas but I'm not 100% sure what type of morph I should get for this idea.

I'm a little concerned about this country lately.
Cops don't do anything anymore.
And it's all medical-related or technical advances.

thanks.
Because soon the Medical Directors will leave me alone. & I won't have money.
That's America for you.

Profitability...?

As I too live in The US I can completely agree. A lot of people breed them for money and not for what they actually wanna do. It's completely sad how people don't care for them but use them for money. But in the US it really depends. I'm a beardie lover and I have other friends who are beardie lovers with great care. My only advice for breeding is be careful as you can get some babies that you didnt want (Not like you didn't want them, just not what you were looking for)
. Good luck!

 

[xp29]

@xp29 you are full of ideas. Can you assist here?

I'm a little late to this thread, but i agree with Rocky2022 and Claudiusx, trying to breed as a source of income is a major undertaking. I'm not sure one person could cover all the work involved. I have 5 beardies now and that is a TON of work. 3 are female at an average of just 2 clutches of 25 eggs that 150 babies per year, and I'm very likely being conservative. I'm very much against housing clutches of babies together because of nips. That means upto 75ish nursery tanks if all 3 clutch at once. Probably 1000 crickets per week (again likely conservative) as you can see, even breeding as a hobby is money and time intensive. I didn't even mention the shelving units, lights, decor, vet bills , cleaning supplies, just the cleaning itself. I'm going to breed because i love beardies but only as a hobby so the 5 i have allows me to test the water. I based my assessment off of my 5, as a business it would be like Claudiusx said, dozens of breeding pairs. At 2 dozen pairs, thats 21 times more of everything i mentioned. It would take all those pairs to avoid line/inbreeding (which I'm personally against) I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, but to be a business model you would also need staff which is a whole other can of worms. It would be a HUGE undertaking and investment.

 

[SkittlesK]

I'm a little late to this thread, but i agree with Rocky2022 and Claudiusx, trying to breed as a source of income is a major undertaking. I'm not sure one person could cover all the work involved. I have 5 beardies now and that is a TON of work. 3 are female at an average of just 2 clutches of 25 eggs that 150 babies per year, and I'm very likely being conservative. I'm very much against housing clutches of babies together because of nips. That means upto 75ish nursery tanks if all 3 clutch at once. Probably 1000 crickets per week (again likely conservative) as you can see, even breeding as a hobby is money and time intensive. I didn't even mention the shelving units, lights, decor, vet bills , cleaning supplies, just the cleaning itself. I'm going to breed because i love beardies but only as a hobby so the 5 i have allows me to test the water. I based my assessment off of my 5, as a business it would be like Claudiusx said, dozens of breeding pairs. At 2 dozen pairs, thats 21 times more of everything i mentioned. It would take all those pairs to avoid line/inbreeding (which I'm personally against) I'm not trying to discourage you in any way, but to be a business model you would also need staff which is a whole other can of worms. It would be a HUGE undertaking and investment.

That was another idea I had.
I would need a lot of room for that.

If I could get into technical architecture, for the Metaverse; that's where the money is at nowadays.

I thought about it and I could put together a web 3.0 website & sell Bearded Dragon stuff from it. These platforms aren't very big right now.
I could have someone make NFTs & sell them with the morph of the Dragon. So you'd get a NFT Asset(Proof of ownership) & a bearded dragon shipped.

This is just an idea I have.

 

[Axil]

That was another idea I had.
I would need a lot of room for that.

If I could get into technical architecture, for the Metaverse; that's where the money is at nowadays.

I thought about it and I could put together a web 3.0 website & sell Bearded Dragon stuff from it. These platforms aren't very big right now.
I could have someone make NFTs & sell them with the morph of the Dragon. So you'd get a NFT Asset(Proof of ownership) & a bearded dragon shipped.

This is just an idea I have.

While I've never attempted to breed Bearded Dragons I have some experience doing so with Rabbits and Fish as a hobby.

Breeding animals is an extremely challenging and exhausting job and that's before you even get to a place where you're attempting to actually make any of your money back by finding a way to sell what you've bred.

I would suggest seeing if you could work/volunteer with another breeder or even pet shop in your area. That will at least give you some idea of the market and the scope of the undertaking.

In my (limited) experience it's nearly impossible to make any money breeding pets unless you're willing to cut your costs in ways that I don't find to be ethical.

 

[Claudiusx]

You're better off breeding dubia roaches and selling to breeders. You'll likely make more money doing that and it's easier to scale up and down.

-Brandon

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

While I've never attempted to breed Bearded Dragons I have some experience doing so with Rabbits and Fish as a hobby.

Breeding animals is an extremely challenging and exhausting job and that's before you even get to a place where you're attempting to actually make any of your money back by finding a way to sell what you've bred.

I would suggest seeing if you could work/volunteer with another breeder or even pet shop in your area. That will at least give you some idea of the market and the scope of the undertaking.

In my (limited) experience it's nearly impossible to make any money breeding pets unless you're willing to cut your costs in ways that I don't find to be ethical.

My dad breeds fish and reptiles for a living which I agree it is very hard especially when you sell them. You can also inbreed and then those don't sell much. Even if it's fun, it'll take a lot of time and space for those things.

 

[SkittlesK]

My dad breeds fish and reptiles for a living which I agree it is very hard especially when you sell them. You can also inbreed and then those don't sell much. Even if it's fun, it'll take a lot of time and space for those things.

I thought inbreeding was dangerous.?

 

[Hazel_Basil10]

I thought inbreeding was dangerous.?

It is dangerous. Thats why you have to ask yourself "Is it worth the risk?"

 

[SkittlesK]

I see what your saying.
Technically you don't need to inbreed.

You are stuck with a male & female.
I wouldn't inbreed or do something like that.
I'd do something else

 

[GMbox]

While I've never attempted to breed Bearded Dragons I have some experience doing so with Rabbits and Fish as a hobby.

Breeding animals is an extremely challenging and exhausting job and that's before you even get to a place where you're attempting to actually make any of your money back by finding a way to sell what you've bred.

I would suggest seeing if you could work/volunteer with another breeder or even pet shop in your area. That will at least give you some idea of the market and the scope of the undertaking.

In my (limited) experience it's nearly impossible to make any money breeding pets unless you're willing to cut your costs in ways that I don't find to be ethical.

Breeding in 2024 is really hard and it cost a lot of money!