Sons wanting a Bearded Dragon, thoughts?

[Rankins]

I guess I was a weird kid because my folks never helped with any of my reptiles. They tolerated them because I was constantly at the library doing research. Even to this day (I'm 48 y/o) my folks really don't know much about what I do. However they are always happy when they see baby pictures. Both my brother and I are reptile breeders. He mainly does chameleons and I do venomous.
If the child has enough interest and is responsible it is totally possibly for them to care for a reptile and learn on their own with minimal assistance. However, money is the usual deterrence...

 

[nathb1]

If you buy used equipment you can get it for fairly cheap. Obviously sterilization of all the supplies would be needed. But you can even find free dragons with complete set-ups...lots of people give them away when they lose interest in thier reptiles. An early exposure to keeping reptile pets usually turns into a lifelong interest. It is educational and can be profitable if breeding is an interest. My goal is to hatch nearly 100 reptiles in the next year. Many of them will sell for almost $1000 each. A hobby can quickly turn into a career.

I have a son who is 13 years and got a snake two years ago . I have another son who is 17 who got a snake at the same time, he lost interest but the thirteen year old took his snake and now has two.
He is fascinated by reptiles and even watched videos made by Brian Barcyk>. He even talks about breeding snake and such. I think he will be quite the reptile dude when he gets older .!

 

[Rankins]

Too bad the older son lost intrest, but it happens. Glad the younger one is still interested. The world becomes huge the more exposure you have with them. It usually leads to interest in breeding them. If breeding a specialty animal there is profit. There are a lot of people out there with varied interests in species. Its really educational...
My interest lead to going to college to be a veterinarian. I couldn't afford it so transfered my credits to become a nurse.
Still wish I could have been a vet.....

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

Taterbug brings up a really good point.

As a kid I was completely dependent on my mom specifically to help me take care of anoles (small lizards) I insisted on having as a kid (maybe between ages 8-12?)
Looking back now, we did all the wrong things. Heated rock, freeze dried crickets, etc. We went through a new lizard each month because we didn't know what we were doing. The internet didn't exist back then like it does now (I'm turning 30 this year for reference) so our only education for keeping them was through the pet store and books.

We did what we thought was research, but without my own form of money, my mom had to be the one buying the food etc, and she honestly had no real interest in keeping them.

If you do plan to get a dragon for your son, please make sure your heart is in it, too, as I can only imagine you will be the main source financially for keeping this little guy in shape.

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Not good - a lizard a week.

As a child I did better than that .
Had a long neck freshwater tortle (Chelodina longicollis) = wild caught , kept for about 4 years until it disappeared from the back yard (dad was suspected).
Had a large green tree frog = he adopted me , was a friendly frog who started coming into the bathroom at night and I made a pet of him, he was with us for about 4 years then disappeared.
Had wild caught delicate brown garden skinks and striped skinks http://www.ozanimals.com/Reptile/Robust-striped-skink/Ctenotus/robustus.html , great medium sized skinks who tamed up nicely and loved the grasshoppers, butterflies, moths and earthworms I caught for it. Had a colony for a couple of years.

I'm by no means defending my younger self, and saying a lizard a week is an exaggeration. I was young, I have no idea how many it was.
My point being was that I had to rely on someone to help provide for these lizards that had no attachment to them