Thinking of breeding??

[greathouseFarm]

As a breeder sometimes I feel like I'm adding to the problem. By selling babies to people that I know want to start breeding. I've started to ask a lot of questions to people that are not my usual family buying ONE beardie for their kid customer. As soon as someone tells me they want a male and a female I start fielding them with questions to figure out what their intentions are. If I they are "future breeders" I tell them that they need to spend the next year and half while the babies are growing and keep track of all their spending - feeds, supplements, electric bill! commonly overlooked, and then multiply it times 60! at least. And also their time. I have the good fortune of being able to work from home and have enough time to dedicate to the beardies. But even with that I have to do things like have my son do his homework in the beardie room while I am cleaning or whatever. I share this with people and sometimes they decide not to buy two right there on the spot and sometimes they say they will take it into consideration.
At times I have even refused to sell to people because I can tell they don't care & I don't want them taking my bloodlines and dragging them the mud. There are many people out there who think that we are just saying all this stuff because were sitting over here trying to keep people from infringing on our business... bwaaa hahahahha the math doesn't lie... $3-$5 a week to raise one baby. We do it for love of the species!

 

[herpgirl2510]

The volunteering isnt a bad idea Annie, if your ever on the east coast I have cages to clean out...lol. If your going to set up right even if its 1 time it will probably cost more than you make. Im a small producer of poopers. I hatched out roughly 250 dragons last year (i know doesnt seem like much) My operating costs where in the ball park of 15 thousand dollars. Half of that being food. I also produce about 1/3 of my own food as well. The rest being show fees, licenses, website, credit cards, business cards, and supplies, bulbs twice a year, and about 40 other things I cant remember this early in the morning.

It cost $15,000 to breed 250 dragons that is crazy how would you even make any money that way? For food what about setting up colonies I have several roach colonies and thousands of crickets that would be a way to save.

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

They don't do it to make money, not if they do it right. Its for the love of the animals and hobby.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Dont get me wrong. Im trying to make money, and with 15000 in expenses that year I still did. It just isnt the windfall that everyone thinks its going to be.
I breed my own dubias as well as supers to offset the costs, but the babies are still fed crickets so they can transition to new homes better. The average person is ok with an animal that eats crickets. Not so much with roaches...lol

 

[herpgirl2510]

They don't do it to make money, not if they do it right. Its for the love of the animals and hobby.

I understand love but you still need to make a little profit at least to offset your expenses. I have no doubt you do not make alot of money especially when you run a smaller operation which produces healthy clean blood lines. It's like with dog breeders they do it to strenghthen the breed and because they love the animal they are not getting rich from it but theyare also getting some money in return. I have yet to meet a rich dog breeder. To me it is strange that people think they get make a quick profit and make a decent living off of it. I would suspect though if you were breeding some of these ridiculously high priced morphs that are all the rage right now you could do OK.
Tom.. I never thought of the issue with roaches. I should have since I nevertell people I reed them. Although I am sure my 8 year old tells eeryone at school. I loathe crickets the only reptile I have that I feed them too is my sons fat tailed gecko she won't eat anything else. :twisted:. I hope my comment did not make me sound rude sometimes things come across twisted on the web. To all you breeders who are in it to keep the bloodlines clean and for the love of the beardies I commend you.

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

I think I meant more that they do not get rich off of it LOL, they can turn a profit if they have good lines, colors and personalities in the dragons they are working with,but I doubt you could retire on it. Which is what I really meant and you did not sound rude just curious, thought I think I came off as short and moody :lol: Which I am!

 

[herpgirl2510]

LOl. I am also moody at times I live with low level irritation most days .

 

[midmichicer]

I think someone who wants to make a lot of money has to commit almost all of their time to it. The only breeder I can think of is Josh at Phantom. People who just set aside a room in their house to breed maybe 10 will never be able to make a living off it. They have to have babies available at all times and good blood lines that people want. Even Bloodbank doesn't offer everything. If you email Josh and ask him a certain morph, he has it. Chris Allen still has a full time job and he has a well known morph and great bloodlines. It is not something to go and put your life savings into and expect to get rich, imo.

 

[TeethandClaws]

save the breeding for the experts XD
thats all i can say, as much as id love my sandfire male to mate with my friends female fire and ice, and have cute lil babies.

i know its not worth it, she could get hurt, its expensive and i love my beardie to much to do that

great thread this is i hope it shows others that breeding dragons isnt as simple as it looks.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

I work full time as well.
I just dont have the facility to breed enough dragons in the space I have. I have My own personal quality standards that I just wont compromise. So until I can expand into a facility that will allow me to breed the numbers I need in the way I want to, I will be a small time breeder. For now I am ok with that.

 

[Carnivorouszoo]

That's awesome Tom Good luck with finding a place that suits your needs. I'm sure there is a place out there!

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Just figured I would dust off this thread. Its been a rough year and dragon prices keep dropping. Every show I attend or vend at there are at least 3 new people with tiny tiny babies on their table. When they are selling at 15 to 25 dollars per its just hard to compete, and in most cases I dont. 2012 is going to be a building year.Im going to get probably 2 to 4 new females to better my bloodlines. Then retire a few and replace them. Thinking of getting a diff species all together to add to the table some type of skink I think...lol

 

[MissT]

Tom, I had that exact conversation with the breeder I got my little Travis from. She was telling us that this year, she spotted so many people selling babies for £10. By comparison, I believe the lowest priced baby she had this year was around £90 and that was because it had a bite on it's tail. She refuses to drop her prices though- she said if people aren't prepared to spend the money to buy a healthy baby, how can you expect that they will invest the money needed to keep a dragon healthy. Her attitude is that money may be tight if she doesn't sell many but, at least she knows her dragons are being cared for. And those left from this years breedings will be worth a little more by the start of show season next year!

 

[sweetiepie9]

OK I unlocked it,

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Thanks, I like to dust this off time to time. Been very frustrated lately with the number of "breeders" that are popping up all over.
But thats neither here nor there....lol