Thanks Tom for putting this thread up; I hope people will take notice & not breed their dragons unless they know what's in store for them. We have 6 beardies, 3 males & 3 females, 2 adopted & 4 rescues; I know Sweetie (she who lays infertile eggs almost monthly) and Rubio, our biggest male, would make beautiful babies; it's only from info on this site that I realized we just wouldn't be able to raise the babies; just the cost of feeders would put us in the poorhouse, plus we wouldn't have the time. I work full-time, my husband is home (he's retired) but is disabled, so just taking care of the 6 we have takes up all our time. My husband is well known at the pet shop where we buy our feeders, they are always looking for good breeders to get stock so he asked me one day if we'd be willing to breed. When I tallied up the cost & told him he'd have to feed them 3-5 time/day, then
bathe them all, then he'd have to clean all the tanks, he said never mind. Even if we had the $ and I was home full-time, it would be quite the job. We decided we had enough to do with the 6 we have & that was the end of the breeding subject.
I hope more people realize what is in store when breeding, it's a full-time job & I have alot of admiration for serious breeders who take care of their babies and make sure they are healthy and socialized before selling them. We have 2 babies we rescued from a pet shop, they were badly injured, Issy had 1/2 her tail bitten off & Rubio had fingers and toes missing from hungry tankmates. Again this site was there for me to ask questions and today they are healthy & beautiful, even with parts missing. That really opened up our eyes to what some breeders sell, as they were only about 3-4 wks old when sold to the pet shop, who really didn't know what they were doing.
So thanks for bringing up the subject, hopefully it will open up the eyes of potential breeders to what they will need to do when the eggs are laid.
Deb & my full house of dragons :mrgreen: