They will soon be on adoption

[meow_mix450]

Bearded dragons and leopard geckos i find are becomming cheaper and cheaper. There easy to breed so people are just selling them cheaper and cheaper. Breeders that work hard on breeding the best seems to be losing money cause of others selling them for 20 bucks. I could be wrong but its a guess. I jsut think the prices should be risen.

Meow

[ICULIZARD]

The problem is that yes, competition is crazy right now and prices of dragons has gone down. The really bad part for the reptile hobby is that the dragons cost so much to feed and with prices being that low, breeders are going to cut-costs, not produce as many of the spectacular colour morphs (or price them the same as Normals) and also realize that it isn't profitable anymore. Then the majority stop breeding and next thing you know......you can't find Good quality dragons from diverse bloodlines to purchase anymore. It kills the hobby. This is very simplistic, but you get what I'm saying.

ICULIZARD

[672]

The main thing with beardies is that they may produce 50 offspring in one year, and just that can be tough to sell. If you're a big breeder, you might be getting 1000 baby dragons a year if you have 10.20 dragons. That's tough, because not everyone can feed that many dragons if you don't sell them RIGHT away. Anyways, it's the old supply and demand, and this issue has been discused many times over, try a search.

[Capital Dragons]

Well I truly think that you get what you pay for.... 20$ for a bearded dragon, even at whole sale priceing is not right. Some of my breeders were over 500$ U.S. for a 6-8in sexed breeder hold back baby. Well worth it for top quality hold back stock. Now there is no way I'm going to sell babies from that dragon for 50,75 or 100$.

Baby dragons are little pigs! It truly costs way to much to sell babies for 15-20$. I whole sale normal dragon lots at 40$ea. Thats as low as I'll go. But then again I never sell dragons at 3-4 week old as so many of the 20$ breeders do. I want my babies to live!

I paint car's for a living. You can get a paint job for 250$ at any "back yard" paint shop but it will look like junk! Or you can spend 1000$ and up and get a beautiful, long lasting paint job that is an envestment.....You get what you pay for!

[beanersmysav]

Agree with capital dragons, all the dragons I've seen for less than 30.00 to me dont look worth it their not all that healthy looking, no color morphs, and honestly in most of the cases I've seen personally if you pay that price you're getting a dragon without a foot or with a large piece of tail missing, and in my oppinion you can't be sure of what the real reason is unless you know the breeder, and are sure he's being total straight up with you.

But I definatly don't think anything that's circulating right now for 3-500.00 or better is going to drop in price drastically anytimes soon.

However I am already seeing alot of beardies go up for adoption around this area, and alot are being given to the pet stores in bad shape already and aren't provided with any better care and they are still asking 150+ for them.

[meow_mix450]

thats also true....the quaity of the little guys, but i think other people are bringing the good breeders down. When i got my beardie last year it was 40 bucks nothing lower, and now the lowwest ive seen is 15 bucks per dragon, its sad really.

Meow

[drewlowe]

Last year when i went to the st. louis herp society meet and greet there was me and another lady selling "normal" beardies. Mine were right around 8 weeks old and had some nice "splashes" of orange near the ears and going down the back, the other persons had some that were no older than 3-4 weeks old and very dull. We both had our males with us, which not to be mean or put down the other person, but if you put our 2 adults next to each other you could see the "better" quality dragon.

Anyway... I had several people complain to me that mine were too high priced, and the other persons were cheaper. I was selling mine at 50 she was selling hers for 20. I didn't know exactly what to say with out being negitive towards the other person( that's not the kind of person i am), and i certantly was not going to drop my price on such beautiful well started dragons. So i just told people they could compare and then decied for themselves on why mine were more expensive.

You will find situations like this all the time, and all you can do is deal with it. You have to make the decision if your going to stand your ground and keep the price or drop the price and go along with the rest. Me personaly i'm not dropping the price for quality animals, that i've spent my time and money on. I think if the person want's a cheaper dragon then let them, you get what you pay for....

Jamie

[bidden]

For starters, the Canadian reptile market is tiny in comparison to the US(for obvious reasons). So everyone thinks that they can make a buck without researching the time, effort and cost that goes into breeding any reptile. So these uneducated people go and by a male and female thinking it's gonna bring a quick buck... first mistake....

Secondly we're shooting ourself in the foot when selling reptiles. Look at the number of "breeding pairs" in the classified section. For the newbee reptile owner it's very appealing to buy a breeding pair off the net when you know nothing about care. First thing that comes to mind when I see a pair in the classifieds is "why are they selling them?" For the most part it's because the demand is not there, they've realized this and hope some poor sucker is going to make the same mistake.

It sucks for people like Tim(capital dragons) Meghan(ICULIZARD) or Sam(ReptileKings) who are trying to make an honest buck by selling top quality reptiles. I personally will not buy a reptile from an unknown, and I hope a lot of others will wise up and realize that too.

The only way IMHO to stop this is education. Keep this fourm and others alive with chat and education for the newcommers. Let people know the risks of breeding, let them know the cons of buying a male/female pair and that it's not for everyone. And let them know there is no money in reptiles in Canada(unless your going full on like above mentioned). Hopefully they will then wise up to what is going on. Hopefully they will understand that you can get as much love from 2 females than a male/female.

Like any epidemic(sp?) it will only get worse before it gets better, hopefully this is the worse right now so the better will come soon. Unofortuanatly there's going to be a lot of adopt a beardie/leopard/crested for the next couple years, just going to have to accept that. but eventually the market is going to be so saturated, it will fall. Then hopefully there will only be the true breeders still around at the end to give us the high quality reptiles we deserve.

[Darren179]

I agree. However I have no problem with people trying to breed but when people bring day old leopard geckos into our pet store it makes me sick if your going to breed for the love of the animals thats fine. but really to make 30 bucks every couple of weeks... just ruines the market for everyone I mean if you want to do it and sell cheap animals why not get into something NEW or something that not alot of people are breeding so they can become commonley available to the average buyer like for instance satanic leaf-tails and some types of uromastyxs now these arent to hard to get but they are nowhere nearly bred as much as dragons and leos. So I think as long as everyone brings a little diversity to the table it can only help. But when everyones doing the same it hurts everyone even the buyers they loose selection and bloodlines

[chryseis]

hey everyone,
You've all probably seen my post on the classified ad. I do currently sell my baby beardies for $20 each. This is my 3rd year breeding them. I originally wasn't planning on breeding them this year, but my younger cousins moved in with me and my parents thought it would good if my cousins could help in raising them (teach them responsibility). They have been great, they help feed, clean and handle the dragons.
To this date, I have sold many babies to families who's child wanted a lizard. I got them to buy all the supplies and taught them everything they need to know about caring for their bearded dragon. I have had nothing but good news about how their child is acting very responsible.
I have many people who have bought dragons off me, and many who are in the process of buying them off me and I assure you that they are healthy well-started babies.
My only problem now is how meowmix is ranting about how the bearded dragon prices are soo low.. In fact, he was the FIRST person to reply to my classified post. He actually asked me to lower them to $15 dollars each. I'm not trying to start an argument here. I'm just here to state that people shouldn't rant about low prices when they ask for even lower prices.
This will be my final year breeding bearded dragons. I'm now entering my third year in University and have to focus more on school.
If anyone replies to this message, unfortunately, I won't be able to reply as I am leaving town soon.
Anyways, I think I wrote too much.

Cheers,
Steve

[meow_mix450]

opps double post

Meow

[meow_mix450]

yes i did PM Steve about his dragons, why??? cause hes going into university and he needs to get rid of them, so why not help this guy? At first i didnt know that you have been breeding for a few years and i didnt know how you were selling them. But if theres a guy selling them for 20 bucks each and they didnt have a good reason i wouldnt havnt PM this guy. But in your case you did. Yes i didnt ask you to lower it to 15 each maybe i could buy a bunch? I have tanks and everything ready. But later next year i do plan on getting another bearded dragon and will be buying from a top breeder i thought i should help you out cause of your situation. This rant wasnt based on you. If you were to look at the ads right now and count how many people selling leos, beardies,and veildeds for 20 bucks youll find a lot. I just think that everyone should just raise the price of these guys, i dont want to see them going up for adoption in a few years. So if you think it was wrong to PM you about the dragons trying to get rid of 1 or 2 off your hands is not helping you then sorry. all i wanted to do was help. Also i found out you had an advantage working at a pet store, so you have found people that are commited to these guys. I probly brought this post on my self so im probly gonna expect some people to poke at me.

Now this is my first year breeding, not bearded dragons but panther chameleons. I have already planned on how to sell them and at what cost. Im not going to sell them lower then 100,even if no one buys them someone will later on. If i did it will also bring down the top breeders, which i dont want to happen. Also i will be giving each person an envelop with a care sheet and infomation about the parents bloodline.

Steve i want to wish you luck going to university and maybe when you get back to the store ill see ya

Meow

[chryseis]

hey Meow,
just came on to check if there were any reactions to my post.
Thank God you acted maturely, I was really not looking forward to a war =p
Well thanks for everything. I wish you all the luck with your chameleons and your beardies in the future.
Take care,
Steve

[meow_mix450]

Thanks, hey one of my friends bought a beardie from you, they went to the pjs at scarborough and meet you there, but they wanted me to tell you there beardie is doing great and is growing. Thought i would let u know

Meow