breeding

[Shmike]

hey guys ... i have a female beardie... and my friend has a male .. i just want to kno if breeding would be worth while .. and if it would be dangerous for my beardie.. or his.. and if we do decide to breed them how should we do it female at the males house, or male at the females house.. etc... any help would be much appreciated guys

[beanersmysav]

Well if you're breeding to sell I don't really know how worthwhile it would be. Unless you have a really rare morph for the most part it's a dying industry. At the last show I a&m geckos had some beautiful bearded dragons. However 4 hours into the show they hadn't sold a single dragon. Also keep in mind that you could have atleast 30 dragons more than likely more as I believe females retain sperm, from one session. However if you're breeding to expand your bearded dragon collection then it would be worth it because you will have a bit of them on your hands. Just keep in mind they eat like pigs and need tiny crickets. I've had small dragons that could rip through 30-40 crickets in a sitting, and I also like to get them started on veggies early as well.

As far as which tank to put them in I'd say the male into the females as she will probably feel more comfortable, and the male wont have the scent in his cage for long. Make sure the female is of proper age, weight, and has the proper amount of calcium. Also I reccomend getting a book about bearded dragons and reading as many internet articles as possible.

[atw]

I agree with everything beanersmysav said. I would also add that if you are breeding for a profit, you will not be able to do so with a pair of normal beardies. At the reptile shows you always see a ton. In fact, I would describe a lot of beardie breeders as being like puppy mills.

It is really quite sad to see 60 to a 100+ beardies in a big tank with sub adults, adults and babies that are only a few weeks old. As already mentioned, baby beardies can eat a TON of crickets and they need to be small if you don't want to kill the babies. If you are not able to provide enough food for them they will start to eat each other and you will end up with beardies that have nipped tails, missing toes and sometimes even legs. Yuck!

It will take a lot of effort and it will cost you more than you could earn. In fact, I would be surprised if you could give normal baby beardies away...

Adam