Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know where I can get Crested geckos for less than $30 or so? I am thinking about breeding them but it would be a bit expensive to buy three adults.
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Let there be Lizardz
- Scott

i am sure you can find buckskin cresteds for under $30 at shows. However you won't make that much money if you breed buckskins.
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What's wrong with buckskins? I like them. My buckskin has nice flame patterns (or is it tiger? had it called both) who gets a very nice shade of pale yellow I like to consider Palomino yellow or a real bright ivory. Sure the bright reds are nice but I can never figure out why Red is so popular.

Unfortunately if one is to sell crested geckos and want to make money, you sort of have to breed colors/patterns that are desired. To get that desired color/pattern you have to spend a little money to get breeding stock that will produce it often enough to recover costs. Buckskins and other normal patterned/colored geckos may produce the bright colours in offspring that can then be worked with to concentrate the coloration but that means spending several years working with hold backs.

If I remember correctly crested geckos do tend to change color and you can get different patterns and colors from otherwise normal looking parents so you can easily be surprised by what normal geckos can produce.

You know - I think you will be much more satisfied if you save your money and buy some nicer looking animals. Purchase them as babies and grow them up - you will learn a TON of husbandry from them. Plus, you will get exactly what you want - and not be stuck with babies that are so ugly that their mom had to tie a cricket on their head so that the other geckos would play with him . . .
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

dislectics off tha wrold untie!!

Sorry it just kinda cracked me up!

np
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Monte Meyer
Powergeckos
Email

dislectics off tha wrold untie!!

That has got to be the funniest thing I've heard so far this year!!
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Terri
4:8:5 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper

Yes, you can find crested for under 30.00, and I in fact occasionly sell babies for 30-35 which I consider great pets but not breeders. My only problem with that is why would you want to breed them? If someone is selling them for under 30.00 that means one of a couple things.

First it is probably brown/light brown/or off brown and doesnt have good colors which means their babies will most likely be brown and someone else wouldnt want to pay you more than 30.00 for them.

Second it may have health problems and as such someone wants to sell it as quickly as possible to make some money on it before they kill it.

Third it could be a huge breeder that can afford to wholesale crested out at that price, but doesnt have the time to send you pictures for you to pick out what you want. The last not being a bad thing because you can breed them, but you never know the genetics behind them or exactly what you are going to get.

I am by no means an expert on crested but I do fairly well with breeding and selling. Which I am licensed to do by the state of Florida. I have also been told by quite a few people that I do have some awesome babies which is from selective breeding by me and the breeders before me that bred my selective breeders.
Shawn
WWW.StickyFeetExotics.COM
Link

Acually $50 or so isn't too bad. How do you become a breeder? Do you have to have a licence? Just in some states? Can you make a good living?

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0.1 Veiled Chameleon
0.1.1 Green Anoles 4 eggs
1.1 Easten Collared Lizards

Let there be Lizardz
- Scott

You become a breeder by having the proper enviroment for your reptiles and then them breeding and you hatching out the eggs. That is the first and most important part. To sell your geckos is now the legal part in most states. If I sell animals at a show. I have to bring my state license which gives me the right to sell, if I didnt have it the inspector that comes can tell me to pack up and leave since you have to be licensed in Florida. I also sell wholesale to petstores since I do occasionally hatch out the inexpensive geckos we were talking about earlier. I get 30 dollars for plain babies and 40 dollars for plain males, but for them to leagally buy from me they need a copy of my license. You need to check with your states fish and wildlife dept. to see what their laws are. As far as making a living at it yes its possible, but highly unlikely. I supplement my income with my earnings by doing this. I also made an intial investment of 10000.00 in rhacs and have recently made another investment of 20000.00 in to reptiles. I do sell 1000-1500 a month sometimes 4000 if there is a show. This of course is paying back my investment, but Im not making a living yet. Shawn
WWW.StickyFeetExotics.COM

Sometimes you can get plain babies for around $30. Will they be healthy? Maybe. Will they be good looking? Probably not. There's a reason why breeders are selling those geckos for $30.

If someone just wants a pet or a first gecko, that's fine...provided they've been cared for properly, a plain baby Crested Gecko is the perfect entry level pet gecko.

However, if you're looking to start breeding them, it's very well worth spending the extra money on good breeding stock. My guess would be that in a year from now, you won't want to be the person selling his/her baby geckos for $30. Sure, it's fun to watch any reptile hatch, but it's really nice when you can actually pay for your reptiles' food and new breeding stock with the money you earn by selling your hatchlings.

Buying adults is the least economical way to go about this and in many cases, you won't end up with the best looking geckos. My advice would be to buy as many quality babies as you can and raise them up. You'll end up with better looking breeders and you'll learn a lot along the way.
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Anthony Caponetto
www.ACreptiles.com

Buying a $30 Crested for to purposes of breeding is not the wisest idea. The Crested market is getting broken into to major categories, the high-end stuff we're seeing now and the other stuff. You may find yourself struggling to sell any offspring, unless you get reasonably lucky.

The gap between what’s available on each end of the spectrum will only get wider as more selective breeding occurs and more knowledge is obtained concerning their genetics. What was considered “nice” a few years ago, is less desirable today – so why set yourself back? For $45-50 dollars more you can get a nice gecko from a good line (from someone like Anthony Caponetto). Then you have the future to look forward to, not the past.

-Randy
www.neoscales.com

Absolutely, you get what you pay for! I bought the best breeding stock I could find and now I'm getting absolutely screamer babies! (Shawn, those 2 females you sold me (the olive partial-pin-stripe and the gold stubtail) are both making the most fantastic little geckos! Popcorn and Olive make red-headed spotted fires/possible harlequins that knock my socks off!)

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Terri
4:8:5 crested geckos: Popcorn, Goldfish, Harley, Bear, Big Red, Olive, Smudge, Blackie, Belle, Brilliant, Tina, Brick, Avis & Subtle, Toni(y), Kermit & Zipper

Who sold you that gecko? Its awesome!
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0.1 Veiled Chameleon
0.1.1 Green Anoles 4 eggs
1.1 Easten Collared Lizards

Let there be Lizardz
- Scott