Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I will be recieving 9 bearded dragons on Tuesday and another 5 on Wednesday. Several of the dragons are close to breeding age, but only 2 are breedable at this time. The guy I'm getting them from just told me the sandfire male bred with the hypo female. How many days should I expect eggs? At what point in time should I take beardie to a seperate location to lay? I will be receiving a hovibator with the deal and was wondering how many eggs can one of standard size hold? I have focused all my research about breeding dragons after they hatch, rather then at conception. Also are hypo sandfires a marketable dragon with a descent return on my investment, or will I break even with cost to feed? I have a room dedicated to dragons and I have spent the last week of my vacation prepping the room for 20 plus lizards with building cages and obtaining and installing the proper heating equiptment and overstocking supplies so that if I run into spending a ton of money during my breeding experience I will still be able to give them the proper husbandry.

Also, how do I set up my post with a custimized signature. I should have asked this a long time ago, thanks,
Jeff

Here is a picture of the male....right side

Here is a picture of the female, (on top)

Well I can give you a little advise form my personal experience...... that is all.

I ended up breeding a Snow with Hypo about 2 years ago. Hypos are known for laying larger and multiple clutches. From my one breeding I ended up with 5 clutches the first four totalling 99 eggs and the last one 17. The last one went bad as I didn't realize she was still gravid and sold her wqhere she laid during shipping. After the initial breedding the first clutch came about 8 weeks later. After that the clutches came around 4 or 5 weeks apart untill the last one which was about 8 weeks again. The last clutch or two will take longer to lay most generally.

Make sure her calcium intake is larger and give her extra food during the entire time she is gravid. You will also only be able to put one clutch in the hovabator as well. I had to buy three and then I sarted being able to reuse them as the first clutches started hatching out.

As for is that cross a marketable one? Well, it depends. Do you know the bloodlines back several generations on both sides? How is the market for yellow dragons right now? What are you going to charge? There is alot of things that you will need to think about to get hat answer.

As far as marketing them........ I would start rubbing elbows with some of the local pet stores and let them know you are going to be having some hatchlings in a couple three months. When they hatch and are ready, put an ad in the local paper and seel complete setups to people, online you will be able to move the higher colored ones for a better price so find a couple different places to advertise. As for the ones left over after all that.... probably finding a wholesaler would be a good idea.

If your as handy as you seem to be..... you may want to consider building an incubator. There is a great plan on building an incubatoer at www.dachiu.com You could build one for less than you could buy a couple more hovabators and there wouold definately be more than enough room for multiple clutches in that one incubator. This would save money on electricity as well.

As far as food goes....... I would consider buying silkworm eggs in bulk and hatching them. You can get 10,000 eggs for 35 bucks and the food to raise them up enough toi feed the hatchlings... it would be much cheaper this way. If you buy cricket the cheapest way to do that is buy at least 10,000 at a time. You don't have to worry about running out and they are cheaper that way. You can also slow their growth rate if needed. but the hatchlings, especially if you only feed crix will eat a CRAP load of crix.

I think I covered everytihng you were asking about but if not just hollar....

One more thing are the 9 your getting and then the other 5 all from the same breeder? If not I just want to caution you about quaranting them from each other. There may be no problems but if there are....... Better to be safe than sorry!

Congrats on your project coming together and good luck!!

Later,
RObert
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson

I've looked at a few different sites about building my own incubator and I've got a esu reptile electonic temperature controller that I haven't opened yet because I don't have it in my heart to hack my old priceless college dorm refridgerator. Where can I find salvaged or broken refridgerators? Also, would a thermostat that can control up to 500 watts of power be enough for a full size refridgerator? What temp do you use for beardies? 90 degrees? Where do I get heat tape or what is the best device to use?
I was planning on selling 4 weeks old for 70 shipped, putting an ad in the local paper for 50 and holding back several and sell a handful of holdbacks at 3-4 months and see if the actually waiting to sell these guys off is worth it. Does it cost money to advertize on kingsnake? I know repti-bid is free, but the clientele is much better on here. I know a local pet store around here, but they keep a sickly breeding pair in a 40 breeder that have little tails and look somewhat stubby due to several toes and nails missing. I believe I will do alright in this area of TN because I only know of this particular pet store and petsmart that locally sell beardies. I'm sure I'll have no problem finding them good homes and I don't plan on getting rich, I mainly want to breed due to the fasination with dragons and would love to be supplemented a little while caring for them.
As far as feeders, I currently have an established colony of lobster roachs, hissing roaches, and mealies for the adults. Where can I get the silkworm eggs? That sounds like a great idea. Also, any info on where to get a care sheet for wax worms? I've got 250 of them coming in as a trade.
Lastly I have 7 beardies now, sold or traded 4 juvi. females over the past week to make room for the new additions and the additional 5 that are coming in a from an overcroweded rescue that will definetly be quaranteened because they have defficiencies such as missing tails and limbs. I appreciate all the great information about these guys

Ah, Clarksville, huh?

Yeah, how did you guess that one?

LOL, because I live less than 5 miles from L&L Pet World, and from your description of that breeder pair I recognized exactly what you were talking about.

Dave

I'm not sure about the 500 watt temp controll being enough.... You might email Rob and Vicki Dachiu and ask them if you've visited they're site and your question wasn't answered there. They may be able to help you better with that but I would say that it would be PLENTY enough. I mean even a full size standard fridge... 500 watts should be way more than enough to heat it thoroughly! I have 6 60 watt bulbs going in my reptile room and three floursecents and that rasies the temp in there to the point I'm almost sweating profusely after moving around and feeding/cleaning/etc..... and that's like 50 times the size of a fridge...LOL I would look at some of the used appliance places for an old shell that they have gutted. Sometimes they strip them and have no use for the shell. Put an ad in the paper to hall of old nonworking fridges...... that's my only thoughts on that.

90 would cook your eggs. If you go to Rob and Vickis site (www.dachiu.com) you'll find all that info. I incubated mine at about 85 and they hatched at 57 days.... all four of them.

The silkie eggs are at www.mulberryfarms.com I think you'll be happy if you go with them.... they really are a great feeder and with the roaches.... you should have no trouble at all.... You could even use the fridgeabator for your silkies. You will need a form of incubation for them. There is a full caresheet for them at that site as well.

About the waxworms.... They are so cheap I wouldn't even recommend breeding them. More hassle than it's worth really. They should only be given as treats anyway. Just keep them in the fridge and when you decide to feed some put them under a heat light in the cage so they will start warming up and moving around. I have no idea where to find a caresheet for them but that's what I do.

Later,
Robert
-----
A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds,
adored by little statesmen, philosophers and divines.
Ralph Emerson