Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know many of you on this forum breed dragons, and some of you even do it for a living.
Don't answer if you don't want, but i was wondering how much Money is in it for a dragon breeded, i am very interested in doing this very soon.

I don't breed BD's but I have bred birds and rabbits in the past and have to say... you really don't make any $. You are lucky if you break even with the cost of the animals, caging, food, vet expenses, etc... The only time I actually was coming out ahead is when I only had ONE pair. The more animals you have, the less you'll end up with profit, unless you are doing it strictly in an uncaring ... breed them & get them out fast kinda way (which I am against).

Mostly, you have to do it because you like it, and not for the money.

Hopefully you'll get some feedback from BD breeders.
-Bonnie

There really isn't any money in breeding dragons, unless you breed high end dragons with good strong bloodlines. Most of the breeders who are making a living with dragons, have been in breeding for years. But the price for even high end dragons is coming down as more and more people breed them. This I know mostly by seeing the prices change on the classifieds and dragons that are not high end are being sold for very little.

The big steady cost of breeding dragons is the food consumed by babies. That and vet checks and replacement of UVB bulbs. The setup costs are high, as that is when you have to buy all your cages, lights, fixtures etc. for the babies. Given that an average bearded dragon female can have 3-5 clutches a season with an average of 20 eggs each, that means you will need homes and food for anywhere between 60-100 babies per female. The babies also can eat alot of food, as much as 50-100 crickets at day each.

Not trying to discourage you from breeding dragons, just pointing out you need to budget carefully especially in your first year of breeding, to ensure you have all that you need before even putting your male and female dragons together to breed.
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PHLdyPayne

" But the price for even high end dragons is coming down as more and more people breed them. This I know mostly by seeing the prices change on the classifieds and dragons that are not high end are being sold for very little. "

You know I think part of the reason for this is because the market is so flooded. Even some of the very best breeders I know, who have gone to every extent to ensure they are only breeding large, healthy, unrelated, high quality dragons, are having trouble selling all of their babies and their prices are dropping. Just another point to show that this is not a money making hobby. You either do it out of passion, or you don't do it.

Another point I think anyone considering breeding dragons should know is that due to far too few bloodlines in captivity (Australia does not allow exports of their native species, to aquire new bloodlines legally take a lot of hard work and it's something that happens very rarely), and far too many people breeding them, the bearded dragon gene pool is very shallow. Almost all bearded dragons in captivity are now related, to some extent. The millions we have in America today can mostly be traced back to just a few major breeders less than a decade ago, for example. This has made inbreeding and linebreeding a far riskier business than in many other species. To ensure healthy offspring and strong genes, any respectable breeder will trace the bloodlines of their breeding pairs by at least five generations to make sure they are not closely related, and have not had inbreeding in their recent history. You can't just buy two dragons from different breeders in different states and expect them to be unrelated, it just isn't that easy.

Please take the time and effort to make sure you are breeding strong bloodlines back into the gene pool. If you do not, you are only going to be part of the problem.

If you are in it just because you think it's an easy buck, it isn't the hobby for you. But if you are willing to put the time, effort, research, and money into doing it right, I will support you 100%. We need more breeders out there with that sort of passion to improve the captive gene pool.
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Amanda
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
1.0 pictus gecko (Nicodemus)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.1 ferreta (Playstation & Genesis)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

You lose money the first year at least and sometimes into the second, due to the high cost to properly set up for babies and fed them. And that is if you have something that has a good demand.

We only breed dragons that are over 550 grams and we know are not related to the 5th degree.... believe it or not, there are few dragons out there now that meet that. And we only produce the amount we know we can find homes for or have reserved in advance(a few extra).

Right now the demand is on the colors of bright oranges, reds, Trans, Leucistic and Sunburst or what is also called citrus. There is no market for commons at all and you will certainly not only lose money breeding them, you will have trouble selling them even at wholesale.. which I refuse to make a baby suffer as so few survive to 4 months of age due to the poor care they get with wholesalers or pet stores. Not a lot of sense in producing babies at a lost of your money and thier life
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