# Before You Decide To Breed ....



## Reptilover (Jan 15, 2007)

*<<< Before You Decide To Breed Guide >>>*

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Before You Decide To Breed Guide!
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*Breif:*​ 
_Basically when decideing to breed any animal whether it be a snake, lizard or even a alligator you must consider many things. Before you go and decide to do anything with breeding make sure you have researched into the species you are breeding. Not only is this guide made to help the new people to reptiles but will hopefuly also help the more expirienced reptile keepers who wish to expand there hobby and become a breeder. Whether you are breeding to make money or just to simply have fun you still have to do great research into what you are getting yourself into. This entire extract is based on common sense!_​ 
*Why do you want to breed?:*​ 
_There are many reasons why people want to breed various animals. It could be to make some cash in the back pocket or simply for the fun of it. It could even be to try and discover or "produce" a rare or not found sub-species or morph. If you are breeding for money you must consider actully how much money you are going to make. If you was going to breed bearded dragons, it would cost the price for the bearded dragons (£60 ea) and price for the setup (£170 - £300) just to be able to care for the animals. If you managed to breed them successfully you would hopefully get between 15 to 50 healthy babies; now you have babies its not just the case of flogging them of to ride by salesman, you have to feed the babies (Up to 100 crickets ea per baby) and care for the babies with this meaning you would have to pay the same ammount, if not more for enougher setup. Just imagine all that cash it cost! If you are breeding for the joy of it or just to "produce" some babys for you to keep then still you have all the expenses of keeping and careing for both the adults and the babys but this time you have NO income at all. So if you are breeding for the fun of it please make sure you have the corect money to be able to care for the animals BEFORE you breed them._​ 
*What species to breed?:*​ 
_When decideing on what species or animal to breed you need to think of many things. There is no point in going and breeding two elephants when you have never seen or cared for a elephant in your life. It would be much easier and much less stupid to go and attemp to breed a animal you are familier with and have cared or have done a extreme amount of research into. You also have to put forward the view of whih "difficulty" animal level you should breed. If you have only been keeping bearded dragons for a few weeks its very doubtfull you would go and breed a iguana! Please think before you decide to breed species!! A diferent thing to think about when breeding any animal is there colous and patterns. This is sometime known as "selective breeding" and can be much more rewarding than plonkin a male and female dragon together and watch the magic happen. Before you even decide or even think about "cross breeding" make sure you are extremely expirienced and know what your doing!!!_​ 
*Have you got the room?:*​ 
_So, you live in a tiny apartment in south London and wish to breed two adult albino burmese python's; be realistic people! Just were are you going to put the young or even in that case two adult 25 foot snakes in your apartment? If you realy want to breed large animals in a small place then its tough luck, you have got to think of the animals needs before your wants! So ask yourself have you got the room to keep a cage fore the adults, cage for the young and even a cage for any extra items such as incubators and breeding cages_. ​ 
*Have you got the time?:*​ 
_Ask yourself, have you got the time to care for the animals and there young, if your at work all day and come home at 1 oclock in the morning then its hardly likely you are going to breed animals that take time to look after. If this is you then go brred some crickets or cockroaches or something that doesnt take as much time. Use your sense, if you think your not going to have time then dont breed them!_​ 
*Have you got the money?:*​ 
_Money, could be now considered the most valued substance on this planet. This could be one of the most inportant things when deciding to breed. Lets face it; keeping any pet cost some amount of money, so if keeping a small snake cost alot of money imagine keeping two snakes plus lots of babies and setups would cost. Its not only just the case wether you have the mony to care and keep the adults and young but also thinking of vet bills and other extras you may come across, sometimes even including the electric bill which believe me is beyond belief in some cases. Use your sense, if you dont have the correct amount of money then simply dont breed any animal that is not in your price range! _​ 
*Vets and illinesses*​ 
_When breeding you are more than likely to come across illnesses which usually lead to go to the vets which most of us know can be very expensive. Illneses can range from minor (Not serious) to deadly (Life threatening). Before you breed any animal especially animals prown to diseases and illnesses such as reptiles, make sure you know were your nearest vet is. This also comes back to the money issue, if you carnt afford treatment for the animal whether its worming or a serious surgery then dont breed; infact you shoul'nt have any animal if you are not willing to take your pet to the vets._​ 
*Great starters:*​ 
_Snakes:_
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_Corn Snake_​ 
_Lizards:_
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_Leopard Gecko's_
_Bearded Dragons_​ 
_Small Mammals:_
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_Hamsters (Generally syrian are harder to breed than most other species)_​ 
_Fish:_
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_Guppy's_​ 

(More will be added and some pictures will be soon, feel free to tell me some stuff to add​


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## Viper (May 10, 2008)

Good advice !!!


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## beardieLOVE (Apr 12, 2008)

this is great!
so many people these days are jumping in getting new animals or reptiles they havnt kept before just to breed them. yea its good so many people are taking an intrest in them but half the time its just for the money. and breeding things that eat alot like beardies your making little if any profit. alot of people deffienetly need to look into it more and actually plan everything out. there trying to run before they can walk.


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## Ssthisto (Aug 31, 2006)

Other things to add:

At least with reptiles, breeding a female is risky for the female's health. Yeah, you might be lucky year after year after year... or you could lose your female the very first year you breed her. If you don't want to risk losing your animal, don't breed her.

Be aware that if you breed you MAY get offspring who are poorly, deformed or dead. It's sad when a baby hatches halfway and then just gives up; it's even worse when it hatches fully and has a physical problem that can't be fixed and that it can't survive long with. If you can't cope with that, don't breed.

Be aware that certain morphs and species are hard to sell. Just as you shouldn't breed a pair of elephants if you've never kept elephants before, you shouldn't breed elephants if there's no market to BUY them.... unless you can afford to keep every baby elephant you breed. There is a limited market for little normal leopard geckos in my town, for example - I won't make much money selling them, and I'll probably spend more money feeding them than I can make back. Therefore, I shouldn't plan to breed little normal leopard geckos - especially since I don't want to breed them to keep them.


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## Reptilover (Jan 15, 2007)

Damn It wont let me edit it anymore


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## repkid (Nov 30, 2007)

Fantastic advice!!!:2thumb:


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## lanu (Jan 23, 2008)

I absolutely agree with Reptilover and Ssthisto on this one. We've been breeding stenos for about 3 years now, and the heartache that happens when you get a baby that refuses to eat, or has an abnormality is terrible. we've had a couple with the umbilical still attached, and another with a fused leg. 

People need to also remember that sometimes a baby hatches with a minor disfigurement that they cant or shouldnt sell. We have a couple with funny faces from developmental problems (one looks like elves with a curled up lip) and as we're unsure whether this is genetic, we have to keep them as we cant risk others breeding from them.

On the positive side, breeding is hugely rewarding when it goes well. I have a couple of fat little pink baby stenos that are now eating well, and are a joy to watch. We also had our first healthy RAPTOR Leo hatch this morning, and I've been stoked all day as a result (two bright red eyes!). So, in keeping with others on this thread, I think that breeding reptiles is a good thing to do, but only if you can cope with a roller-coaster of emotions, expenditure, have a lot of time on your hands and can promise to be consistently attentive to the needs of your animals.

L


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