furiousgeorge... maybe you have two girls
Clarke... I suggest a couple of things... firstly if you want to breed eventually then get yourself one very nice quality beardie for now. Watch him grow and learn how to look after him along the way. Doing this you will learn how to look after a whoooole bunch of babies eventually. When its old enough to sex it, then you can start the loooong process of trying to find a suitable equally quality partner.
I have a lovely boy who I have been looking for just the right mate for well over a year. To me, its not at all worth breeding your average run of the mill beardie that everyone else is breeding and selling for $30 each. If you breed, make sure its something nice and a little special. My boy has special markings I am going to be concentrating on.
Beardies arent as easy for a novice as you might think... depending on where you live getting a good gradient in their enclosure can be really hard. I found it tough in mackay. You will need a good year to learn the basics
As much research as you can do, sometimes you need to see it for yourself as it happens.
Its ok to have a goal in mind... to breed nice beardies eventually
But its a long term goal and you will achieve nothing by jumping into the deep end with a breeding pair when you dont know how to keep a beardie well in the first place. I dont mean that to sound mean.
I say definitely go for it... breeding and raising animals is the most rewarding thing you can do if you do it right. The sense of pride in raising some beautiful quality animals and seeing them make others happy... watching all those years of hard work and money pay off when a special bub hatches. But you only get these rewards when you put in the hard work and money. So keep your dreams of breeding eventually but do it the right way with high quality animals that are a bit special.
There is a lot of differing views on keeping... and a lot of different books. My advice is to get a good quality comprehensive book and spend a bit of money on it and as a novice... stick to the advice it gives you! When you start to learn a bit more from experience etc you will start to discover everything they say in the books is not reeeeally 100% accurate to your situation. This is why nothing beats experience
The key points you will need to begin planning now are:
*Get yourself a nice starter beardie... a high quality example of an interesting phase or an odd bub in a clutch with different colours or markings.
*Get yourself a nice set up for him/her.
*Over time build up the equipment you will eventually need... incubator, lots of little enclosures (a bunch of 2foot aquariums with mesh lids would work), feeding equipment, quarantine cages etc
*As soon as you can reliably tell the sex of your beardie, start a hunt for the perfect mate. You may need to put yourself down on a waiting list. You will likely be looking for a yearling so that you will reliably know the sex of the animal you are purchasing. Don't get multiple pairs to begin with because if you are serious about breeding you will not only want to... but need to keep back babies you have bred for future breeding
*Get a great book and learn learn learn! Talk to others about their experiences... browse websites of other breeders to see what new phases and morphs are about...
I have probably forgotten something
But good luck! Make sure you get that good book to start you off and make sure every step you take is made with quality in mind
