A few questions

[RogerTheTortoise]

I have a sulcata and "he" is only a few months old. But my boyfriend and I were talking about breeding his bearded dragon and it got me thinking about Roger.
Is there much money in breeding torts, and what all would it intel?

 

[Jacob]

There Are Many Passionate Successful Breeders Out There, Yet Theres A lot Of People Breeding Just For The Money and Not The love and Passion, And This Usually Tends To Many Reptiles Over flooding The Market.

 

[RogerTheTortoise]

How many are usually in a clutch?

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi RogerTheTortoise (I'm sorry, I never did learn what you'd like us to call you):

In my opinion, you wouldn't make much money with one pair of sulcatas. Yes, you would get quite a bit for each baby (15 to 20 eggs per clutch), but unless you have a very large place to house two sulcatas year round so you don't have to feed them (they graze naturally), you would spend most of your "baby money" on feeding the parents. Then there's the cost of heating them in the winter, maybe a vet bill or two, trying to find homes for the ones returned to you. At best, it would be a break even situation.

 

[Floof]

Yvonne hit the nail on the head. With reptiles, breeding is NOT a "money making" adventure. Most often, the most you can hope for is to break even, or at least come close.

This goes for bearded dragons, too... I don't know if you want to breed yours for the experience, or if you are actually hoping to make money from it, but be aware that dragons produce a lot of eggs, which hatch into a lot of hungry, UVB-requiring, combative babies, for whom all your potential profit will go into simply housing them right until they are big & established enough sell (6 weeks minimum), not to mention the cost that can go into keeping those dozens of little gluttons fed... Breeding beardies costs a lot up front, with no guarantee that you'll make that money back.

I thought about breeding beardies once. I had two lovely females, and a male who would be more than happy to service them, and thought, "How wonderful would THAT be!" ... Then I found out the costs involved, and realized my pocketbook was much too light for the responsibility. What really sealed the deal was when one of my girls laid an infertile clutch that counted in at around 32 eggs. Taking into consideration they can lay as many as half a dozen clutches in one season... That's a lot of baby dragons to feed, house, and find homes for!

My point is, when it comes to both your Beardie and your Tortoise, don't breed for money. If you go in hoping to make any real profit, you'll only be disappointed.

Eh... Sorry to go a little OT, I just wanted to get it said, since the original question was pertaining to breeding for profit.

 

[wellington]

In my opinion, you should only breed for the love of it, the animal and to better what ever it is you are wanting to breed. If you breed for money, you usually are not a good breeder. Most breeders that breed for money are called "mill breeders" example "puppy mill". The quality of the breeding is usually not the best. Besides, there is never money "in it" if you are a good responsible breeder. You usually lose money, if your lucky you will break even.

 

[Neltharion]

I have a sulcata and "he" is only a few months old. But my boyfriend and I were talking about breeding his bearded dragon and it got me thinking about Roger.
Is there much money in breeding torts, and what all would it intel?

I've been breeding Russians for the past few several years. I would have to estimate that I actually lose money and would be lucky to break even. Unless you're a large scale breeder, the overhead of keeping and caring for the adult tortoises will eat into any profits. From all of the housing costs, feeding (spending money on seeds and live plants, store bought greens, and prepared tortoise diets), utilities (electricity), the occasional vet bill, seperate housing for hatchlings, incubators, and costs incurred to put them out there for sale, don't forget to include the physical labor put into caring for the tortoises. If I didn't enjoy tortoise keeping and consider it a hobby, something that makes me happy to spend my free time with, I would have given up breeding if I looked at it as a money making venture or business. I simply don't breed on a large enough scale to cover the overhead fixed costs. I don't plan on breeding on a larger scale either.

I've always felt that if I went for a large scale operation, the amount of work that I was putting into it would make it a 'job' and no longer a hobby, something that I don't want to happen.

I don't own sulcatas, but when I see the fencing, housing, and heating set ups to accommodate them; it appears to be a big time and cost investment. Of the tortoise hatchlings available, I'd have to say that regular sulcata hatchlings are the most readily available on the market. You'd be competing with a lot of sellers. You will also have to deal with returns. I occasionally get a Russian back, because they got bored with it, they're 'moving' and can't take it, they had multiple russians and aggression became a problem. Most recently, a woman returned one to me because it got bit in the neck by the other at feeding time and she didn't know what to do with it and didn't want to pay for a vet. I can imagine people coming back to return a sulcata years later claiming that they were unaware it was going to get that big and eat so much.

Looking back at what I typed, it seems so negative. So let me put a positive spin. If you love tortoises and can approach breeding as a hobby that may actually cost you money out of pocket and not be profitable, definitely consider it. Most of the breeders that I know at the local tortoise club are just like me; small scale folks that really don't make any money at it, but do it because we enjoy it and get a lot of personal satisfaction.

 

[stells2]

Another way of looking at it... by the time you have spent the money... raising this tortoise to adulthood... you will never get the return to "make money" by breeding... there is also no money in breeding bearded dragons... and you can sometimes get left with babies that you then have to feed and raise... as you can't sell them... another option is to rehome for free...

Most breeders do it for their love of the species... i am currently working with a couple of species... that are not easy to come by in captivity... but am yet to sell one baby... as i want to grow them on... Sulcata's are quite common... so would yield a low return if you were only doing it to sell them...