Contemplating commitment

[Murrellfamilyzoo]

Hey everyone my name is Jarrett on Instagram we are @Murrellfamilyzoo, anyways I’m contemplating a couple of things when it comes to expanding our little family zoo. I’m thinking of either adding a Blue Tegu or breeding Bearded Dragons. The reason I joined your site is because when I do research about expanding, I try to be very diligent and what better place to get advice and information than from you good folks! So please, anything you guys got as far as info or advice shoot it out way, thanks!
Jarrett

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

Getting a tegu would probably be the safest and "cheapest" option compared to breeding beardies.

Had an accidental breeding with my male and female beardies a few months back and it was quite a lot of work along with being very stressful.
The cost of feeding went up by a whole bunch because I was trying to keep Venus well fed before she laid another clutch. Each clutch she lost around 70-100 grams. She laid around 5 clutches in total, and only had a few weeks in between each clutch to get enough weight up so she wouldn't look like she was on the verge of starvation. With her first clutch, it was a nightmare, she wouldn't accept solid food at all so I had to syringe feed her and give her daily baths to keep her well hydrated and fed. If I'm correct by the second or third day she did begin eating a bit on her own but it definitely wasn't as much as I would have liked.
As far as the eggs go the majority of them I froze, except two clutches that actually appeared to be fertile. Tried incubating the first clutch, all of the eggs died and didn't get very far in development. Tried with the fourth clutch, all but two eggs died. Quite far along in development to the point where it looked like they were just about to hatch but something went wrong at the last minute.
Breeding is an emotional roller coaster to say the least.

 

[Murrellfamilyzoo]

Thanks for that bit of info, very interesting story. Thanks for sharing your insight