Thanks to everyone for their inputs into this thread. Sort of thinking of starting to breed at some point in the future, so it's good to hear people's experience. Wasn't really expecting to make money as I'm already breeding my pygmies (more a by-product of the way I keep them than a pure intent!) and I know that it's not really possible to make money, but my word don't these little things eat!

Highlights my need to get the feeder colonies up and running before anything else!.

this thread made me realize its probably time to do what we can to get an FAQ compiled so new users can get the thoughts of senior members on issues like this in one place right when they walk in the door

there should be a bulletin thread with suggestions of questions up for consideration to be put in the faq, and another for people to write articals for the mods to consider on making care easier for the average person. the faq is something that has been talked about for a long time, and i think that its time, and the resources are here to collectively start knocking out question after question until we have a really nice list broken down into categories like pre-purchase thoughts, set up/enclosure, hydration/nutrition, breeding, DIY threads, general dos/don'ts, health and reading your chameleon, advanced , misc. etc etc i can't name everything but with everyones help i'm sure we could get that done really quickly and i'm sure some of you have AWESOME ideas because there are some eternally awesome people on this site

the knowledge level of the new owners would be outrageously high than of that previously just from us accomplishing this one common goal, imagine new users actually knowing important things right away, wow! how many times have we seen the same question asked over and over and how much trouble would it have save the person if he or she saw it coming? I feel its kinda our duty to help those who cannot help themselves at least for the sake of the chams. it would clear the forum out for threads that actually rock. and you could actually find the kickass threads, because there wouldn't be 9 million wtf calcium d3? posts I've been around and i still don't know n e thing it seems, point being there needs to be a common ground; one click that gives you access to all things u need to know like a cheat sheet, and if our organizational skills serve us correctly which they will cuz me and justin carl and the rest of us are freaking awesome, it will read like a short story from start to finish, telling new members the thoughts, mistakes, and ingenuity of people, and will literally make all new members much less frustrated prone to the same damn mistakes, and do amazing thing for all these poor chameleons being cared for by humans with more important priorities and lack of knowledge because the info is all over the place and clouded up by people asking the same questions over and over again.

i approach everything like i am a student of the game. and if there is an faq i have a place to easily go to continue to further what I know, and refer back to until i can experience first hand, at which time I may make my own suggestions, so it seems people should also have the chance to make extra notes to someones faq artical such as "yeah, he or she was right about this but in my experiences there is a little better way to do this part blah blah blooo bbleeee blah, and thats how knowledge is spread.(and babies are made) chameleons babies that is

anyways that is all for now thanks

The cost of setting up a breeding operation, for any animal, can be enormous. My brother wanted to breed leopard geckos, I rolled my eyes and went along with it. Cost breakdown went something like this:
Starter Kit - $200
3 geckos - $200
Found a cheap gecko and tank online - $50
Incubator and supplies - $150
Tubs for hatchlings - $30
cost of food and supplies per week - $20
Found another gecko online - $35
Found one at an expo to breed with the above one - $80
Total - $745 plus $20 a week for food/lights etc times 7 months

He produced 7 hatclings this year. 4 are being held back as breeders next year, 3 are up for sale
value of geckos produced this year- $200
Total profit - $-1300
Total potential profit - $-1100

He's lucky he got so many things for free, else the costs would have been much higher.

He's got some nice morphs, but that means nothing if your potential customers don't know the difference. They can't justify spending 4x as much on one because it's a different colour. Getting into this business takes some serious thought. Don't just jump in expecting to make ends meet.



(anyone in the Toronto/GTA area looking for a leopard gecko, send me a message , i'm getting desperate)

__________________
'Cause I'm BigR than you.