Earless Lizards: To breed or not to breed?

I have acquired a male Greater Earless Lizard. I have had him for a while, and really enjoy him. I love this species. I was thinking, though, about attempting to breed these Earless Lizards in captivity. I don't think it would be that far fetched if acquired a few females, I think they would be similar to collards in requirements. The thing is I don't want to do it if there really is no point. I don't want to end up with a slew of baby earless lizards that won't sell. I was just wondering everyone elses thoughts were on this matter. Should I try, or not even bother?



TS

Hello,

Can you post a picture of him? I am not sure if I have seen a picture of one before. How big is he?
If they are that limited it might be a nice captive breeding project perhaps. Are they limited in number?

Tracie

Don't ask me where I heard it but I have heard that they can be difficult to keep.

The first thing I would do would be to find out their care requirements see if they really are as easy as a collared lizard. Then you would have to gauge the demand based on the demand of far more popular lizards such as the aforementioned collared lizard and the ultra popular bearded dragon. You would also have to determine your avenue of distribution for the babies. Would you sell them yourself? If so, where? Do you have access to a local swap? Would you wholesale them to pet shops? What prices would you ask? As a shop owner I would personally love them but I don't think there would be much of a market with my customers. I've gotten in CBB collareds and leopard lizards in the past and they didn't sell. EVERYONE wants beardeds or they want WC adults of the native stuff. Granted, once my collared were in store for 6 months and I had twice as much into them as I could sell them for then they sold because they were bigger.

Still, if I had the space and the time I would not be afraid to give it a try at least once. If the first clutch didn't sell you wouldn't have to keep it up and at least you could say you did it and you might gain some valuable insight into these uncommon lizards.

I love the native stuff. When I first started in reptiles I drew up plans for a herp room that included breeding cages for all the different collared lizards species and subspecies, desert iguanas, chuckwallas, leopard lizards, zebra tails, you name it. I even had a business name picked out. Alas, things went in a different direction but I still think I have the diagrams laying around somewhere.

Let me find a few pics...





He is maybe 7 inches, he'd be 8 with his original tail. They aren't the hardest to keep, but do need a lot of space for such a small lizard. They aren't limited, as there are a lot in the wild (Southwestern U.S.), but the wild caught ones rarely calm down well. I think that Captive bred specimens would be so much easier to maintain if brought up in captivity. I only know a few others with the species. I would be advertising the lizards on classifieds and such, like here. I also have a guy that would probably take them for his store, also, if I couldn't do it online. They are smaller than collareds, but require the same amount of space, as they are one of the fastest lizard species in the country. I think I'll give it a try like you guys said.