breeding

what animals are easy to breed other then leopard geckos i dont really care for them.looking for some imput so i can go get books and set up some cages and start a little coloney of somthing

You are pretty vague in your post. Lizards, snakes, frogs, turtles, etc. How about bearded dragons, veiled chameleons, cornsnakes, kingsnakes, other geckos, rosy boas, etc, etc. Evan Stahl

my experiance is with lizards and frogs
and i would prefer to stay with them for now
would like to start relitivly cheap as i dont want to spend a bundle on a breeding colony and not profit from it
enough to even pay for food of the animals and then have to give them up
also i prefer small nothing bigger then 2 feet

small bit of advice....if you're only thinking of the cash, then perhaps breeding reptiles is not for you. It takes a love of the hobby and a lot of patience to get a good breeding project going...and it takes a while to break even, let alone make a profit. Generally you need to breed your food to cut down on costs, and that takes extra room and time.

Plus, (and don't take offense at this) potential buyers might be a bit wary about purchasing from a minor...a lot of sellers are wary about selling to a minor...some require parental consent.

As far as critters that stay under 2 ft, sand boas and rosy boas stay small. A trio would be a decent start. Beardies are also easy to deal with, just remember that 1.2 beardies quickly becomes 1.2.50+ beardies once they breed...being able to house the babies and not have them nip tails and toes is important. Same thing with veiled chams.

In no way am I saying you shouldn't breed, merely that you should consider every possible aspect of doing so. Getting everything well thought out increases the potential for success. &nbsp; &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

not doing it intierly for the money
really not at all
i want to breed on a large scale and become a herpatologist when i grow up
i love all animals not just herps
i ment when i said that i dont want to spend a bundle with out making any profit was that i would like to be able to breed and pay for food and then have even 25 bucks &nbsp;as profit to save as gas money or if i can get my self going it will be another source for money to pay for schooling
im thinking about geting 1.2 &nbsp;arrow frogs because thay take the least room and some tend to feed their babys by laying eggs that are not fertile 200 less mouths to feed untill i can sell them for 30 bucks a peice or somthing
i dont mind selling at low cost to atract buyers so i can build up a reputable name
i know it takes hard work
i read neils post i cant beleave people would rob him he seems like a nice guy and a hard worker

any how i think i disided on frogs now i need to find the right speacies for me
any one have any ideas

Good points Nicole. Evan

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i want to breed on a large scale and become a herpatologist when i grow up</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
It would seem that you have unrealistic expectations of what a herpetologist actually does. Herpetology is more of an academic science, and is not generally concerned with the captive husbandry and breeding of reptiles. Very little of a herpetologist's time is actually spent working with live specimens.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i ment when i said that i dont want to spend a bundle with out making any profit was that i would like to be able to breed and pay for food and then have even 25 bucks &nbsp;as profit to save as gas money or if i can get my self going it will be another source for money to pay for schooling
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Most people are lucky to just break even at the end of the year. It takes quite awhile to actually realize a profit once you factor in all of your expenses.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">im thinking about geting 1.2 &nbsp;arrow frogs because thay take the least room and some tend to feed their babys by laying eggs that are not fertile 200 less mouths to feed untill i can sell them for 30 bucks a peice or somthing</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Denrobates and kin aren't the easiest to keep and breed. They actually require quite a bit of work to properly maintain.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i dont mind selling at low cost to atract buyers so i can build up a reputable name</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
That definitely isn't the way to get a good reputation, but it is a good way to be known as someone who is just &quot;in it for a buck&quot;, and not concerned with maintaining the viability of the market.

If you want to build a good reputation, there are no shortcuts. It takes time, patience, and a lot of hard work. It's not something that happens just overnight.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">any how i think i disided on frogs now i need to find the right speacies for me any one have any ideas</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Pick something that interests you, regardless of whether or not you think you can turn a profit with it. If you aren't genuinely interested in the species that you keep, and only view them as little dollar bills, then you're dooming yourself to failure.

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">It would seem that you have unrealistic expectations of what a herpetologist actually does. Herpetology is more of an academic science, and is not generally concerned with the captive husbandry and breeding of reptiles. Very little of a herpetologist's time is actually spent working with live specimens.</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

Isn't that a shame. Many of them deal primarily with pickled specimens on loan from museums. However I find that more and more research seems to be done lately in the field on live specimens - don't you? I have met three local professional herpetologists. They spend lots of time in the field doing population studies and the like. One deals primarily with sea turtles, another with local amphibian populations and the last with herps in general with a bias toward snakes. They may be the exception - or they may be part of the new wave of herpetologists who do a lot of field work. Sure they do lots of compilation of data and paper writing too, but they do get in a good share of field work.

I do agree however that the young lad may be a bit confused, and may be thinking more of a herpetoculturist (breeder) than a herpetologist. Then again 'breeder' has been a traditional role of some professional herpetologists over the years - at least the ones who have worked at zoos and zoological parks. &nbsp;I believe that Trooper Walsh is such an example.

I guess though that your point should still be well taken, it is not as glamorous a job as some youngsters may think it to be. Yet I think it a worthy and interesting profression nonetheless. If only I had stuck with my dream I too would be an underpaid and overworked herpetologist. Well at least I got two out of three - I am underpaid and overworked!

Best regards,
Glenn

i know it takes hard work
you are taking every thing in a different way than i expected
so this is what i meen
i want to be both a breeder and a herpetologest
not saying they are the same things
i am intrested in all speacies i know that ones i want to keep are out of my league other than frogs
my favorit frogs are arrows they are beautiful creatures no matter witch specimin you are talking about
i dont meen buy selling low to attract buisness and get a reputation thats good
i meen attract buisness but selling low so people see that my animals are good quality specimans
and the people that sell the most have lower prices and /or a great reputation
but if nobody knows you you cant have a good rep untill you sell some things
i know there are costs from beginning and for ever
and by profit i dont meen money the first try
i meen enough to pay for food and the expences of starting up
i couldnt are less if i made money as long as i can afford to keep my animals
i hope this sounds a little better but i dont know how to reall say what i want too

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">If only I had stuck with my dream I too would be an underpaid and overworked herpetologist. Well at least I got two out of three - I am underpaid and overworked!
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Technically a &quot;herpetologist&quot; is simply &quot;One who studies herpetology&quot; so a seven year old with a frog in a jar is a herpetologist if they make a few observations (They don't even have to be correct).

Of course, if you're going to label yourself as one, it implies a certain degree of education and experience or the act of being a proffessional (getting paid to do so).

Unless it's changed reccently, you can't get a degree in herpetology, you just get biology degrees with a herpetological emphasis for your post grad work.

As to the field aspects of it... It certainly has shifted a bit. People with the education and experience are moving more towards field work than they have in the past, there's a greater oppurtunity to collect useful data as opposed to things such as &quot;Motor skill degeneration in sedated Hyla &nbsp;versicolor&quot; There seems to be a greater emphasis on respecting field biologists than there has in the past and a signifigant movement away from... or at least adding diversity to... the guy in the lab who's never seen a live specimin and is making taxonomic alterations (often for seemingly insignifigant reasons) because they got a snake in a jar with an index card stating it was collected in (insert name of largeish country here).

With reptiles being predominantly procedural in brain function (hardwired instinct), there's an important need to perform &nbsp;behavioral studies in the field rather than a captive environment. The same goes for diet and breeding/growth studies...

To the original poster- I concur with those who have already chimed in, if you're even going into it looking to break even at this point, you're in the wrong hobby. I get really suspicious about certain basic questions along these lines, if you were ready to breed reptiles (facilities &nbsp;set up, appropriate understanding of how to go about it, why and what to do and all the ethical issues), you'd already know the answers to your questions. Asking is a positive thing of course, but with so many readily avaliable sources of information, I'd tend to question your grasp of the basics and advise a few books before you &nbsp;even contemplate breeding for cash. &nbsp;I intend no offense by this, everyone has to start somewhere... Just starting right is more important than rushing in, no matter how much you may want to get started immediately.

You'll &nbsp;be happier in the long run that way too, a lot of budding herpers get into it the wrong way, can't fufill the demands of the animals and end up with more problems than they need. That's no good for the animals involved and it's no good for the person attempting it, sick animals simply aren't enjoyable.