QUESTION FOR ESTABLISHED BREEDERS!

[thathighherpguy]

It seems like the industry is flooded right now with geckos carrying the Eclipse genes. Everyone is producing Raptors, Mack Snow Eclipses, and Super Raptors of sorts.

As a new breeder would it be better to:

Stay away from those morphs and try NEW combinations with morphs not necessarily as popular or exciting? Trying to be creative and innovative with new types of mutations that arise.

or

Do you keep working with what the industry has to offer and continue to work on these beautiful lines of geckos being produced?


On one hand you try breeding unique animals that noone else has, without any gaurantee of success

or

You continue working on what others have started, hopefully accomplishing more refined versions, while still producing the same types of animals already filling the market.



I am not someone looking to make tons of money. I'm also not the type of person to bring life into this world for no good reason.

I currently have a breeding program looking to produce Raptors, and my future breeding plans were to come up with some beautiful Snow Raptors and Super Raptors. But I've become a little disheartened by the amount of those morphs already being bred...


Any opinions or advice from experienced breeders is much appreciated

 

[stager]

There are lots of those morphs out there but not many high quality. So why not line breed what you have already till you cone up with some increadible ones

 

[acpart]

Most of what I have to say I've already said in my Gecko Time articles:

Guide to Breeding Leopard Geckos on a Small Scale | Gecko Time
Breeding on a Small Scale Revisited | Gecko Time

In general, I think your best bet is to produce the healthiest animals you can of the morph you like the best, start small and have excellent customer service. I will never forget the first year I bred geckos. I had some regular Tremper albinos --nothing special, but nice specimens. A local pet store had a "swap meet" that included an auction and I brought 2 of the albinos in to the auction. This was my first season and I was selling my geckos for $20 each. Someone ended up paying $45 for one of the albinos and said "I've never seen such an incredible looking albino before". It really wasn't that special, but was bright eyed and healthy, especially as compared to the ones mass produced at the pet store.

Aliza

 

[thathighherpguy]

I read both articles before this!! They were VERY informative and perfect for breeders like me.

Of course I'm going to breed the healthiest animals I can but i just had to be sure before I started adding more animals to an already full market.

I'm a dedicated animal lover, and of course as our collections grow so does the cost to provide for them. Gotta try and turn my awesome hobby into a self sustaining business.

Keep a look out on https://www.facebook.com/scalyminions for my upcoming project!


Reverse Stripe Tremper het Eclipse

with


Tremper Albino het eclipse


THANK YOU JOHN AT GECKOBOA FOR THE BEAUTIFUL SPECIMENS TO START MY BREEDING CAREER =]

 

[Kristi23]

I really don't see the market flooded with eclipse, but I have noticed more people working with the gene. It's my favorite one. For me, I breed what I like and try to improve the look each season. Most people seem to work with a variety or morphs. I like to try different ones and then keep working with the ones that I end up liking the most. It's all personal preference for me.

My advice to new breeders is to breed what you like. Make sure the genes are compatible, then buy quality healthy animals. Try to be the best that you can be with what you like the most. Don't worry about what others think as long as you are being ethical and you're not overproducing. Everyone has a certain morph or look that they like best. It may not be the same as what you like, but that's ok.

 

[thathighherpguy]

Thank you very much Kristi, you just abolished all doubt in what I have planned!

I will keep my Facebook page updated to show the progress of this years project.

 

[JBReptiles]

Personally i do my breeding / projects choice based only on what match my tastes and which animals i want to keep for myself, not for what others would see me to do or what would be easier to sell or worth more bucks...

 

[VampyreByte]

The most important thing you need to worry about doing is finding a morph that you want to work with and that you would love to have and keep. Then worry about people buying them.
I only produce what I think are awesome looking geckos. I like to work with Snows, Eclipse, Enigmas and Hyper Xanthics. I work with them because i love the look of them.
If other people like them and want to buy them then "BONUS". But have fun with what your doing and produce what you would love to keep. I hate selling any one of my geckos because I hate parting with them, but love to pass them on to other people that will like them as much as I do.

 

[LepoInc]

I love the genetic game in breeding geckos, so I was fascinated with the snow gene, having the chance to produce super snows, and whatever. Caring for an egg for a month or two and see what hatches it is a blast. Breed what you want. Don't worry about what other people want, they usually don't even know what they want themselves.


Jared Moore @ Lepo-Gecko

 

[DrCarrotTail]

To start I picked up a couple of breeders that I really liked and saw what popped out! From there I decided what I liked and didn't like (I didn't like hatching 45 sunglows that all looked the same in a row for example! Haha) and decided on a couple goals and crosses to make things interesting this second season. If all works out I should have some concrete goals by my third season.

I don't think the market is flooded with anything. Breeding to produice combinations of genes or "morphs" in general may be a good start but not the way to go long term IMO - selectively breeding for something unique that you're super excited about and can't tear your eyes off of is much more rewarding