Good Bad Ugly...

[Neill]

So i have been going to a ton of different breeding sites, and now I'm kinda lost. What makes a Super snow on one site 150 bucks and a super snow on another site 50 bucks? I mean i know grams old young and coloration breeding weight and so on. So now I'm lost on who to buy from. I my self had an experience where a bought 2 leos from a breeder, payed i would say the average to higher end for the animal. One was commented as being thin and other which looked healthy was the one that died. Now i have found another site where it is the same morph, but half the price. Now I'm wondering will these be in worse shape? What makes a good breeder, and i guess what makes a good leo? I know there kinda vague questions, but i have seen a morph that one gecko is 1500 and another of the same morph is 1000 that's 500 bucks difference why a big difference!? I mean i was looking at both and to me they both looked great. I'm wondering what i was missing. I Guess i want to know what people consider before buying from a breeder. What steps do you go through before you say OK I'm BUYING that animal.

 

[thestack510]

Personally, I took the time to look for well known breeders with good reputations and chose my animals from their stock. This is going to be a weird metaphor, but bare with me... It's kind of like a person going to Tiajuana for plastic surgery to save money. You may be saving money, but is it worth the risk? I prefer animals to be at least 30g minimum myself. To me it's worth it to pay a little more to ensure that I have quality animals, especially since the majority of my collection are breeders. I'm not talking about hundreds of dollars difference. From that standpoint, it's a judgement call. If you really prefer one Leo over another you may be willing to dig deeper and go all out. Over the past year I've chosen gems from quite a few collections. There is definitely no shortage of great breeders out there.

 

[DLS Reptile]

I think it all has to do with reputation. Certain breeders that have been around can charge more because you know you are getting a top notch gecko. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A gecko that I might think is stunning would be marked at a higher price as compared to one you think is mediocre. Certain breeders also put a LOT of time into producing a certain morph. This also commands higher prices.

 

[whkrazyk]

i agree with both of them, reputation is a vertue in any buy or sell situation, and some people work and perfect one morph, its great to have an iTrader like this site does, so you can see what there rep. is, if you have one person with 4 good reports and one bad, or someone with 73 good reports, its common sense who to go with, and woth paying the extra bucks, what im saying is 9 times out of 10, if you do your homework, youll get what you payed for

 

[thestack510]

9 times out of 10, if you do your homework, youll get what you payed for.

I agree.

 

[Mel&Keith]

We use the iTrader system on this forum which is an easy way to see what kind of feedback a breeder has gotten. Another great tool is the BOI on Fauna. There people can post threads inquiring about a certain seller or commenting on their dealings (good or bad). Like everyone's already said, just do your research.