If you could ask a breeder anything.. what would it be?

[Select Gex]

I am wondering... there are many amazing people who breed amazing geckos around.

My question to you is.. What do you want to know from them? What do you want to see?

If you had the opportunity to ask a large gecko breeder that has been around for years and highly respect, what question would you ask them?

So lets here it! :main_thumbsup:

 

[nats]

I am wondering... there are many amazing people who breed amazing geckos around.

My question to you is.. What do you want to know from them? What do you want to see?

If you had the opportunity to ask a large gecko breeder that has been around for years and highly respect, what question would you ask them?

So lets here it! :main_thumbsup:

I would ask; can you actually make a living selling leos, or do you need to keep that day job!

 

[RepBex]

Why do you choose to change the natural design of the gecko ?

 

[godzillizard]

That list is just too long to type I have dedicated a notebook for those questions, and everytime it fills up, i drive out to my mentors facility and ask him. But my biggest question is: Which morphs/bloodlines have demonstrated a propensity for specific issues/problems/abnormalities? After only 3 years breeding leos, I'm a firm believer that some genes/lines/traits come with some unwanted/unexpected side effects. From nasty attitudes, difficulty absorbing/processing certain vitamins, skeletal deformities etc--some types seem like an entirely different creature relative to the majority of "normal" leopard geckos. I just can't believe that a Super Snow Blazing Blizzard, or any other of these new super combos, are physiologically identical to an afghanicus, for example. Maybe someday someone will methodically study these animals so we can create factual standards, but until then, we're all just going to have to deal with the fact that there are no facts in leopard gecko genetics, only "seemings"

 

[cwazy]

"If you could ask a breeder anything.. what would it be?"



OOOOooooOOOOO.... can I HAVE that please??? :main_laugh: :main_rolleyes:

 

[SaSobek]

I would ask; can you actually make a living selling leos, or do you need to keep that day job!

Keep your day job. There are people that make money don’t get me wrong, but there are a few things that you need to do to do so.

You must find a nitch, and a name. you have to be know for something. This can be as simple has having the best of a certain line or it can be that you are the one coming out with the new crosses and combos.

It doesn’t happen over night. It takes years building a collection and sometimes you never stop. Expect that you will lose money for a year or two if not more. Even during times of the year there is no money coming in at all but there are times that there is more then average coming in. sometimes projects pay off sometimes they don’t .

There are also little things as well like you don’t get all great babies. Some babies are just “normal “ you have to have a way to sell the cheap ones as well as the ones that are $$$.

And the biggest thing are you willing to put in the time, space and money to get started you can’t live off of breeding 10 females. You have to have a good sized collection and that is a lot of work, time, and money. Are you willing to have no live other then your geckos for a while and be able to endure hard times to get to what you want to do. There have been many of times I ask my self is it worth it. I had a lot of help and it was still a year of paying money in and not really seeing much go into my pocket. I’m not going to lie I love doing this and I love creating new combos but at the same time you have to be willing to give some things up . So even if you can do this you are looking at keeping your day job for a good couple of years till you get to a point that you feel that you can live off of what you make from the geckos.
If you feel that you can do it, I wish you all the best , but it is a tough road.

Why do you choose to change the natural design of the gecko ?

Ok there are two parts of this. Both, people could say are unethical and wrong. But I’m going to put it out there and not be afraid to do so. And I believe anyone that says different and says that they do it because they love the animals is full of it. I do enjoy and care about my geckos and put a lot of my life into them. But here is the reality of why we do what we do and change what they look like.

One is a scientific one; Us as humans, we are all fascinated with “playing god” if you will. There is a curiosity and a satisfaction in changing something to better suit are needs and tastes. Look at dog breeds. We want to see what the genetic possibilities are in the animals that we call pets. And different and unique is good to us. Of course there are purists that like the natural look of everything but that wasn’t the question, you just wanted to know why we change them.

The other is money: breeders are in this to make money whether it be just enough to feed there collections or to live off of, most people that keep large numbers of geckos want some financial gain out of having so many. So we change what the gecko looks like so it will sell better. It could be a very nice tang or a gecko with every single genetic trait in it. The prettier or more rare the gecko is the more money it can sell for. So we breed for that to make the best looking gecko that we can with what we have. And there is always that hunt to make something that no one else has ever seen before.

So love or hate what I said, but in my opinion that is the truth of the matter. :main_thumbsup:

 

[thekooliest]

Can I have some for free?

 

[SaSobek]

But my biggest question is: Which morphs/bloodlines have demonstrated a propensity for specific issues/problems/abnormalities? After only 3 years breeding leos, I'm a firm believer that some genes/lines/traits come with some unwanted/unexpected side effects. From nasty attitudes, difficulty absorbing/processing certain vitamins, skeletal deformities etc--some types seem like an entirely different creature relative to the majority of "normal" leopard geckos.

well that can be a touchy thing depending on who you talk to. the big one right now is the enigma. I believe that all issues/problems/abnormalities can be breed out of leopard geckos. I have seen enigma siblings do the spinning thing. So I don’t not think that it is just an enigma trait. I also believe that what ever is going on with them can be breed out of them, due to the out crossing that we did the year with the sub-species. I think time will tell what can be done with the enigma. I think that it will be a breeders responsibility to try to get any issues/problems/abnormalities that any of there lines that they breed. that they do there best to get out any and all issues/problems/abnormalities that they may have and disclose all info to there customers.

But it is not just enigmas some lines of RAPTORs and Super Snows grow slower and don’t do as well as others. Again I think that out crossing is key to dealing with all and any issues/problems/abnormalities that any of these lines might have.

Maybe someday someone will methodically study these animals so we can create factual standards, but until then, we're all just going to have to deal with the fact that there are no facts in leopard gecko genetics, only "seemings"

I’m trying to figure out all I can about every thing to do with leopard geckos. But it is hard because as I said above some lines are strong and some aren’t. it would be almost imposable to have geckos from every breeders line and study all of them as different lines. So all I can do is study the lines that I work with and disclose and thing that any one wants to know about them.

 

[paulnj]

I would ask for a breeder loan, so I can make a better profit:main_laugh:

 

[Jaiden23]

When did you decide to take breeding further than just a hobby? Was it a gradual process where you started out with say... just a few pets and before you knew it you had a rather large collection? Or did you really sit down one day and say "I want to own several hundred/thousand leos and I want to become a full time breeder."?

How long did you keep leos as pets only before you began breeding?

And lastly (for the moment at least :main_laugh: ) Do you ever regret getting into the gecko breeding business? Would you rather have just kept a few (2-5) leos?

 

[SaSobek]

I would ask for a breeder loan, so I can make a better profit:main_laugh:

hahaha do i look like a bank paul just kidding

 

[paulnj]

No matt , I want one from someone else:main_laugh: Right back atcha my friend.

 

[SaSobek]

When did you decide to take breeding further than just a hobby? Was it a gradual process where you started out with say... just a few pets and before you knew it you had a rather large collection? Or did you really sit down one day and say "I want to own several hundred/thousand leos and I want to become a full time breeder."?

How long did you keep leos as pets only before you began breeding?

Good questions. Well I did have geckos when I was in high school and shortly after. I did breed them then as well but it was like I had maybe 10 geckos all together and I kind of got out of them. Because I got a big idea in my head that I was going to breed Bearded Dragons and well I was young and really didn’t know what I was doing. Before I knew it I was burnt out and was interested in other things (girls and parties)

How I got into them again? Well I was in the army and wanted to have a small reptile for my room. So went down to the local pet store and go 3 of them. I started looking more and more online and wanted to get some nicer ones and I still remember seeing A&M’s Jungle Giants and I had to have one. So saved up my money and got one. And one turned into a few more and before I knew it I had about 30 geckos all together and a friendship grew with Alberto. By this time I was living in a condo with my girlfriend at the time. One night I was on my way home from hockey and I got a call from my girlfriend. The condo was on fire. It turned out that a powerstrip in the gecko room sparked and a fire started. The condo was filled with smoke damage and I lost a lot of every thing that I owned along with almost all of my gecko collection. The week before that Alberto had shipped me some geckos that I still owed like some on. So I called him and told him what happened and asked him if I could have a little longer to pay them off. He said yes and asked if there was anything he could do. I told him I didn’t have a place to put the geckos that survived the fire and he said he would take them take care of them and try to nurse them back to health. So I took my geckos to him and he took care of them for 2-3 months. During that time I was very down and very upset. Alberto came to me with an idea. He was kinda getting burnt out and asked if I wanted to breed some geckos for him. Right then I made the choose to do this and see what I could do with the opportunity that I was given. So I bought racks and rented a store front and new if I was going to do this I would have to jump in and see if I could swim. I asked Alberto every thing and he showed me everything. He tought me how and why to do things and I learned as much as I could. It seemed like every time I went to his house I was taking more and more geckos home, it was like a kid going to a candy store and not having to pay for anything. My collection grew to about 90 females in a hurry. That was in 06. When 07 started it was my first year really breeding on such a large scale and at times I was like wow what did I get my self into. But I got through that first year of breeding and in may of that year I got out of the army to fallow my goal of just working with the geckos. In 07 I got to hold back stuff that I wanted and start projects that I thought would make sence for the years to come. I also picked up key geckos that helped me make what I made this year. And I also spent money a lot of money on geckos that the projects just didn’t pan out. But that is all in learning. So now that 08 is almost done and I’m actually starting my 09 season right now it has been a rough road but there have been some great times like hatching some really cool things this year. But also there has been some sad times like the fire and the drama that comes with being a bigger breeder.

And lastly (for the moment at least :main_laugh: ) Do you ever regret getting into the gecko breeding business? Would you rather have just kept a few (2-5) leos?

There was a time this year that, I was like do I really want to be doing this. It came right after the drama with the “black hole” I was deeply sadned by all of it. I never wanted it to become a big deal. I felt like I had let Alberto down and hurt the reputation that he had built over years of doing this. In the end it was not the naming it was an underlying problem that finally was just exploded in a public forum. It defenitly showed me the drama that this hobby can and dose have init at times. It is like a close family sometimes members of the family don’t get along. But just like a family there are people in this hobby that I have found to be some of my best friends and that are there for you even if its not about geckos.

There also was this Daytona as well. I did hear some comments from gecko breeders that I actually looked up to and that because of I lost a lot of respect for. We are all human and we are all part of a big gecko family. I hope that it never gets to the way that ball python breeders are for the most part hating each other. I would hope that no matter what if some one had a problem with me or the way I do things that the person or persons could come to me and we could talk about it and hopefully come to an understanding.

 

[SaSobek]

it would be nice if other breeders would answer these things too hahaha kinda feel weird being the only one telling everything :main_lipsrsealed:

 

[yellermelon]

Why do you choose to change the natural design of the gecko ?

before i make a statment I am a hobbyist..very small time lol... But I somwhat agree with Matt at saying amking money on a new morph you work on is awsome..hard work paying off...not greed.
But I will also say..The combos and such is cool because you never know what its gonna turn out looking like, and just look at the amazing beautiful colors (skin pigment, and eye color) that are available to obtain for your collection today, we wouldnt have been able to have this had the early on breeders not changed them from their normal appearance.

 

[Jaiden23]

Matt, that was a truly inspirational story, thank you for sharing that. You've had quite the journey to get to where you are now. I admire your ability to openly share your experiences, whether good or bad, that's one thing I love about some of the breeders (and hobbyists) here on GF.

 

[Select Gex]

SaSobek, I was not actually asking for breeders to answer these questions. I wanted to use them in an upcoming segment I will run on my website.

 

[paulnj]

I think you should have stated that before Matt started answering. I was just about to chime in too so he wasn't up on stage all alone.

 

[snared99]

No matt , I want one from someone else:main_laugh: Right back atcha my friend.

One must get geckos that produce in the loan to make them work....lol

 

[Select Gex]

Sorry I did not state this earlier. By the time I got a chance to check the thread he had already made several replies. This is no harm to what I am doing, just wanted some user generated questions.