BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Hi hope this is the right area to post, I have two beardies and I was thinking of getting yet another vivarium and getting a third beardie, I was going to breed hem at one stage but heard it was far too expensive for what I could even remotely make of the profit, I love handling beardies, I like how mine are non aggressive, one only ever threatening me once when I leaned in over it. I am thinking about getting a cheaper lizard now maybe a bluetongue but I'm thinking in the future would it be worth breeding bluetongues is there much joy and profit from that?, but basically I want something else I can handle and love(care for) what's the primary difference between central beardies and most bluetongues ? Which in your professional opinion is easier to care for and better to handle, more fun and cheaper to have. Also which would be better to breed, please warn me if I am on the wrong section of forum but it looked right. I really appreciate all your help and if bluetongues can you recommend a particular type, I'm currently thinking Eastern,Northern , shingleback or blotch.
Whatever one is cheapest to feed and most fun. Having said that I don't mind forking out cash for something that I love,I do already with my beardies and it's well spent

I'd have to say that I never set out to make a profit from breeding blueys. In fact in Australia blueys are relatively worthless financially, in fact when I add everything up it probably costs me. There are far more to be gained from a labour of love so to speak than trying to make a profit from blueys. It might be possible if you lived in Melbourne or Sydney and had a "puppy mill" type operation happening but then I wouldn't be helping anyone to achieve that.

I'm not sure why it would be more expensive to breed beardies, other than using an incubator which can be come by cheaply or even home made and buying feeders? But I would like to think that anyone going into breeding would have a strategy for selling greater than dumping on babies on pet shops.

I get the impression that you probably would appreciate beardies more, particularly playing with comical little babies.

Scotts1au wrote:I'd have to say that I never set out to make a profit from breeding blueys. In fact in Australia blueys are relatively worthless financially, in fact when I add everything up it probably costs me. There are far more to be gained from a labour of love so to speak than trying to make a profit from blueys. It might be possible if you lived in Melbourne or Sydney and had a "puppy mill" type operation happening but then I wouldn't be helping anyone to achieve that.

I'm not sure why it would be more expensive to breed beardies, other than using an incubator which can be come by cheaply or even home made and buying feeders? But I would like to think that anyone going into breeding would have a strategy for selling greater than dumping on babies on pet shops.

I get the impression that you probably would appreciate beardies more, particularly playing with comical little babies.

Breeding is out of the door because it probably will be too much work and money and too much good competition out there like yourself who deserves to have business more than I in my personal opinion as you are more experienced and always will be, so I'm going to stick to handling , I really want something to watch TV with,something that may lick me, not a dog already have one lol. I know I'm asking a lot for a reptile sorry, basically want something I can play with or handle stroke and pat and will tolerate handling more. With that said do you still think beardies or do you think blueys? Either way I'm good.

Scotts1au wrote:I'd have to say that I never set out to make a profit from breeding blueys. In fact in Australia blueys are relatively worthless financially, in fact when I add everything up it probably costs me. There are far more to be gained from a labour of love so to speak than trying to make a profit from blueys. It might be possible if you lived in Melbourne or Sydney and had a "puppy mill" type operation happening but then I wouldn't be helping anyone to achieve that.

I'm not sure why it would be more expensive to breed beardies, other than using an incubator which can be come by cheaply or even home made and buying feeders? But I would like to think that anyone going into breeding would have a strategy for selling greater than dumping on babies on pet shops.

I get the impression that you probably would appreciate beardies more, particularly playing with comical little babies.

Sorry if I said anything to offend you Scott, I am socially slow unfortunately always have been prob always will be.
But I really do appreciate your advice, any more answers from everyone if I knew someone with a bluetongue I would try it out myself(handle it I mean ) and see what it's like I've already handled beardies and I enjoy them except that their a bit rough on the back and expensive to feed, like I said I really want something that prefers handling over non handling so whether that be a bearded dragon or a bluetongue I have no idea, could some people give their opinion, Scott you said maybe beardies whys that, sorry to take your time everyone but really appreciate it.

I've never owned a reptile that in my opinion "liked" handling so I cannot relate to that at all

I've owned one beardie and it was neat that he could safely cling to furniture or myself and I didn't need to worry about him falling to his death like I would with my Skink or my Leopard geckos - because of this he was out more often

Now that my skink is 22" and there are less spots she can hide I feel more comfortable about letting her wander around on the floor with minimal supervision. She doesn't mind sitting next to me on the couch to watch TV or read but if I get up to leave I must put her on the floor or back in her cage to avoid a falling accident

Feeding my Skink much easier as I find buying or raising bugs an inconvenience and my Beardie was a picky eater who hated fruits and veggies so I had to come up with creative ways to sneak them into his diet

Dood wrote:I've never owned a reptile that in my opinion "liked" handling so I cannot relate to that at all

I've owned one beardie and it was neat that he could safely cling to furniture or myself and I didn't need to worry about him falling to his death like I would with my Skink or my Leopard geckos - because of this he was out more often

Now that my skink is 22" and there are less spots she can hide I feel more comfortable about letting her wander around on the floor with minimal supervision. She doesn't mind sitting next to me on the couch to watch TV or read but if I get up to leave I must put her on the floor or back in her cage to avoid a falling accident

Feeding my Skink much easier as I find buying or raising bugs an inconvenience and my Beardie was a picky eater who hated fruits and veggies so I had to come up with creative ways to sneak them into his diet

Your right, from what I have learned all reptiles don't feel comfortable with handling, yet some can more than others, however between a bearded dragon and skink I am really unsure which would tolerate handling more so far I'm thinking bearded dragon. I could be wrong what do you think.

You are in precisely in the right spot.

I have never owned, or even touched, a beardie, so I unfortunately do not have anything to add in comparing the two or which would be better for you. But I thought I would point out a few things.

Since you already own two beardies I am going to assume you know how well you like them and enjoy handling them.
So, are you wondering if someone can help you with the question of whether they think you'd enjoy a bluey as much, or more? Or are you wondering which of the two would be more profitable to breed and sell?

If it's the first, then my advice to you would be to find a way to hold a captive one. This would really be the only way I can think of for you to get a feel for what they are like.
If it's the second, then I'm afraid only someone with intimate knowledge of the reptile trade in your area will be able to answer it for you.

I don't know, but it seems like it may be hard to make money breeding either in your area. Scott breeds super quality animals but it seems there are not always buyers for them. Blueys also (depending on the species) need to be separated at birth, which means you need the means to set up X number of fully functional enclosures, and even though blueys aren't very expensive to feed, you still need to consider that you may have to keep the offspring however long it takes to find homes for them.

All that being said, again I can't speak to beardies, but, I enjoy little in life (aside from my family) as much as I enjoy my blueys, and especially the breeding part! They are all individuals and discovering who likes to hang out with me and who takes a little more ingenuity by me because they'd rather I left them alone is part of what I like the best. Discovering which babies are full of sass and vinegar and which ones are angels, man, it doesn't get any better! Getting to know people through the process of finding suitable homes is also one of the best parts. For me personally, the profit and making money part is one of the things I dislike the most. I've spent a lot of money putting together my collection of animals and getting their habitats set up just right, and spending money on vet bills too, so I do not feel bad charging what I do for the animals I produce, but after four years of selling babies I haven't broken even yet, and I'm sure I'd have to keep doing this for four more if my goal was to make money.

Like Scott said, I gain so much more from the labor of love that I'm not interested in doing it for the money. That's not to say that doing it for the money is wrong, It's just not what I'm interested in.

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a bluey as a pet and a buddy, but I don't know whether I'd recommend it for a profit.

Susann wrote:You are in precisely in the right spot.

I have never owned, or even touched, a beardie, so I unfortunately do not have anything to add in comparing the two or which would be better for you. But I thought I would point out a few things.

Since you already own two beardies I am going to assume you know how well you like them and enjoy handling them.
So, are you wondering if someone can help you with the question of whether they think you'd enjoy a bluey as much, or more? Or are you wondering which of the two would be more profitable to breed and sell?

If it's the first, then my advice to you would be to find a way to hold a captive one. This would really be the only way I can think of for you to get a feel for what they are like.
If it's the second, then I'm afraid only someone with intimate knowledge of the reptile trade in your area will be able to answer it for you.

I don't know, but it seems like it may be hard to make money breeding either in your area. Scott breeds super quality animals but it seems there are not always buyers for them. Blueys also (depending on the species) need to be separated at birth, which means you need the means to set up X number of fully functional enclosures, and even though blueys aren't very expensive to feed, you still need to consider that you may have to keep the offspring however long it takes to find homes for them.

All that being said, again I can't speak to beardies, but, I enjoy little in life (aside from my family) as much as I enjoy my blueys, and especially the breeding part! They are all individuals and discovering who likes to hang out with me and who takes a little more ingenuity by me because they'd rather I left them alone is part of what I like the best. Discovering which babies are full of sass and vinegar and which ones are angels, man, it doesn't get any better! Getting to know people through the process of finding suitable homes is also one of the best parts. For me personally, the profit and making money part is one of the things I dislike the most. I've spent a lot of money putting together my collection of animals and getting their habitats set up just right, and spending money on vet bills too, so I do not feel bad charging what I do for the animals I produce, but after four years of selling babies I haven't broken even yet, and I'm sure I'd have to keep doing this for four more if my goal was to make money.

Like Scott said, I gain so much more from the labor of love that I'm not interested in doing it for the money. That's not to say that doing it for the money is wrong, It's just not what I'm interested in.

Personally I don't think you can go wrong with a bluey as a pet and a buddy, but I don't know whether I'd recommend it for a profit.

hi that is a good answer thanks, I should of clarified but I am no longer interested in breeding just having one as a pet to love. As for handling I know from experience and opinion of some others that a lot(not all) bearded dragons at least will give the impression they want to hang out with you, whether that means a staring contest(which may come across dominating ) or in the Case of mine they seem to like getting handled, I think I would buy a bluetongue either that has been handled a lot or get a baby and raise it and try to tame it, I want something that will sit like a dragon and I can stroke without it trying to bite me, if that is possible for a bluetongue or even a cunniham skink then I'd like to get one to do that even of it means it has to get used to me first, can you recommend any good experiences or videos on YouTube where ordinary people(not zookeepers) are handling their skink(whatever type shingle,bluetongue, or cunniham) and it is allowing them to stroke it, I went to a animal park today that had bluetongues and allowed me only to touch it not hold or handle it, as their afraid of the thing biting the person and having a legal case on their hands, anyway it was very nice and curious I enjoyed stroking it but apparently it's not good to get to close to the head like stroking the head is a bad idea because they reckon it can turn around and bite, but wouldn't it hiss first? I'm unfamiliar with what the sound they make is called but I think that is it. Where can you stroke your bluetongue , I am actually more of a hands on person I like to handle things so maybe a bluetongue is not for me?, what do you think? Sorry I'll try not to ask any more questions.thanks for all the help.

I have had experience with both blueys and beardies, and for handling and leisure things like that I would recommend a bluey. With my experience both are tolerant to moderate handling but I've found that blueys generally are a little bit more tame and dog like, while bearded dragons can be a bit more timid, but their all different. Lots of people encourage the touching of an animals facial regions to ensure that their are no boundaries. The way you tame your animals will determine how tolerant they are. Between the two species go with the one you prefer.

I've had lots of experience with beardies before and recently got into bts. I've only ever had experience with one bts though, but it seems to enjoy handling much more then any beardie I've ever handled.