Is it Ethical to Breed Bearded Dragons?

[Tam85]

Hey there,

Im doing a project about the Ethics of Breeding Bearded Dragons for an extra qualification alongside my A levels.

I have a 1 year old Dragon called Freddie, who I bought in February, and he has become practically my best friend in that time. I would like to breed baby dragons from him, and was wondering what your thoughts were about whether Breeding a captive animal was ethical.

Any thoughts welcome!

Tam x

[beardielover17]

I think it would really depend on your motive for breeding and how you went about it in order to determine if it was ethical or not. Are you doing it for the love of the hobby/species? Or are you doing it for a monetary gain (although there really is no such thing if you breed them lol). Do you provide top notch husbandry for your breeders and babies? Or do you cut corners that  sacrifice your animal's well being?

Personally I see it completely fine if you do it out of the pure love for the hobby and the species and if you breed healthy animals that will not weaken an already shallow and weakened gene pool. I think if you provide excellent care for your breeders and babies it's ethical. Now what is considered excellent care? Most people would say that "care sheet care" is the right or best way to go about it but I disagree. There's more than one way to do it right and many different levels of keeping but as long as your animals are in a clean environment, provided proper amounts of food, water and quality UV and temps I consider it good care.

Even when you get into the genetic aspect and "morphs" as long as you go about it in a healthy way by not breeding related dragons to bring out a desired trait but rather breeding animals to those with similar traits but not related is fine too. Morphs are ok as long as they don't compromise the animal's well being.

All in all I feel that if you research enough and make sure your husbandry is good and your animals are healthy I see nothing wrong with breeding. Every dedicated keeper should experience it at least once. It's a truly amazing feeling when you see them hatch

[perfectly_flawed]

I believe it can be ethical if done correctly.
Inbreeding, breeding without proper research and knowledge, breeding to make a buck without taking proper care of the animals - all of those things make it unethical.
An individual who takes the time to learn the correct way to take care of their gravid female and the hatchlings, who's willing to put the time and expense into properly caring for the babies, and who makes sure to breed strong unrelated dragons can be a huge asset to the dragon world.

[Tam85]

Oh its definately for the love! I wouldnt sacrifice Freddie health for everything - i think actually he is a bit spoiled! (but he doesnt get given too much food or anything)

Thanks for your help

[julesfamily]

My views may be a little harsh, but I believe it is unethical to breed any animal unless you are doing it for the specific purpose to improve the breed.  Clearly this means breeding only the best of the best specimens, with no health issues, and only if there is a clear market for the offspring (unless you're willing to take care of every single baby that doesn't find a great home).  You have to take both money and love (for the specific animal) out of the equation.  It's about love and respect for the species, wanting to contribute to the longevity of the breed.  Not just add to the problem of all the poor, plain bearded dragons that die slow and lonely deaths.

I'll get off my soap box now.

[Red Ink AUS]

My views may be a little harsh, but I believe it is unethical to breed any animal unless you are doing it for the specific purpose to improve the breed.  Clearly this means breeding only the best of the best specimens, with no health issues, and only if there is a clear market for the offspring (unless you're willing to take care of every single baby that doesn't find a great home).  You have to take both money and love (for the specific animal) out of the equation.  It's about love and respect for the species, wanting to contribute to the longevity of the breed.  Not just add to the problem of all the poor, plain bearded dragons that die slow and lonely deaths.

I'll get off my soap box now.

Money and ethics in the same equation often leads to unthetical decisions. There's no reason why you can't give the offsprings away if you were breeding for the love of it.

[julesfamily]

Well, the main problem with that... people often put the exact same value on an animal, that they pay for it.  Too often people who get a pet for free, see it as expendable.  The purchase price of a pet is by far the cheapest part.  If they can't afford to buy it, they can't afford to take care of it.  Now, this is just statistics.  I'm not saying it ALWAYS happens this way.  You just have to be very careful when giving away 20 living beings, that you put on this earth, for free.  I know I'd have a hard time worrying at night.

[beardielover17]

Of course you have to be careful when giving away animals and even selling. But a person who loves these animals and the hobby I'm sure they go out of their way to make sure the people who get the babies are good people. Also if a person really is into the animals and hobby they would make sure their animals have something worth while to pass on to future generations (be it looks or health or both) so all in all it would be to improve the breed. There will always be that risk of them going to a bad home but unfortunately there is no way of preventing that. Also just because a person gets an animal for free doesn't necessarily mean they can't take care of it either. People like to save money on certain things so they can spend more on other things for example: Free dragon means more money to spend on a nice cage or supplies. This is just my opinion

[julesfamily]

yep beardielover, I think we're saying the exact same thing, just in a different way. 

[beardielover17]

yep beardielover, I think we're saying the exact same thing, just in a different way. 

Great minds think alike