Is it ethical to breed beardies just for fun?

[Snakesox]

I’ve always wanted to try my hand at breeding reptiles and although I’m new to beardie keeping, I’m just in love with my little one.
I’m really just mulling it over atm, I have no solid plans to mate her when she’s older, but I keep wondering if it’s actually ethical to be considering this at all.
With dogs, a good breeder will be trying to improve the breed and so will have selected dogs based on a large criteria of things. I’m not sure this is the same in the Herp world, but if so I obviously don’t have a clue about it and would just be breeding with pets.
And it wouldn’t be improving her life any would it? laying eggs isn’t going to offer her any enrichment, possibly the opposite?
So the only benefit is really to me. I see ads for unwanted beardies quite a lot, so if I was to consider this down the line, am I just adding to an already overflowing market of unwanted pets?

I don’t expect to make much money and I know it will cost a bomb and a lot of my time before I was even to get to that part, but I’m thinking this now because my girl is approaching 8 months and preferably I’d like to raise the male she’d be mated with so I can be sure of their health.
If anyone has any insights I’d love to hear them.
thanks.

 

[HoomanSlave]

If you're a casual keeper, I wouldn't recommend breeding.
Where will the babies go to? Are you willing to deal with risks such as egg-binding or injuries obtained from the mating ritual? Can you provide your pregnant female with a high-calcium diet, a dig box, and healthy food?
Do you have an incubator? Are you willing to put hours of work into feeding and caring for babies? Do you have all the tanks, lights, etc. to keep the babies in? Are you emotionally strong enough to deal with the possible deaths of several babies? Can you afford to feed your adult lizards and raise your babies? Remember, a single baby bearded dragon can eat up to 80 crickets in a day. Multiply that by 15-20 and you can be looking at hundreds of dollars in crickets alone.
Do you know the genetics of your lizard and the one you plan to breed her with? Do you know what colors/patterns you are trying to achieve through breeding?
The babies will have to be separated into small groups after hatching... Will you be able to make sure none go hungry and don't get attacked by their larger cage mates? Do you have enough tanks to separate babies? Can you handle the electricity bill, purchase several lights, fixtures, etc., and buy expensive tanks for them? Next, how will you sell the babies? Many herp shows have been cancelled because of Covid, so it will be harder to find customers.

If you want to breed, I recommend you get your breeding pair and find people willing to purchase beardies from you ahead of time.Get all your materials ready ahead of time, make sure both beardies are healthy before breeding, understand the risks, and then decide if you want to go through with it.