Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All

Due to some very strange behaviour from my Water Dragons, I really need to know what sex they are so that I can seperate them, if necessary, before anything bad happens! Their appearance changes rapidly and I think I have captured them in such a way that they can be sexed by other WD owners {maybe?} ... They are 18-24 months old and I have a LOT of pics to post ... so please help me sex them .... I don't want to take them to the vet to get probed, in case it causes permanent damage.

Thanks Guys

This is Aqua

Aqua With Chilli

Chilli

Snappy

All Three Of Them ~ Left To Right ~ Snappy, Chilli & Aqua

I'm not sure how many w. dragons you are showing altogether in these pictures since I don't have time to study each picture....but the first picture looks like a male, the first picture with two of them in it looks like a male and a female, and the last picture looks like two males (left and right) with a female in the middle.
If there are more than three, then you need to label them or send them individually so that I can tell.

I did try to label them but the pics came out quite big lol

Here is Aqua ... one of the three ...

Here is Chilli another of the three ......

Here is Snappy, the third one of the three

Aqua and snappy are males, chilli is female.

Thanks Morquinn :-} I appreciate your reply. I guess the vote is unanimous! I asked in another forum too and 5 people said the same!

Oooops just read your post again kinyonga .... and Thank You!!! so no need to look at them again lol .... 2 males and a female. I thought it was completely the opposite to that when they were younger. I will now have to seperate one of them I guess :-{

Thanks Again! :-}

If you look at Chili (female) you will see that the "spikes" on her back are very short all the way down. The crest on the back of the neck isn't as deep as that of the males.

She also is slightly thicker/rounder just in front of the back legs. (This is harder to see...but you'll notice it with time.)

The tail is not quite so deep/thick as the males' tails are.

The two males have longer "spikes" and don't have that thickness to the area just above the legs.

You can also tell by the femoral pores...but I have never relied on that.

Next season Chili should be old enough to produce eggs!

What have they been doing that made you wonder about their sex...just curious?

Do you find that yours eat fruit, veggies and greens?

I have kept/bred/raised water dragons for well over 10 years now and have found them to be awesome creatures!

P.S. I love the names!

I will agree with you on that one! Out of all my reptiles {desert iguana, berber skink and breeding pair of collareds}, the Water Dragons ARE the best!

I originally thought that Snappy was a male and as he got bigger thought he was female, even though his crest was growing {I named him such because when in the shop he would literally hang onto anything you put in his enclosure, mainly fingers lol He would really go for you, but once I got him home he was instantly and still is the easiest, calmest most placid one of the three! He is the best, I love him to bits!}

As for Aqua {named for his slightly sapphire coloring and his love of water, more than the others} I really thought he looked female, but only a few weeks ago the spikes on his crest and the base of his tail just shot up!

Chilli {named for the bright red/pink coloring on her neck} I thought was male because of just that. I thought that maybe she just wasn't as mature as the other two, because they just overtook her in growth.

They are all housed together at the moment and they used to all openly move around and lay on each other no problem. But now only one of the three is out at a time and the other two hiding. Mostly Snappy is out and if he is out Chilli will occassionally be out too, but I hardly ever see Aqua anymore. We have to bribe him out with some yummy earthworms or zoophobas. But if Aqua is out, Snappy isn't.

It is so nice to be able to chat to someone who really knows what they are talking about. I have been trying to find someone to talk to, but unless there is anything in it for them, they are not interested :-{

As for the fruit/veggies .... I have tried on the odd occassion to feed them a little bit and they have fallen for it, but not for long. The next minute they are spitting it out again .... it is the funniest thing to watch lol Do yours eat fruit/greens? If so, how do you get them to eat them?

One more question. Would you advise I get one of the males out as soon as possible? Also, I didn't think it was ok to keep one male and female together for a long period in case of oversexing her? Is which case, if you say it is a bad idea to keep say Aqua and Chilli together, I will find another female to take the burden off of her during mating season. Or do you recommend that I seperate all 3? I was hopng to make a big enough enclosure so that they can all stay in together, but as I am moving house soon, that idea has been put on hold for a while until I am settled. What I am afraid of now, is if I do separate them, and then make this HUGE enclosure, they may not get along if put in there together at a later date?

Thanks for your reply, it is much appreciated!!!