Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ive had my dragon Duke for 6 years now(which makes him around 7 years old or so). Ive been wanting to breed him for a long time, and finally found a good deal on a nice female yesterday. I was interested to see how Duke would react to his new cage buddy/mate.

I brought her home, and placed her in his cage(custom built, big enough for at least 3 adult dragons) with him. He became very worked up as soon as he noticed her. He inflated his beard, started bobbing his head like crazy, stamping his feet, and tilting his body to make himself look bigger.
The female responded with a slow and calm head bob and arm waving. Occasionally Duke will chase her, grab her neck(as if to position her for breeding), hold on for about 10-15 seconds while the female continued to wave her arms, then let go and run off and just stare at her with his beard inflated or start bobbing his head again.

Is this breeding behavior, or are they just establishing who is the boss?

Id prefer it if only those with experience in this area reply.

Thanks,
Andrew

You should have originally never placed the new dragon in with your male until she had been quaratined for at least 30 days, preferably 60 days. Second, it is not recommended that you house a male and a female dragon together because their is a very high chance that the male will try to constantly breed with your female and this will stress her out and potentially kill her. I have been very lucky to have a male that does not like to breed and has only produced one clutch with my female in a year and a half, but i also keep a very close eye on them, but I do not reccomend housing a male and female together.Next, that is breeding behavior. Have you researched all of the involved work and costs of having lots of babies running around? They have to be housed 5 to a 20 gallon cage and you may get up to 5 clutches from just one mating. Just a few quick little reminders. Good luck.
Amanda

Yes, I have thoroughly researched this, and having succesfully bred several species of lizard/gecko I know most of the male/female issues. I just wanted to be sure of what I was seeing.
The cage can easily be divided should the need arrise. I have a plan for pretty much everything, so dont fret too much. Im not the typical mindless drone that you often see come through here.

Thanks again for the help.

Andrew

to all the mindless drones out there...don't take his remark personal because reading forums is one of the ways to correct the mindless drone problem. Nobody has all the answers!
-----
3.4.0 Beardies
1.2.0 Crested Geckos
1.1.1 Box Turtles
0.1.0 Sulcata
1.1.0 Ball Python
2.1.0 corn snake
0.1.0 great plains rat snake
0.1.0 Blue Beauty Snakes
1.0.0 Banana King snake
1.0.0 Desert King snake
2.7.0 Guinea Piggies
3.6.0 Dumbo rats
1.0.0 Blue Front Amazon Parrot
0.1.0 Congo African Grey Parrot
1.1.0 house cats
2.0.0 Maine Coon Cats
2.0.0 Boxers