Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was told that this beardie was a female when I purchased him/her at a show to live with my other female. Since then, he/she has had a growth rate of nearly twice as much as the one I already had. He/she also displays constantly and looks like the pictures that I've found on the web of males. I am however a snake guy as these are supposed to be my wifes babies.

What do you all think? Did I get sold the wrong gender?

Thanks

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Black Rat 0.1 (Patty)
Black Racer 1.0 (Alfred)
Ball Pythons 1.1 (Morty & Mary)
Amazon Tree Boas 1.1 (Orville & Aeme)
Corn Snakes 3.2 (?, Bob, Sandy, Candy, and Tye)
Leopard Geckos 1.2 (Leo, Spaz, and Spot)
LOTSO BABIES!
Central Painted Turtle 1.0 (Swim)
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1 (Harold)
Mississippi Map Turtles 0.0.6
(Modelo, Tecate, Corona, Sol, XX, Bohemia)
Western Painted Turtle 0.0.1 (Picaso)
Columbian Red-Tailed Boa 1.0 (James Jr.)

www.geocities.com/wink0083

Looks like a boy to me. If you put your thumb on the top of the dragons hip and raise the tail at 90 degrees and if you see two elongated bumps you will be able to tell for sure the she is a he. But as I said before I am about 90% sure she is a he.

As far as the displaying goes both males and females can and will display but males definitely display more often.

Thanks,
Randy

>>Leopard Geckos 1.2 (Leo, Spaz, and Spot)
>> LOTSO BABIES!
>>Central Painted Turtle 1.0 (Swim)
>>Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1 (Harold)
>>Mississippi Map Turtles 0.0.6
>>(Modelo, Tecate, Corona, Sol, XX, Bohemia)
>>Western Painted Turtle 0.0.1 (Picaso)
>>Columbian Red-Tailed Boa 1.0 (James Jr.)
>>
>>
>>
>>www.geocities.com/wink0083
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www.AlphaDragonZ.com

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Thanks for the input, that's what I was afraid of...I guess there's another lesson to put on the board. Don't trust the guy trying to make a sale at a show if you don't have the knowledge to verify what he tells you...
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Black Rat 0.1 (Patty)
Black Racer 1.0 (Alfred)
Ball Pythons 1.1 (Morty & Mary)
Amazon Tree Boas 1.1 (Orville & Aeme)
Corn Snakes 3.2 (?, Bob, Sandy, Candy, and Tye)
Leopard Geckos 1.2 (Leo, Spaz, and Spot)
LOTSO BABIES!
Central Painted Turtle 1.0 (Swim)
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1 (Harold)
Mississippi Map Turtles 0.0.6
(Modelo, Tecate, Corona, Sol, XX, Bohemia)
Western Painted Turtle 0.0.1 (Picaso)
Columbian Red-Tailed Boa 1.0 (James Jr.)

www.geocities.com/wink0083

>>Thanks for the input, that's what I was afraid of...I guess there's another lesson to put on the board. Don't trust the guy trying to make a sale at a show if you don't have the knowledge to verify what he tells you...

he is an obvious male. I also agree that females can and do display.

In defense of the person you bought him from, the younger the dragon, the harder to sex reliably. Some that look like a female can be (and sometimes are) late blooming males. I have seen people try to sell females at 3 to 4 weeks of age; there is no way to give much better than a guess on a female at that age. Sometimes a male can be sexed at that age though. Once it looks like a male, it is a male. However, females are much more problematic. The older they are, the better the odds of correctly identifying a female. So, it is quite possible that the vendor made an honest mistake. Most decent breeders will try to make good on it some how, or let you know up front they cannot guarantee a female with 100% accuracy.
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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

Not that it does any good to bash an unknown vendor here...and like I said before that I'm the one who is bottom line at fault because I am the one who didn't do all of my research first. I found it odd that the guy didn't have a card (he "forgot" them) or feel the need to write down contact information. My wife was so excited though that I got caught up in the moment like a non-thinking kid at a candy store...oh well...now the hard part is to decide what to do with him. I don't know that I want to get into beardie breeding which I understand is nearly unavoidable if you have a male and a female together, but I don't really want to have two full beardie setups...but they're still young so I guess we have a little while to figure it out...

Thanks again for the input.

Tim
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Black Rat Snake 0.1 (Patty)
Black Racer 1.0 (Alfred)
Ball Pythons 1.1 (Morty & Mary)
Amazon Tree Boas 1.1 (Orville & Aeme)
Corn Snakes 2.3 (D.J., Bob, Sandy, Candy, and Tye)
Leopard Geckos 1.3 (Leo, Spaz, Spazzooka, and Spot)
Central Painted Turtle 1.0 (Swim)
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1 (Harold)
Mississippi Map Turtles 0.0.6
(Modelo, Tecate, Corona, Sol, XX, Bohemia)
Western Painted Turtle 0.0.1 (Picaso)
Columbian Red-Tailed Boa 1.0 (James Jr.)
Central American Boa 1.0 (Steve)
Longnosed Snake (Serano)

www.geocities.com/wink0083

I spent some looking at the picture of your dragon and I am not sure if it is male. There is discoloration (either due to being in shed or some staining from feces or maybe just natural pigment) which makes it hard to tell if there is dimple shadow, or just color. The tail isn't quite up high enough and a flat surface works much better to make the hemipenes budge out. Below is a link to some good pictures of a male and female dragon (clicking in the pictures show nice big and clear ones, which are very easy to see the difference).

Another reason I am inclined not to think your dragon is male, is the fact the 'dimple' sort of showing in yours is very wide...and from where the vent is, that area is not really being exposed in the picture as the dragon isn't completely flat in your hand (it being cupped around the dragon's body) so the area we are seeing isn't quite the area we should be looking at to determine sex,

Not sure if that made sense, but check the pictures in the link below, look for yourself and see. Also, you didn't indicate how old your dragon was, just that it has been growing well. If it is still pretty young, it may still be difficult to tell with some. Comparing with your other dragon would be a good ideal too, this way, if they look identical in that area or completely different, that will give you a good indicate if you have two of the same sex or one of each.

www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/
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PHLdyPayne