Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At what age does a female dragon normally lay their first clutch of eggs? My boyfriend's dragon isn't a year old yet...the age I'm not positive about, but he got the dragon in January and s/he is about 17 inches now. Anyhow, we are trying to find out if maybe Bowser is a girl! We thought we checked and knew what we were looking at, that he was a he. But, maybe we were wrong. Anyhow, the reason for my question is, Bowser recently has acquired a quite large belly. He sleeps on a hammock, with his hind feet on the hammock and his upper body in the corner against the glass, and his belly hangs over the hammock.

he doesn't eat fatty treats, just crickets, superworms, phoenix worms and quite alot of greens. Is the dragon too young to have eggs already if it turns out he is a she? Do we need to take him to a vet to find out for sure? Should we just prepare in case that is what it is? Any thoughts?

Bowser is healthy otherwise, has a good appetite, is very active, nothing else alarming other than the rather large belly.

BEARDED DRAGONS CAN START LAYING EGGS AROUND 1 YR OLD, BUT I HAVE HEARD ITS BEST TO WAIT UNTILL THEY ARE 2ISH. MY FIRST BEARDED DRAGON JUST LAYED HER FIRST CLUTCH. RIGHT BEFORE SHE DID, SHE BEGAN TO DIG, DIG AND DIG. I PUT A LAYING BOX IN THERE FOR HER WITH A COVER ABOUT 6 TO 10 INC OF DIRT. SHE DIDNT USE IT THOU...I HOPE THIS HELPS AS FAR AS IF YOUR BEARDED DRAGON IS A BOY OR GIRL, LOOK ON WEB SITES TO SEE PICS ON HOW TO TELL,,,GOOD LUCK THOU,,,,ITS HARD FOR US LOL

One of mine laid eggs this year at 9 months. Personally I think it seems a little late in the year to have not laid at least a first clutch yet. The site below will help with sexing.

http://www.dachiu.com/sexing.html

There really isn't a set age when a dragon can develop eggs. It isn't recommended to breed dragons, especially females, younger than 15 months, with 18 months being best.

However, female dragons can produce eggs as young as 8 months old (I beleive 6 months old was the youngest dragon to have developed and laid infertile eggs...but I can't remember where I read it, if it was somewhere on this forum in the past, a book or elsewhere online, so can't validate it right now). Some dragons will never lay eggs, unless cooled. Typically they won't have eggs before a year old, if not mated.

If you are concerned your dragon is female and has infertile eggs, you can gently feel her belly for marble sized objects. Don't press hard as you don't want to damage the eggs or her.

A large belly can be due to over feeding as well, it really depends on how much food you feed daily. The type of food certainly can make a difference as well, but you did mention you don't feed waxworms or other high fat insects.
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PHLdyPayne