Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

I finally had a chance to get this done. Please give me your thoughts on her size and body condition. She is shedding so keep this in mind. He/she is 14" long and 4 years old. Also let me know if you think it is a male or female and what kind of Beardie it is. Any other comments would be helpful.

Thanks in advance.
Linda

Looks alert,robust and healthy ! If it is actually 14" [ did you measure it yourself, and is there a tail nip? ] that is a very short,pudgy beardie. Weight looks fine...it may have been stunted in the early months of life, but looks very healthy otherwise. Without seeing under the tail [ if you could arch the tail over the back and post a pic of the vent area ?] you can't be sure but looks female from the head shot...just a guess because of it's small size.

Very healthy little guy/girl you got there! Google: "Sexing a Bearded Dragon" and there are some good diagram pictures to use as a reference. I have a small Male dragon that is 13''-14'' and is 2 yrs. old too. Kind of cool but not easy to breed and sometimes its not worth it due to their size and amount (limited) of eggs they can hold. But Any Bearded Dragon makes an awesome PET! Best of luck with it! You are on a good forums site to help.

sincerely,
ABD
www.AtlantaBeardedDragons.com

a female. I looked tonight. I was really hoping it would not be as I hear they are notorius for egg binding. Maybe I should try to get another pic under her tail to post for everyone. At what age do they start laying eggs? I am assuming I should have something for egg laying in the enclosure?

Thanks
Linda

female bearded dragons can live a long and healthy life easily without any risk of egg binding. My female is over 4 years old now and she has lain infertile eggs last summer and again this summer without any issues.

The important thing is ensuring egg laying females have a place to lay their eggs in. Signs they are gravid and getting ready to lay eggs is consistent digging or scratching at the bottom of the cage trying to 'dig' through it. When you see this behavior, setting up an egg laying bin will help prevent egg binding.

Most common causes of egg binding is females holding onto their eggs for too long, as they desperately try to find a suitable egg laying site. Or, they have insufficient calcium in their system to really shell the eggs and they end up busting inside. Both common causes are easily prevented by providing a proper diet and husbandry, and having an egg laying bin.

I made an egg laying bin from a 55 L plastic container, about a third filled with washed children's playsand which I mixed with water so it packs down nicely but not so wet it oozed water when squeezed. As an added precaution, I used a big wide plastic bowl I bought at a dollar store (its about 14-16" diameter) I cut/broke a large opening...about a third of the circumference (actually I had cut a smaller opening but accidentally broke off more than I intended, when I was going to use the bowl as a hide for a ball python). This I bury in the sand, making sure sand was underneath the bowl too. I then banked the sand over it and about two thirds of the floor space of the container.

This set up lets my dragon dig a hole and nice 'cave' under the bowl...which makes me feel less worried about any collapse that will bury my dragon LOL. She can comfortably turn around within her nice cave and lay her eggs and rebury them.

It is also possible to just fill the same size container with sand, till about 6" from the lip/top.

For mine, I created a frame out of scape wood I had lying around and cover it with screen. This I just lay over the top of the container and used a clamp lamp to provide some heat for the sand. I use a lower wattage bulb than what I would use in her cage, as I don't want to bake her before she can finish digging a tunnel...and well, the light is alot closer in my setup to her, than it is in the main cage.

You can just put the egg laying cage directly into the main cage...with a ramp leading into it.

The eggs, once she's finished laying, can be tossed...unless you are not 100% certain they are infertile, then probably best to just freeze them over night then toss them, to kill the eggs. Or you can incubate them, if you prefer.
-----
PHLdyPayne

After the brumation period is over and the dragons up and at them, How long do you have to gain weight before it's too late to breed her so her eggs are fertile eggs? Also how much time is there in between multiple clutches for a season? other words How long is there between clutches of eggs being laid? And How long do you have to raise her weight up before it's too late to have a successful breeding period?
any answers are helpful, Thanks

As burmation isn't necessary for egg production, its a little hard to say how much time one has before the first clutch of eggs is lain. However, as a ball park figure, about 2 weeks after brumation before eggs become developed past the point they can be fertilized. However, after a couple successful matings, you don't need to reintroduce the male between clutches as females do retain sufficient sperm to last several clutches, and sometimes even to the following year (though number of fertile eggs would be greatly reduced, if no additional mating is done for the next season).

The first clutch typically will be laid about 3-5 weeks after mating/brumation. After that clutch, second and subsequent clutches are about 2-4 weeks apart. Bearded dragons can lay anywhere between 15-30 eggs per clutch (typically the larger the female and her age/health indicate how many eggs she can produce per clutch) and anywhere between 2-6 clutches per season. 4-5 is about average, but some may only lay a couple clutches and others more than 6.

After a clutch is laid, it is a good idea to give your dragon a soak in luke warm water for 5-10 minutes to provide her plenty of time to drink. This also allows for washing off dirt from the egg laying bin. An eye dropper can also be used to keep your dragon hydrated. Offer plenty of greens and insects (well gut loaded and dusted in calcium powder), pretty much all what she will eat. Some breeders will give a pinky mouse to help with calcium replenishment and other nutrients.

Monitoring weight is a good idea too, so you can see how much weight she loses from time she wakes up from brumation and once a week after that...she will loose a fair bit of weight due to egg laying (eggs do have weight afterall), but overall she shouldn't drop much below her post brumation weight.

Incubation time is around 55-70 days and incubation temperature should be between 82-85F. Humidity should be as close to 100% as possible.
-----
PHLdyPayne