Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What do you all feel the maximum incubation temperature for Bearded Dragons is?

I've always tried to stick with 84 degrees... But I'd like to incubate a clutch at 88 this year - to see what kind of difference I get in sex ratios, color, incubation time, and hatchling size.

Anyone feel it is too high of a risk to incubate at temperatures as high as 88 degrees? I've read that 90 degrees may kill the embryo...

Thanks for any input.

I'd stick with 84 degrees, what is safe. A couple degrees isn't worth the risk to your babies ..
I'm not so sure I believe the temp vs. sex thing.
I had a temp spike, which is supposed to create females, and had mostly males.
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www.classylizard.com

When in the incubation period is this temperature spike supposed to alter the sex of your dragons??

I'm well aware that temperature sexing has NOT been proven in Bearded Dragons... The main point was to see the difference in color, sex, incubation time, hatchling size, etc. Nothing scientific here, just for my own purposes.

When you're incubating a LOT of eggs... Why not try something new with one clutch? Yes, there is the risk of losing all the eggs. Oh well! There's also a risk of deformed babies. This is a greater concern. But how will we know unless we try?

Whoever figured out beardies incubate best at 84 degrees obviously tried a few other temperatures first....

"Why not try something new with one clutch? Yes, there is the risk of losing all the eggs. Oh well! There's also a risk of deformed babies".
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IMO, you answered your own question.
There are people that have been raising dragons for over 10-15 yrs. that have suggested the tried and true temps. Trust me, you aren't the first to experiment.
It's unfortunate that you consider a whole clutch of eggs disposable because you want to play with temps and consider it an "Oh well".

From Kathryn Tosney's site: Professor of Biology
The University of Michigan

**In my experience, even brief periods at higher temperatures have been lethal.

**I believe that elevated temps cause an increase in respiration inside the egg. If you increase respiration too much, you exceed the shells capability to transfer gases quickly enough and the embryo smothers. Now maybe chameleon eggs are more sensitive to this but I have seen stories of eggs going full term and babies stillborn, but perfectly formed. Even tho it takes longer, I will opt for lower temps. Also, there has been some discussion on this list not too long ago about high incubation temps causing weak hatchlings.
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www.classylizard.com

There's no reason to get upset. It was a simple question. I have not incubated Bearded Dragons above 86 degrees yet. I may try... And I may not. And as it is experimental, it would probably only be with a few eggs to start.

What if I had said "What if I incubate beardie eggs at 78 degrees"? Would you consider this bad juju too?

Back to my question for you... Where exactly in the incubation period is this temperature spike supposed to create more females than males? I'm positive it can't be just anywhere...

At 78 degrees they would hatch eventually with no problem, might take a few months though. Too high of temps will definately have an adverse affect.
You can't predetermine sex by using temperature with bearded dragons. It just doesn't work. they aren't Geckos.

What was upsetting to me was your total disregard for the hatchlings and the "Oh Well" if I hatch a bunch of deformed beardies.
Not to mention all that it takes out of a female to produce eggs.
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www.classylizard.com

OK - so you're convinced temperature has nothing to do with sex. What the heck did you mean by this:

"I had a temp spike, which is supposed to create females, and had mostly males."

That's what I have been trying to get out of you, unsucessfully.

Where exactly did I state that I did not care about deformed babies? It may do you some good to go back and reread my original posts when you have calmed down a bit. But just in case - here's what I ACTUALLY said:

"There's also a risk of deformed babies. This is a greater concern.

>>Back to my question for you... Where exactly in the incubation period is this temperature spike supposed to create more females than males? I'm positive it can't be just anywhere...

Beardies are NOT temperature sexed like Leo's and some other geckos. It just doesn't happen... period! It is something in the genetic makeup that makes them they way they are.

I usually opt for the lower end of the scale and incubate between 83 - 84 degrees. I have incubated at 85 - 86 and had the same average ratio of males and females. The ONLY time I get way more females than males is from my Hypo red female..... she seems to just throw more female babies than my others for some reason.

Have fun "playing god".... I personally prefer to be safe than sorry.... but then again, my dragons are my pets and family... not just female breeder #1, #2, #3, etc.
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Lisa
www.beginnersbasics.com

"Have fun "playing god".... I personally prefer to be safe than sorry.... but then again, my dragons are my pets and family... not just female breeder #1, #2, #3, etc."

Sorry - but if you did not believe in "playing god" you would not be artificially incubating your eggs and breeding for color.

Trust me, our females are not just breeders. They are pets and educational tools. They are ambassadors to our reptiles. They are our favorites.

What I am seeing (more than anything) is a bunch of hot heads. That's fine, I'll just move along. Thanks for playing.

Most of the breeders I've talked to keep the thermostat dialed in at between 84-86 degrees and no higher then that. I asked quite a few breeders about the sex, and incubation temps and all said that with beardies it does not work like that. Many Gecko species yes, but not with beardies. The breeder I know that incubates all his eggs at 86 has an average hatch time between 65-68 days. Good luck with the eggs. How many did that dragon lay last night? The first clutch you said was 33 fertile eggs. That's pretty good for 9 month male.
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Mystical Dragons webshots pictures
Mystical-Dragons Website

Second clutch was 26 eggs, all fertile. Thanks for your input on incubation temps.

I have found that with temps above 85F I have a lower hatch rate. When I disected the unhatched eggs to see why they didn't hatch, I found severely deformed babies. While I did get a higher female to male ratio, I decided it just wasn't worth the risk. I now incubate at 85F and have about a 99% hatch rate. I find that the female to male ratio is more dependant on my breeding lines as opposed to heat. For example, my leucistic/snow lines always come out male heavy. Out of 20 eggs, 15 will be male and 5 will be female. With my HypoxRed lines, it is more of a 40/60 split but still male heavy. Yellows almost 50/50 and Oranges back to 30/70 male heavy again.
Wendy
Scales - Premium Exotic Reptiles

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