Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I need some advice concerning something I found in my male’s vent. I was doing a post brumation check on my male and I found something kind of sticking out of his vent. Concerned, I gave it a slight tug and it started to come out. It kind of looked like a “bougger” (sorry for lovely term!) It was dry were it was coming out of the vent and it was coming from the tail, not the body.

I gave him and his mate a week or so to get back in shape after their cool down. Not two and a half weeks after putting them together the female laid 25 infertile eggs. I never saw them mate but I was wondering if I was possible that the female started forming her eggs before the male had a chance to fertilize them (that’s if he ever did) Or if the thing I pulled from the males vent was a sperm plug?

In total I pulled two of these things from the male. One just after brumation, and another after I checked him again after the female laid the infertile clutch. I was thinking about having him checked by a vet but there isn’t any true reptile vet’s were I live. I worried he will try to invert him, doing more harm than good. (Also his fecal is clean).

Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!!!

Hey Tim. If what you pulled out is a whitish color, then it definitely sounds like a sperm plug. Sperm plugs are pretty normal for some males. It is possible that the female cycled and the male was unable to fertilize. Just check him regularly and if you see that little plug hanging out just gently pull it out.
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Paul Morlock
of CaptiveCreations and
Retail Sales Rep. for Sandfire Dragon Ranch

Hey Paul, it’s great to see you back in the forum. And I’m glad to hear your over you’re bought with pneumonia.

Paul, what are sperm plugs? Will my male still be able to fertilize my female this season? As you can see from the pic he is a nice male and I really want HIM to fertilize my female. I take the female out of the cage for a wile and then but her back in and he goes nuts. (As I would expect) But he doesn’t try very hard to do his business.

I have a nice but young Orange Hypo Pastel that is beautiful. He would make a nice mate for my female but she has around 100gms on him (she is around 450gms). I put them together and right away he tries to mate but she freaks out. She even did a “death roll” right when he was going to mate her. Is it possible that she has already been fertilized by the Blood male and therefore doesn’t want anything to do with mating? Or is she just being a B*#ch.

Here is a pic of the female. You can see why I’m trying to ensure I don’t get another 25 infertile eggs! But her health is my first concern.

Thanks again for your help!
P.S. Thank you all for the complements!

Sperm plugs are sperm that was released without the hemipenis being everted. Yes, It's still possible for the male to breed. I would just check him regularly for more plugs and remove them as soon as you see any. From your description of the females behavior I would say that it is a good possibility that she does have eggs again. Whether they are fertile or not I couldn't say, but I do have a question for you. Can you tell me why you say the first clutch of eggs were infertile? She may also not be letting the other male breed her because he is so much smaller than her, but usually in cases like that the female would more or less ignore the males advances. Females tend to get pretty agressive if they are already carrying eggs.
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Paul Morlock
of CaptiveCreations and
Retail Sales Rep. for Sandfire Dragon Ranch

Thanks paul, That makes a lot of sense. The female is looking fat already. Vickie said that her sisters were dropping eggs every 15 to 20 days. And her first clutch was fairly large at 25 eggs. Not bad for a dragon that is just around one year old. I’ll know if she mated soon. I’ll know with the next clutch. But working all day makes it hard for me to know if the dragons mated. I’ll keep checking the male for any new plugs

And her first clutch was infertile. All the eggs looked like little off white raisins, Soft and small. When I saw her digging around her cage I felt for eggs. I couldn’t feel a thing. So assumed that either she was carrying infertile eggs or she was just digging around. Sure enough they were infertile. I put them in the incubator just for fun and they started to mold up.

Thank you so much for your help. I let you how the next clutch goes

Very pretty ! Citrus-y I like him !

Eve

Beautiful color on that fellow.
Karen

n/p