Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boyfriend and I are planning on getting two beardies, one male and one female. Eventually we are going to breed them, but want to get them as young as we can to watch them grow and have them be completely comfortable with us. What would be the youngest age that would be appropriate to introduce two dragons into the same enclosure? Should we wait until they are older to avoid the chance of mating too soon? I would appreciate some input on this. Thanks and let me know.

From what I've heard, you shouldn't breed until they are at least 1.5 years old and over 300 grams, to be sure they are done growing. And you should not house them together, keep them seperated except when mating, to prevent unwanted stress and overbreeding on the female. Beardies thrive best when they have their own space.

Everyone does things slightly different, but these are suggestions I see over and over again.
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1.0.1 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

We would not consider breeding a dragons under 18 months or 350 grams and right now we are not breeding any under 500 grams and 2 years. Smaller dragons are just available in too great a quanity now. We have one great girl that is 15 months and 460 grams, another that is 10 months and 350 grams, but know that they will be a better breeder and better for their health if allow to grow up first themselves.

We think they should be allowed to fully mature first, be prime animals who's genetics should be passed on and there is a demand in GOOD homes for them first. There are enough dragons out there that are very small with health issues, who's offsprings do not survive the first four months, we do not want to add to it.

Basically it comes down to a few choices if you want to breed and part of that is why.

Breeding commons for profit: Breeders are forced to breed as fast as they can, selling off babies cheap and young so that you do not have the investment in them that you can not recoup in the sale of them. Common babies sell for $30-$35 at shows or $15-$20 to wholesalers and if you keep them to a viable age (suggested 12 weeks) you lose money with the cost to get them there properly, so most end up with wholesales then to Pet Stores and rarely see their 4th month. This is hard on the female breeders too

Breeding for quality and good sales: Like anything valuable, it takes time, work and patience. That starts with the selection of potentially good breeders as babies from the history of the parents and care, if they were cared for properly prior to breeding, the breeder has a serious investment in them, then more in the babies once they arrive. Most quality breeders keep them for 12 weeks and have them adapted to a wide variety of diet, good lights and proper equipment to make sure they have the best start in life. Those are the babies that you would want to find for future breeders. They are not cheap as you can see there is already a fairly large investment getting them to that point. Quality babies sell for $100-$200 with a few in each clutch that may sell for $300-$400 depending on size and color. Those are usually bought by other breeders as future breeders.

Another reason is some just want to experience the cycle of life of the dragons and have planned homes for them to go to or plan on exchanges with others to improve their own breeding stock, again, most those people will wait til the dragons are mature as they are pets and they want a long life with them and babies that have the best start. When hatched the babies with traits they are looking for are usually kept by them or friends and the others sold to pay some of the cost of raising them to a certain age. If you can find a baby like that, you can usually get it at a good price and know it had a good start in life. Those people are not breeding and hatching babies for sale, but the desire to experience breeding and sharing their dragons with others.... they usually lose money in the process, but it is good experience for all.
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www.reptilerooms.com

I realize that breeding should be held off until they are full-grown, but does that mean that they cannot be housed in pairs unless they are old enough to breed?

They can't because the males sexually mature early....avg 6-8 months, some earlier if bigger.....they can be housed for the first couple of months and then need to be seperated until breeding age and as Kephy said, should be only put together for mating purposes otherwise the male will stress the female in most all cases with relentless breeding attempts. They don't need or want company, they are solitary, territorial animals....groups of females or pairs are sometimes compatible, though there will be a pecking order established and sometimes females can't house together either.
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Tracey
Tracey's Beardies
www.beardiecrazy.com
"Whining is not only graceless, but can be dangerous.
It can alert a brute that a victim is in the neighborhood" ~Maya Angelou

Thinks long and hard about breeding before you decide. Do A LOT of research on the care of the animals themselves, breeding, mother care, baby care and sales of babies. To do it right is a HUGE committment of time and money and you need to be prepared for 50 or more babies from one breeding (females can store sperm for later clutches). That is a lot of mouths to feed and a lot of set ups to have. The babies should only be housed about 10 to an enclosure when really little and then they have to be divided into smaller groups at regular intervals (I don't breed, so the breeders can help you out with exact ages they need to be separated at.) There are so many herps in rescue (just like puppies and kittens in the shelter due to overbreeding) because they were impulse buys or new breeders had more babies than they could find homes for or care for.

I am not saying you should or shouldn't breed. Just to do your homework and personal introspection BEFORE breeding your dragons.
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Stacey

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Dragons by Nature