Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male normal Beardie that i would like to breed. He is about 14 inches and 6 months old . Right now hes in a 50 gallon Custom cage that is great. I would like to purshase a female to breed the two. Could someone tell me what all i need to do and can they both be housed together all the time because I would also like them to be cage mates.
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Lee

1.0 Burmese Python (Caesar)
0.1 Ball Python (Kadin)
1.0 Bearded Dragon (Zoey)
1.0 Green Iguana (Bart)
0.0.1 Parakeet (Petey)
0.1 German Shepard (Missy)
0.1 Doberman (Tanner)
0.1 Cat (whatever)
1.1 Mice ( )

I think your male may still be too young to successfully breed.

When you do get a female, she should be no younger than 18 months old and have plenty of weight on her before she is bred. You will need to quarantine her from your male for about 3 months to be sure she doesn't have any parasites or diseases to pass on to him. Then they both need to be the same size before they are introduced so that if they don't hit it off right away, there are less chances of serious injury.

You do not want to house them together. First of all, you didn't list dimensions, but I don't think a 50 gallon is big enough for two, my 65 gallon is hardly big enough for one. Second of all, it is a bad idea to force a male and female to live together, period. He will dominate her, oversex her, keep her gravid all the time, and stress her out. This isn't good for her overall health in the long run. You want to be able to control when they interact and when they mate so that she can have time to rest and recoup between layings. The best way to house beardies together is if they are all females, and even then there is a risk of domination and fighting. In my opinion you should always be prepared to give each beardie it's own enclosure for their own well-being. They really aren't social animals and do very well when given space from each other.

Please do a lot of research on this before you start breeding bearded dragons. It is a big responsibility. We need breeders who are willing to go the extra mile to ensure the health, well-being, and quality of their animals and the animals they produce.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

by the definition of that. Social in the terms of animals order is tending to form cooperative and interdependent relationships with others of one's kind, living and breeding in more or less organized communities. They are not social order animals.

Bearded dragons in nature to do choose to live like that, when give no choice in the matter, they either accept it to survive or fight, injure or destory each other, but they NEVER choose to reside that way.

In the wild a female can and do often escape a male, in a 4 x 2 cage she has little choice and the majority will suffer for it. She has no choice in the matter and that is really unfair and stressing to her, its for the want of the owner, not her choice.

I have never seen a female that is not mature herself, wanting or willing to breed, she can be forced by the male, especially if she can not escape from him, but I think the fact she was not willing says something. Given the chance to mature herself, you will know when she wants to breed...lol its hard to miss it!
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www.reptilerooms.com

My adults are 1.5 years old (male) and a year old (female). The male is 21.5 inches long and 600 grams, and also the female is 513 grams and 19 inches. Theyve had their 2nd clutch last week. They can become adults young if given the chance to by a proper support system. I keep my adults together 24/7 but they get along and can do so, yet many may not get along, you cant force them to get along. Its like you and someone else being put in a cage together and forced to live that way, you may get along, you may ignore each other, you may fight, you may kill each other, or you may get married, how would you react to being in a cage with someone you never met or dont know? To say they are not social is a lousey term and very wrong, they are social as most lizards are, infact more so than many. Social behavior is defined as communication, interaction, fighting, loving, sex, etc etc. People are by far one of the least social of creatures in terms of getting along because we kill each other for no good reason what so ever, but animals kill for reasons.
Every animal you introduce will act different to each other as they are as different as you and I, so to intoduce them takes being careful and common sense if to keep together, and most importantly a second cage ready to move one into if they dont get along.
Size of cage, well mine are in a 4.5ftx2ftx2ft cage I set up, the more room the better as always. More basking spots, more hides, more substrate, more food, more water, etc etc.
In fact my male defends his mate and they are inseparable, like an old couple, only they get along alot better.

"To say they are not social is a lousey term and very wrong, they are social as most lizards are, infact more so than many. Social behavior is defined as communication, interaction, fighting, loving, sex, etc etc."

I think that was a little harsh to call my words "lousy" and "wrong." You can address something I said that you don't agree with, without discrediting my knowledge and thus my entire post.

Every animal is social when it interacts with another animal. That doesn't necessarily mean that they happily live in social groups as we would expect them to do if we house them together. What I mean when I say that beardies aren't social is that they can be quite territorial when forced to live in confined spaces with each other. They are just as likely to turn on each other as they are to snuggle up and be best buds.

Yeah, occasionally males and females are housed together with no problem and that's great, but you even agreed that there is a risk and if things aren't perfect their well-being is at stake. I've heard of more cases where the female would become stressed and stop eating than cases where the male and female get along like sole-mates. You do things a little differently and it's worked out for you, and I'm ok with that, but it's more controversial than the tried and true methods of beardie husbandry, which are what I follow. I have no problem with trying things differently if it is closely controlled and monitered by someone with experience, but I wouldn't recommened it to someone new to the trade.

I think it's better to be safe than sorry. I will always recommend to people who ask me that they keep complete control and supervision when introducing them, and only house them together if you are experienced and prepared to seperate them should problems arise. Someone who is new to breeding and beardies in general should take the safe route and be cautious, avoid risks at all costs.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I have heard of people keeping a male beardie with several females.

So have I, and I think that's at least better because it takes all the stress off the one female.

You still risk nips and stress, though. These will always be risks when housing beardies together. Risks that I, personally, would not be willing to take.

Plus you must be prepared for the dozens and dozens of eggs and babies that would result from this. Keep in mind that the person who started this thread, unless they've had beardies before that they didn't mention, has only been caring for one for less than 6 months. As a beginner I think it would be very wise to take it slowly and have complete control over how and when they breed so as not ot be overwhelmed.
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2.0 bearded dragons (Ocho / Domo-kun)
0.1 kingsnake (Rio)
1.0 ferret (Playstation)
1.0 cat (Wally)
0.1 dog (Tima)

I agree w/Kephy, first of all your male is too young to breed. I would wait until he is at least 14-18 months old. Same with a female you want to breed. She needs to be fully grown with weight on her so that her eggs don't deplete her calcium stores. Also, I have a male that is about 10 months old and a 9 month old female. They both freak out if they can even see each other. I do want to maybe breed them someday also, but it will be like "Ok, do your thing, now time for the girl to go home". I will not keep her in the cage w/my male, because I really think he might stress her so much that she won't eat, and constantly want to breed her, and possibly hurt her, so any "mating sessions" will be closely supervised by me. I do know of people that have been successful keeping males and females together, but I know of more that have had a problem. Even two females may not get along.