Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey folks,

I have a question for you all. My male dragon is about 18 to 19 inches, and my female is 20 to 21 inches. Today is the first time I have ever seen anything that could be related to mating behavior from them.

We walked into the room and he was on her and licked her. He ran off of her and after a while he came back. She looked like she head butted him a few times so he went away again.

Later she went to the branch he was on and came up behind him. The tip of his tail started wagging, his arm waived, and he head bobbed. He finally turned around and laid on her head, then laid on her head to head. During this time he licked seemed to bite her. He got off of her, and then when I checked on them later, she was laying on him.

Have you seen similar behavior with your dragons? Do you think this is mating or territory dominance?

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Ed

There are water dragons, chameleons, frilled dragons, pythons and monitors in my jungle room.

There's a fine line between courtship and territorial displays, and to be honest they can be the same thing. The only certain mating behavior is the the act of mating itself. Which involves the male chasing down the female and biting her nape. I have had my water dragons for over 16 years and I have only once been witness to their mating, yet my females lay two to three fertile clutches a year, so I wouldn't assume that they're not mating just because you haven't seen it. I don't know when that picture was taken, but they both certainly look old enough to be mating, and the female actually looks gravid to me, if not, she is very fat.

It was very interesting watching the dragons last night. My wife and I sat in the floor and watched them for an hour. I have had them for over a year and have never seen things like I have over the last month. I guess they are growing up.

For a couple of weeks she hid almost all the time and didn't eat very much. She has just started staying out most all the time. They slept with her nose to his tail last night, which is the first time in a couple of weeks she didn't hide at night.

These guys are too cool!!!

This picture was taken last night.

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Ed

There are water dragons, chameleons, frilled dragons, pythons, and monitors in my jungle room.

Your female could be gravid, you can tell by gently grabbing her sides between your fore finger and thumb and feeling for smooth oval shapes. stomach contents are usually not noticeable this way and the eggs are generally easy to detect. Breeding waterdragons is a no brainer you get a healthy adult male and a female together and give them some room and it will happen. From your picture, you definitely have adult size male and female dragons, and they seem to have plenty of room. The hard part is getting the female to successfully lay her eggs and to get the eggs in a proper incubator. You need to make sure that you have some kind of soil container at least 18 inches deep were she could lay eggs. When the female is ready she will start digging. She will dig several holes to throw you off, but the one she uses will be filled in and carefully covered so that you can't tell were it is. This container/s is very important, females can become egg bound and die if they do not have proper nesting sites available. I would recomend that you get that set up right away and also put together an incubator, if you don't already have one. Generally Waterdragons lay eggs spring and summer, although it is not uncommon for them to lay at other times of the year. If she is not currently gravid, I would say that you will definetly have a few clutches next season.

Just wanted to tell you that those are some beautiful water dragons! Great shape and color. How old are they?

Joe
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2.2 Solomen Island ground boas
0.1 Solomen Island tree boa
1.0 green tree python
1.0 jungle carpet python
1.0 coastal carpet python
1.0 Boa constrictor imperator
0.1 Borneo short-tailed (blood) python
1.0 CB sunbeam snake

Thanks

They are both about a year old. The female is a little older. I have had her since she was 9 inches long.
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Ed

There are water dragons, chameleons, frilled dragons, pythons, and monitors in my jungle room.

I beleive this is the female water dragon. This picture was taken on 12-10-03. I think I got her in August or September of 2003. She is still tame enough to sit in yor hands. Very awesome!!!

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Ed

There are water dragons, chameleons, frilled dragons, pythons, and monitors in my jungle room.

I have a similar question. I only have one water dragon presumed to be male, and he is doing some weird stuff. He is blowing up his mouth and waving his arm. Is that characteristic of a male? And if so what is he trying to tell me. He was kinda skinny when I got him, but I have been feeding him nightcrawlers three times a week and he is finally starting to fatten up. I am so proud of him.

Waterdragon language is pretty basic, here's the run down:
Aggressive/Dominant
Arm waving = "Hey you! you better check yourself, your in my territory!"

Head bobbing = "Don't make me get off this branch and chase you down" or "Hey baby get a load of a real man!"~come on.

Open mouth/puffing up throat/hissing= "That does it! I am freaking going to bite you! or run away like a sissy the first chance I get."

friendly/submissive:
ground licking = "Hey, I know you!"
Lowered head = "Do what you want just leave me alone."
Dark color change= " I am really stressed out!" or "I am freezing my tail off!"

Thanks, I guess it is time for me to get him a playmate. He must be lonely

don't get another one unless you have plenty of room. If you have a male, don't get another male. Even females are territorial so make sure additional basking sites are available. Most people keep a male to two or more females this gives the females a break if the male is an aggressive breeder. Overall, most are just as happy if not more so to be on their own.

Thanks, it is a male. So I will leave him on his own. I think I sent you another message about diet. You were talking about butterworms, locust, and silkworms, I live in Richmond Virginia and variety is just about non-existent. How can I find different things for him to eat. example Locust, butterworms, etc.

try online, look in the classifieds feeder section here.