Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recently Bought a 6 month old female sandfire to pair up with my 13 month orange/yellow phase to breed next year. I introduced her to my male outside there tanks on my floor and have done a few times, mybe to see some arm waving or bobbing , But there is no kind of communication at all.

Just today i gave both there weekly bath which they both really enjoy and the male kind of charges her in the water and its like hes trying to bite her round the neck but he kinda hesitates and swims off to come back and do it again then just gives up..

Any idea why he only does this in the water and not outside there tanks?

Im also trying to upload pictures to show all you guys my dragons but how do i format the size of my pics, wont let me post pics cause there do big apparently...

a 6mo old female is WAY too young to be bred--wait until she is closer to 18 months old and full grown.

By "introducing" her to your male you are risking SERIOUS injury to your female. His attempt to mount her--grab her by her neck can cause serious damage to her smaller body.

Dragons are NOT social. Breeding only takes a minute or 2--sometimes less!

Be careful.

DM

Dragons are one of the most social lizard species that exist. This is evident by the body posturing they use when in the presence of other dragons. Why would they do this or even have the ability to if the don't commonly interact with other dragons in the natural environment. Here is a link to a website that is very popular with other posters on this site. See what she has to say about whether dragons are social or not.

>>a 6mo old female is WAY too young to be bred--wait until she is closer to 18 months old and full grown.
>>
>>By "introducing" her to your male you are risking SERIOUS injury to your female. His attempt to mount her--grab her by her neck can cause serious damage to her smaller body.
>>
>>Dragons are NOT social. Breeding only takes a minute or 2--sometimes less!
>>
>>Be careful.
>>
>>DM
Tosney's site

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Bill DiFabio
Garden State Herpetoculture...website to follow...
Email Me
"The pendulum of the mind alternates between sense and nonsense,
not between right and wrong." - Carl Jung

Dragons certainly do have social behaviors and there are plenty of people who report that dragons seem attached or responsive to one another and/or to the people who keep them. However, they are not like dogs, for example, with social *needs* for other lizard companionship or society sharing. They do not live in social groups in the wild. The point ultimately is that introducing a young female to her intended mate before she is ready to breed is not in any way necessary and will not impact breeding success and does pose risks.

Best,
michele
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house

person was mislead and had problems or damaged dragon by thinking they are social order animals.

When I read that my first thought was some new person adding a baby in with an adult to see their "social interaction" or watch the nice mommy take care of a baby because they read on KS they were social animals

Thank you

They do have social gestures to each other, the smaller/weaker bowing down is saying "see I am small and harmless, don't eat me"... LOL not exactly a social outing for it.
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www.reptilerooms.com

Our Drako is VERY social to us...heck, even our 2year old carries him around--actually she "wears" him. What I ment was that they had no "need" to socialize with other dragons--unless at breeding time. They DO NOT seem to get lonely for their "own" kind.

Thanks for clearing up my bad post!

DM

in clarifying the post before it so someone did not misunderstand that dragons are social order creatures... I was agreeing with you
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www.reptilerooms.com

Ok i will keep them seperate, I sort of know not to introduce them cause the female is to young just thought that mybe he would like to see another one of his own kind as ive had him on his own for so long....

Oh another thing how do i format the size of my pictures so i can post some on here? I have allready tried and apparently i need to format the size to post them, eem i dont know how...

You need a photo editor on your computer to do it, if you do not have one, send them to me in email and I will edit them for you and send them back so you can post them.

cheri@reptilerooms.com
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www.reptilerooms.com

Keep them apart until she is of a size and age to breed (over 18 mos and otherwise healthy). He'll have the opportunity to introduce himself at that time and you are not increasing the likelihood of a successful breeding pair by introducing them early. All that can happen is him dominating and scaring her and/or injuring her in an attempt to mate. For their sake and the sake of any healthy clutches you wish to raise, please wait til it is actually time to breed.

Why he does it in the water and not elsewhere, I don't know. Maybe the bath is just sufficiently stimulating to get him going. Or maybe he smells her more strongly. Bathe them separately. It doesn't take more than a couple seconds for an aggressive, sexual male to charge and injure a young female.

Best,
michele
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4.3 Bearded Dragons (Rescues)
1.0 Corn snake (Rescue)
0.1 California King
4.5 Royal (Ball) Pythons (3 rescues)
1.1 Dogs (Rescues)
2.0 Cats (Rescues)
2.2 Humans
No, it's NOT a big house