Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I finally got brave enough to check underneath for the gender of our new beardies. Mind you, my husband just HAD to have both because they seemed to be such close friends. I secretly prayed for two females. Nope. Congrats. I have a mated pair. SOOOOOO ----- at what age (size) may I expect them to get busy? Is it that bad to leave the two together? Will they really breed constantly? Will they continue to get along? The male (Sydney -- see picture, the one on top) always lets the female (Amery) eat, bask, and generally treats her very well. Who out there keeps a male and female together and does it work for you? Thanks for the info. You all are quite helpful.

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Cara Fusinato
Fresno, CA

2 dogs - Quasar, Holly
4 cats - Aurora, Osten, Gypsy, Pierre
2 scorpions - Fido, Rover
2 Pac Man frogs - Herman, Chubbs
2 Bearded Dragons - Sydney, Amery

You'll probably get a lot of responses to this, but I will offer my opinion. First, they are too young to be a "mated pair". They are not even close to sexual maturity yet. If you are new to beardies are you sure about sex? They can be tricky to sex that young without experience. Second, I do not recommend keeping beardies together, especially a male and female. I know some pairs of femalse do fine, but it only take one good fight to really hurt one of your dragons. Also, just because they grew up together doesn't mean they will not fight later on.

If they are truly male and female they should have separate enclosures because they will breed before the female is old enough to safely have babies (just like human teenagers ) Also, the male may hound her for sex and stress her out.

Most breeders rec. that the male and female be at least 1 and 1/2 years old before breeding. I would do a lot of research to see of you even want to breed. It is a lot of work, time, and money to raise 15-20 hatchlings and find good homes for them all. I do not breed for this very reason. If you do decide you want to breed, do your homework first. There are a lot of great and experienced breeders on this forum that can help you.

Like I said that is just my opinion.
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Stacey

Alot of people will tell you that it is bad to leave them together. this is sometimes true. but usually only when you dont do things correctly. Are they Already being kept in the same cage? if so than there shouldnt be a problem since they will have already worked out there social hierchy.
They will breed as long as the female is receptive. They will start breeding probably when they get close to there full grown size. 18"-22"
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sincerely,
Jonathan D. de Kluyver
JDDK Reptiles
Quality Reptiles and Amphibianswww.jddkreptiles.com

A select few may get lucky and not have any problems with housing a male and female together, but they can be bred and have babies at a young age. There was just a post on here showing a 6 month old laying eggs, even though she had never been in contact with a male. If your girl becomes gravid too soon it will rob her of the the calcium she needs for growth and do her much harm, possibly even death. I also just wanted to double check that your boy and girl are not related. If you got them from the same breeder or pet store and they are the same age there is a good chance they are, unless you purposely bought unrelated lines. Good luck.

Wendy