Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi

I have a 14 inch female and a a 15 or 16 inch males who he is ready to breed. how do i know if she is ready to breed? she is mayb a lil over a year im guessing or she may not be a year. How do i make her ready to breed if she is?

Thanks
Big P

"One of the most prolific agamas, breeding Pogona vitticeps is relatively simple. All that is needed is an adult pair of dragons in good health, a large enough enclosure to allow for breeding activity, and a suitable place for the female to lay her eggs. Successful breeding usually follow a short rest period (known as brumation), where the temperatures and daylight hours are reduced for a period of two to three months. Although most bearded dragons will breed without any type of brumation period, low fertility rates have been reported in both males and females which were not allowed a rest period.Sexually mature males will darken there beards, bob their heads and stamp their front feet during the courtship of the female. He will chase her around the enclosure and attempt to mount the female. Males often bite the fleshy skin at the base of the females neck when attempting to position her for breeding."
Basically, i would wait to make sure the female is ready, because you don't know how old she is and because she hasn't brumated and it's the end of the "breeding season"

-sara

I would say she is still a bit on the small size, i wouldn't breed until they are close to two years of age. Hold off until next season and see how her weight does, she may be big enough by then.
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Both are small dragons right now and shouldn't be bred till they have reached their full adult size. (typically 20-24" Some dragons won't reach this size due to too much imbreeding throughout most of the dragon's lineage. Also, the female dragon should be at least 15 months of age before breeding, 18 months optimal. The male should be at least 14 years of age or older. Also the female should be 350 grams as well.

If she is over 15 months old and still only 14" long, I suggest not breeding her at all, just to help stop the selling of small dragons. Bearded dragons in the wild are well over 20" normally and such small dragons we have in captivity may not thrive as well or their offspring may not thrive due to too much imbreeding, (unless your dragon has some Renkins in it's bloodline, which would account for the small size.)

Also, both dragons should be completely healthy before breeding as well. Have fecals from each dragon taking to a vet for inspection to ensure no parasites are present. Blood work or x-rays should also be taken to make sure your female has good bone density and isn't suffereing from too low calcium levels. The dragons should also be housed separately as the male won't wait till you're ready for them to breed. Breeding her too young or underweight can lead to several health problems and other complications.

Be also aware that female dragons can lay several clutches of fertile eggs, even with one single mating with a male dragon. Average clutch sizes are around 20 eggs per clutch with subsequent clutches laid roughly 3-4 weeks apart. Since dragons have lay as many as 5-6 clutches a season ( average is more around 3-4 with more clutches from 2-4 year old females, then less as they get older) you can easily have 100 babies hatching in groups, about 2-4 weeks apart. That can amount to alot of mouths to feed, then find homes for. Not to mention expensive. Even if all the necessary cages and equipment was already at hand, just the cost of buying crickets (usually in several sizes as more clutches hatch). An average baby dragon can consume 50-100 crickets a day, that's 1000-2000 crickets a day for a clutch of 20.
-----
PHLdyPayne