Reptile & Amphibian Forums

about two months ago i lost a female overnight who was laying eggs. somehow one got twisted and she couldn't ppass the other. My question is. What is the best way to introduce my new female to the male that i have now. I purchased the male i have and the female as a pair, so they were used to eachother. Any suggestions.

Most people reccomend never housing a male and a female together because of the risks involved with over breeding. I seem to have an odd pair of animals. My mals and female are together and have been for about a year. I have never had a clutch of eggs. To introduce my dragons, I just put both out on the floor in my living room (where neither has a cage) and let them interact. I kept a close watch on them. This interaction period was after a quarantine period of course. But again, I dont reccomend having a male and female pair housed together.

sorry to hear you lost your female due to egg binding. This could happen for several reasons. SHe may have been too young, calcium deplated and thus and egg ruptured or otherwise blocked the birthing passage, she may have been too old to breed (typically after 5-6 years, females should be retired from breeding, not that they always cooperate by stopping egg production....) She could have been too small as well. Don't know any info on that female so hard to say what caused the problem. It is something that can happen to an otherwise perfectly healthy female of the right age for breeding etc.

Not sure how long you have the new female, but if it's under 3 months, I would keep both separated (unless you bought her from the same breeder at the same time as the male, not sure when you m entioned buying a male and female as a pair was in reference to two new animals or the female and male (and the female being the one that died later). In any case, if the new female is new to you and hasn't been with the male you have now, (or if you bough a new pair together) I would keep th em separated for three months or more, plus have 3 clean fecals from the new female, one fecal per month, to ensure no parasites. Quarentee also ensures any incubating diseases manifest themselves before risking contaminating your current collection.

For introductions after the female and male have a clean bill of health, basically do as was already suggested, introduce both dragons in a neutral area. Or if you do have a large cage for one or the other, introduce them in the larger care, especially after doing a complete cleaning. Watch them for awhile and check on them frequently to make sure there is no serious aggression. Separate as soon as you see major fighting (biting on head, body, limbs or tail) or any bleeding injuries. The male will bite the back of the female's neck, while mounting but that should be all the biting you should see. Once copulation has been observed once or a few times (or the dragons have been together a few hours) separate the male and female. If no clutch or the female isn't obviously gravid after 3-4 weeks, you can reintroduce the male again.
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PHLdyPayne