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Oh! I can answer this!
Please take note that the listed egg rates are from 5-6 years ago and were posted purely for informational purposes.
There were a few March-April females that grew phenominally well throughout spring, summer and fall - unfortunately, we dont have the records of lengths and weights on them anymore.
Back to the point - They chose to put themselves into brumation around Thanksgiving time and when they came around, displaying the typical characteristics of a female that is ready to breed, we placed them with their partners. These females were bred at the age listed and laid eggs approx. 4 weeks later. Keep in mind, we did not intentionally cycle these females, they decided to stop eating and hide/sleep.
Throughout the year we usually have a few females who reach 17+ inches and decide to cycle whether we plan on it or not and we also have the occasional clutch of eggs that develops unprompted - the last incident always resulting in infertile eggs. Once we see that a female is either dropping off or cycling randomly we adjust their schedules.
If a female wants to brumate, we try to put it off til they are 10 months so that breeding will occur at just over a year.
If they dump a clutch of suprise infertiles, we introduce them to a male. They are going to lay eggs - fertile or not. If 3 clutches are coming this season, then youre going to get 3 clutches this season no matter if she's bred or not. Id rather have fertile eggs if the female is going to go through her breeding cycle. We dont usually cage these females with the males, just introduce them for copulation purposes and remove them to their own cage.
There are many theories as to what the best age to breed a dragons is. Some say over 300 grams and other say no younger than 18 months. Its really a personal choice. We shoot for 12 months+ but it doesnt always happen that way. The best thing you can do is keep a close eye on your dragons and do what you feel would be best for them.
Good Luck.
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