My Male Beardie

AJ the dragon was out for a bath so I snapped some pictures. I think he is a very pretty dragon. I have been thinking of maybe getting a girl. Anyone with any experience on what would be a good match?
Thanks
Joyce

Killer looking Bearded. Definately get a girl for him, I wish I could point you in the right direction for one, but I know little of the morphs.

He is beautiful, but I would not get a girl for him..... lizards perfer to be alone and it is very hard on the female to try and house her with a male except when you want to breed them as the male will constantly try to breed closed up together. That in itself runs down the female and also puts the male at risk of injury. SO be prepared to have two full set ups for them and if you breed them, several more for each clutch of babies.


If you wanted another one for you or maybe to breed when they are old enough that is good, but a dragon does not want or need a companion. You also need to make sure they are close to the same size if you ever do allow any together at the same time, as they can and will turn on each other and can do so serious damage.

Don't forget that you need to quarantine a new dragon 90 days from your existing one to make sure it does not harbor bacterias or a virus that can harm your existing one.



He looks to be some kind of HYpo pastel, I am not sure as I can not see the nails that well. If he is and you want a female to breed later down the road (that is assuming both are breeder quality) then I would suggest getting another hypo pastel

AJ is from Sundial Reptiles Coral Line. I believe his mother is a pastel and father a deep orange. I have breed leopard geckos for about 7 years and truly appreciate your advice when it comes to breeding beardies. While looking into breeding I was most concerned with space (as my leo hatchling rack is full, thankfully only 1 more egg in the incubator). Seems like the babies are furious eaters and many times injure each other. I remember AJ eating 2-3 times a day as a baby so I would assume 14 babies eating, yikes!
Again thanks for the info.
Joyce

Nice dragon!

I suggested the Hypo line as that is one line that has held a good value in selling. So many others that are commons it is costing more to hatch and raise the babies to at least 6 weeks of age or 6 inches that people lose money on the clutches.

Most beardies lay eggs in the upper teens to lower 20's count, we have a few girls that lay in the 30's and one that does into the 40's. And one breeding can produce several clutches. The most I have seen the past year was 5 clutches from one breeding

Each baby can eat 30-70 appropiate size crickets a day (some up to 100) so average 50 crickets a day times ... say 20 beardies, = thats 1000 a day x 30 days in a month = 30,000 crickets a month or 45,000 to get them to a

opps.. entered in error

45,000 crickets to get them to age 6 weeks, plus pellets and greens. You can see that one clutch alone is a big expense... that is not counting all the different set ups you need per clutch.

We keep them about 5 to a enclouse so they do not risk nibbling on toes and tails, have pleanty of peak basking area/time and also they are fed greens/pellets first thing in the A.M. when we turn on their lights and crickets at least twice a day.

With that routine we avoid nips... but it is expensive.

I like feeding worms to my leos with crickets only one a month. With the Beardies I think crickets are the best for the young guys with the mix of worms from time to time. I remember being warned that beardies were cricket gobblers and was well prepared for AJ but 20 little mouths plus mom & dad wow! It took a while for AJ to like greens and pellets but now he is a champ. He eats a varity and especially loves blueberries.

Maybe rather then a girlfriend I should consider making him an outside enclousure for nice daytime play. Any reference sites or pictures you know of?
Thanks Joyce

We use reptariums outside, it looks like reptarium condo city in our back yard on the weekends. We also use these now to raise the hatchlings in so they get sunshine from 9 AM to 4 PM each day and they also have a shaded spot to get out of the heat if needed, plus mistings.... they love it and are so active

Whatever you do, make sure the screen is small enough that no bugs can get through it.