TDS (or is it TSD) in beardeds

I had a customer tell me that he incubates all his bearded dragon egg at 83 degrees to produce more males. I had never heard that temperature plays a role in sex determination of beardeds. Anybody have any comments on this.

Thanks

Steve Schindler

I have noticed some indications of this, but I'm not sure I would ascribe to the theory. I ususally get a majority of males, but I really don't think that has to do with the incubation temps.

I guess it's possible, but I have never heard that this can be done either. We incubate at 85-87 degrees and produce a nice mix of males and females. It would be nice to know if anyone has tested this theory in depth and what their results were.
Bob

This is just my opinion and as I'm just sending it out into cyberspace it's not even worth the paper it isn't printed on.

There are enough medium and large scale breeders that have been keeping records for multiple generations that I think we'd already know by now if there was any strong link between temps and gender expectations.

If anyone feels like keeping score, I incubated 5 small clutches last season, all a result of 1 mating. Out of 70 eggs, I got 2 duds, 6 males and 62 females. How's that for weird? I incubate at 84 and the temps had been very steady except for the second clutch's first 2 weeks incubating. We had a heat wave and I got spikes of 85-87. 1 male came from that clutch and 12 females.

I keep telling proud papa Rodan that it takes a real man to make girls. He always nods in agreement.

It's nice to see you around, Patti. I always incubate at about 83, and usually end up with about 50% - 75% males. I hadn't thought of it before, but you are probably right in that if temps could decide sex, we would know by now.