Hatchlings.. What to expect?

Hello reptile community!

I have just started to breed my female dragon. It is her first time breeding and I am a little bit anxious as to what I can expect from the whole process. I have done my research and am proceeding with the whole process quite well. She is currently fatter than can be and in her lay box, I am expecting eggs within a few days. My first questions are about double clutches: Will it always happen? how many times will she lay a fertile clutch from one series of copulations (they spent a week together, giving her breaks every day)? Will my animal now continue to lay eggs, fertile or not, for the rest of her life? I am a bit concerned about how many clutches she will lay solely because I know it is taxing on the animal and she is my little princess (her as a juvenile as my avatar).
My second set of questions is concerning the hatchlings. First off do hatchlings come out of the eggs with the basic colors they will retain, or do the colors develop more slowly along with the animal? I have read a lot of conflicting stuff about how to house the young and I am wondering how many can be housed together and until what size? I plan to keep at least one of the little babies but I want to sell the rest. I am not doing this as some scheme to try and make a fortune but I would like to at least break even. I know that the babies must be about 6 inches or so before they are stable enough to be sold as a companions to any (presumable incompetent) person but I am wondering if it would be ok to sell them all to a reptile store or a seasoned breeder at a younger age; this way I would save on $$ trying to feed an army of lizards and they would be in capable care until they are ready to find homes.
If you have experience and can shed some light on my queries the information would be greatly appreciated. I would be glad to post pictures of wink (my female) in her current state and the male dragon (I believe he is part german giant regardless isa handsome animal) if anybody would like to see. I do have one final question and it is about price.. Both the animals a pedigree and I have the genetics of the female (my buddy is working on getting the male's from his breeder), what is the rule of thumb for pricing bearded dragons? is it solely based on their color or will some recessive gene passed from a parent be potentially very valuable? How similar to the parents can one expect offspring to be and what is the consistency as far as colors go?

This is a lot but I hope somebody can help me out. I love the reptile community; for the most part it is a hugely facilitating niche with patriots all working towards the progress of the hobby. Thanks for reading and have a good one!

Welcome to the dragon world... I'm no expert this is only my second year breeding but ill answer your questions to the best of what I know and have learned..

Normally a a first time breeding female will only have once clutch its her second or third time breeding that she can double or triple clutch.. you never know how many times she will lay it all depends on if she has healthy weight and size and if she retains sperm... I've heard of females retaining sperm for up to 5 clutches but I highly doubt you will have to worry about that with a first time female.

Normally depending on the parents the babies will develop color as they age some showing more color fresh out of the egg will still only show better coloration as the get bigger and shed out.. please do be prepared to feed the little army until they are all properly sold at atleast 6-8 weeks. And still for a beginner breeder you may still have some babies with you for a while longer unless your looking to wholesale, hut still I'd wait till the dragons are 6-8 weeks

Price on babies always reflect market value, high end bloodlines and morphs are ofcourse higher in price and genetics are something you should definitely look into so you know exactly what your selling to perspective buyers. Most of the time the babies colors will vary some looking like the mom some looking like the father and then a mixture of both...

Hope this answers some of your questions if you have more you can definitely PM me and ill be happy to answer them for you

Hello!
It's fairly common for dragons to double clutch... or triple, quadruple and quintuple clutch! But a new mama is a bit less likely to throw 100 eggs in her first season. It only takes one successful mating each season and the female can retain sperm for multiple clutches.
Each female is different in terms of how she will lay each year. I have mature breeders who will take a year off from breeding. No infertile clutches, refusal of males, etc. and I let them. Some of my females will lay each year whether they get the chance to mate or not- though if they are going to lay anyway, I usually introduce a male. And other females will only lay if they've successfully mated with the male of their dreams.
You can have a dozen females and each one will be different. As long as you supplement their diet with extra protein and calcium they should be fine. My breeding girls get special treatment because laying eggs is hard and they deserve a little pampering.

Hatchling coloration is a tricky thing. Some hatchlings pop of the egg glowing with color and mature into duller dragons. Some hatchlings are ugly ducklings that grow into swans. It's really hard to know for certain until you've gotten a few generations under your belt from a particular pairing and can better sort out their potential at an early age.
I personally have a disclaimer on my website explaining that I simply cannot guarantee the adult color of my hatchlings. No one can. Assuming the dragon is properly cared for, mother nature gets to decide the final outcome. I have lineages on my breeders, pictures, etc to give new owners an idea of what they can expect. On more than one occasion a buyer has sent me pictures or shown me in person at a show how their dragon has turned out and I've been floored by the color. Sometimes the hatchlings outdo their parents in terms of color saturation. It's remarkable.

Housing hatchlings is another tricky subject. There is no right or wrong way to do it as it depends on the hatchlings themselves. I usually start hatchlings out in groups of 10 so I can monitor them in terms of feeding, aggression, shyness, etc. I separate them into groups of 4-6 as they grow based on size and temperament. Sometimes I have to isolate a hatchling completely because it's a bully or the victim of bullying. I try to give them all a fair shot at success, but ultimately it's up to them. I feed 3 times a day and always have greens available to them to help prevent nips, but sometimes you get a hatchling that just puts everything in its mouth. Basically, you will know when it's time to sort them into smaller groups by the way they are behaving and growing.

6" is considered the minimum size for sending dragons to a new home, but many people do wholesale lots at younger ages and sizes. There is a lot more risk involved when they are very small. It's one thing to move them around at home, but another thing altogether for them to acclimate to an entirely new situation. Don't be too surprised if you do not even break even on this endeavor. Breeding dragons is a lot more about passion than it is about money. Even if you wholesale them young, the costs involved in getting them started can be pretty high. They are eating machines, they require 13-14 hours of expensive lighting each day, they take up a lot of time if you do it right. But they are a lot of fun. I find myself just sitting there watching them go about their business. They seem to enjoy watching me right back.

And lastly, pricing. I just posted this on another thread, so I will lazily copy and paste it here

There isn't really a guideline for dragon pricing. What one person can sell for $400 someone else can't even get $50 for the same dragon. A lot depends on the quality on the parents, the genetics of the parents and which lines they come from. The potential of the hatchlings is seen in the parents, though some hatchlings show more promise than their parents.

The further back you can track the lineage, the better off you'll be. Breeders looking for fresh blood typically like to ensure that they aren't overlapping blood lines. Pet owners looking for a new buddy often appreciate the knowledge as well.

Honesty is the best policy. If you got the parents off Craigslist and have no idea where they came from don't try to fill in the void yourself.

Take a look at your hatchlings when they arrive and watch them grow. Compare what you have to what you see other people asking for similar animals and go from there. The ability to ship your animals safely is usually helpful as well.


I hope that was somewhat helpful. I do enjoy going on and on about this hobby Best of luck and please post pictures of your dragons

Great, that was a lot of very helpful information from both joker040191 and sushidragon. I somewhat expected the coloration of hatchlings to be an extreme variable in the entire process. My friend who has the male is expecting to make money I think but for me it is just about the experience and I am running the entire situation. Here some pictures of the two, obviously the black beard is the male and the orange is my wink. As i mentioned before my avatar is her as a juvenile. As always its hard to do justice to color with an iPhone camera. I will say that the male is a much brighter tone of yellow (he is dark in most pictures). You can really see how wink's beard has come into maturation with orange, where as it used to be all white. She is in the lay box still, and still no eggs. Today marks the 23rd day since their first encounter so I am not worried, just very exited.
I am thinking that wholesale will be the best option (accept for local individuals that have any interest) but I know that winks breeder has expressed interest as well as a local reptile store.
I am going to incubate them at 84-85. I obviously have come across all this nonsense about the dragons temperament being better when incubated at lower temperatures and other such statements, but I ignored it. I think that an animals (especially dragons) temperament is largely based on how they are started. Obvioulsy there are individuals who just don't want to cooperate but is there any merit to this kind of stuff regarding incubation temps?

Very nice couple!

I especially like to see how loved Wink is smiling for the camera and passed out at the pajama party. Beautiful girl.

I've never noticed any correlation between incubation temperatures and temperament in dragons. Like you said, it's their individual nature and a whole lot of nurture. Generally, they all seem to be pretty good natured.

Unbelievable! Wink laid 34 eggs tonight and they are incubating. From what I read that is amazing for a virgin breeder. Most of them are pretty white but a few of them are kind of mottled yellow. What exactly am I looking for when I candle the eggs? red/orange color correct? and when can I tell definitively that they are fertile? or is it simply a waiting game until they begin to hatch?