• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Am i too soft?

sagespyder@yahoo.com

[email protected]

New member
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
286
Reaction score
19
Points
0
Age
40
Location
kingsland, GA, US
i hatched a bearded dragon without a tail one week after the rest of the clutch hatched. the rest of the clutch is eating great and growing fine this one just came completely hatched out of the egg today so it has not eaten yet.

but an i too soft to think about culling this baby hatching without a tail like the rest of its clutch?

i don't think i can cull this baby if it can grow and live like the rest even though it is only missing it's tail.

i want to keep it only as a pet because it is missing it's tail. i don't know if it is me or if it was the breeders but i don't think that this hatchling should be culled.

am i too soft to breed?

that is my true to life situation and i would love your in put. no hating or anything. if you think they should be culled that is your opinion and i will not say anything about it. if you think they should not be culled i will not say anything about that either. it is just your opinion. i have my hatchling and my opinion, i am curious about your opinion.

if i am too soft say so, if not then say so. bearded dragon breeders feel free to post your opinion.

let me know your opinion and if i am doing the right thing or the wrong thing. i can't, after all be offended, by your opinion when i ask.
 
There is lots of responsibility in breeding any animal/reptile. No one can say what is best, it is all just opinion. What ethics you follow are only your own. Do what YOU believe is the right thing to do. These things should be weighed in ones own mind not the court of public opinion. And that is just My opinion. Best of luck.
 
If a defect isn't affecting life quality, don't cull, just retire to pet status.

If it's something that IS making life difficult or unpleasant for the animal, then you do need to have the determination to cull. Only you can know whether you can bring yourself to do that, but in my opinion it's the ethical responsibility of a breeder.

If you don't feel you could do that with harmful defects, then my advice would be to stick to pet ownership.
 
Cull it. What happens if the dragons passes hands somehow or is female and gets bred by someone. My opinion is to do the responsible thing.
 
It would be a good idea to get it x-rayed by a vet to see if there are other problems besides the missing tail. If its just missing the tail, and has no other problems, I dont see why it would be a disaster to keep it alive. Even if someone eventually breeds it, so what? I'm sure lots of people would want little tailess beardies, and its not like its a super functional/necessarily appendage on a beardie. If its not coupled with other problems(very big "if" there) then I see no harm. People jump all over lizards with no scales, but one with no tail should be killed? I just dont see it.

Now if the x-ray shows lots of other health issues, it should definentily be put down.
 
if it can grow and live like the rest even though it is only missing it's tail
Click to expand...

If the animal is healthy and only has a cosmetic mutation that does not affect it's quality of life than I see no reason to cull. Like many, if not most breeders, we started because of our love of the animals, breeder quality or not. I wouldn't think twice about culling an animal in pain or with other quality of life problems but to purposefully kill a perfectly healthy animal because of a slight mutation that most likely won't be passed on is a little much. There are many people who have no interest in breeding that would be happy to take that dragon strictly as a pet. Assuming it is healthy and eating now, you absolutely made the right decision.
 
Pics

Sorry I haven't stopped by to reply but i have more time now.

I have dubbed him/her Stubbs for now, until i find out boy or girl. Stubbs eats fine and drinks fine. Walks around like normal and has been more active and using his legs better. Stubbs can chase down red racers and dubias to munch on without a problem. Not hand shy either due to the only problem Stubbs seems to have is it takes him a few tries to right himself when he falls onto his back.

I have no intention of breeding Stubbs male or female. I plan to keep it solely as a pet. I would like to say that if it need be, a cull to save from a long painful death would take place but I would still regret the loss.

Anyways, i think stubbs is cute. the first 2 pics are stubbs and the last pic is the rest of the clutch stubbs belongs to.
 

Attachments

  • stubbs 001.jpg
    stubbs 001.jpg
    186.9 KB · Views: 232
  • stubbs 002.jpg
    stubbs 002.jpg
    122.5 KB · Views: 237
  • newredshypos 003.jpg
    newredshypos 003.jpg
    192 KB · Views: 229
he/she's cute. it looks like there's a nub of a tail. That's probably a good thing, so he'll have a working butt. hehehe.
 
i like the button tail Stubbs has. He is really cute and is doing well. when i was thinking of a name it was a toss up between Stubbs and Frogger because Vince thinks he looks like a frog. I won, :p
 
it'd be interesting to see how stubbs matures to see if there are any other defects, like morphed skeletal structure or something. i hope he/she turns out healthy, and is just missing a tail! i think it would be pretty cool to have a genetically tail-less lizard. i hope you'll post pics as he/she grows!
 
Update

here are some new pics of Stubbs. it would probably be a bit before i can tell if it is male or female, i have posted a pic from behind as an example but it came out blurry... while i can see pores on it's legs i don't want to call the sex as definitive.

but hey, almost 1 month old and Stubbs is doing well.:thumbsup:
 

Attachments

  • stubbs 006.jpg
    stubbs 006.jpg
    174.7 KB · Views: 201
  • stubbs 007.jpg
    stubbs 007.jpg
    168.1 KB · Views: 192
  • stubbs 001.jpg
    stubbs 001.jpg
    204.4 KB · Views: 192
  • stubbs 005.jpg
    stubbs 005.jpg
    121.4 KB · Views: 189
*seriousness
I feel you need to keep this dragon for yourself, and take fullest care of it. If it's bred like Chris Allen said, it can spread poor genes. You can't ever know if it's the gene or just some fluke, but either way it would be horrific for that to happen. If bred it can ruin what many people are trying to build, stronger better genes.


*less serious
Stubbs is to generic, I just bought my girlfriend a hamster and he has a scar on his face from the metal wheel the pet shop had. "LOL we can call him SCARFACE!!!" my brother and I thought. But that's so "duhhh everyone thinks of that", I like the frogger idea, it's your own thought and fits him better. That's just my opinion :D, cute dragon!
 
My opinion on this matter is never put an animal down for a defect cuz thats what makes them different im new to the breading of beardies but i have had to put 3 down this year and it was a hard decision but they stopped eating and you could just see them go down hill so i had to make that decision no matter how hard it was and i thought of it as i still had 50-60 babies that are very healthy you always have that chance of having a few with defects but unless they are suffering i think the critter should live so i think as long as its eating and growing keep it as a pet i think that stub tail is cool
 
Beardiefreak26 said:
that is a strangely cool looking dragon
Click to expand...

I have to agree. :)

My first dragon was one that was missing the majority of his tail due to bad husbandry practices. :( We called him Stubby. ;)

If I had to guess, I would say that baby is a female, although it is to young to be absolutely sure. :)

As long as s/he is eating, having bowel movements and gets around fine. Keep it. :) Barring that.... I want it. :D Too cute! ( I would go with Buttons or something equally silly for a name. )

If s/he starts having issues, I would visit a vet for an x-ray and check up.
 
Back
Top