• 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....

Breeding Age for Bearded Dragons

Glenn Bartley

Glenn Bartley

Herper & Shootist
Joined
Feb 17, 2002
Messages
1,280
Reaction score
1
Points
0
Location
Mineola, NY
Sure I am not new to herps, but I could still use some info for beginner's about Bearded Dragons since I am fairly new to keeping them. I got 10 last year, and sold all but a sexed pair (I hope). I am pretty confident I have a male and female. Suspected male has bigger head for relative body size, and has huge femoral pores, and more of a beard.

What I need to know is how old will they be before they begin mating activity that leads to a successful breeding? MY female had always been quite a bit smaller than the male, but lately has been eating like a veritable pig and has just about caught up to him in weight. That has me wondering if she has already mated and if she is gravid!

I am leaving home for two weeks and my 13 year old son is going to be in charge of all the animals. If he tells me she is looking really fat and lumpy, I am going to have him place a box of sand with some slightly moist peat into the tanks as a laying box. Would that be the way to go?


Thanks
 
Glenn,,,
if you want to know for sure if you have a male and female,, the most reliable way to tell is to look at the base of the tail behind the vent. you will either see a lump in the middle of the tail,( female) or an indention right in the middle of the tail with a ridge on either side of it,,( male) if you need me to,, i can sure send you some pics of both so you can see what i mean,,,, ( easier to see than explain) anyway,,, I have had a dragon breed as young as 7 months( by accident) but most will breed or start showing breeding signs around 9 months or so,,, ( for me anyway) most people don't let there dragons breed younger than 12 months or so,,as it puts an undue stress on a still growing animal,,( most of mine are around 15 inches in length and 300 grams or bigger) i try not to breed until at least a year,,,a good rule of thumb for a breeding pair is for them to be within an inch or two of each other,,,( size wise in overall length that is), have you seen the male head bobbing,,, and grabbing the female on the nape of the neck..? he will usually try it a few times before actual copulation,,( in my experience) to know for sure she is gravid,, she will become restless,,, and start digging around non stop,.,.,, when that happens time to put her in a nesting box with at least 14 inches of sand, and potting soil moist enough it will clump... sometimes you can see the eggs,, other times,, they are hidden by fat,,,
also remember female can store sperm,,, and have a few more fertile clutches even if she is not introduced back to the male...
all mature females will lay "slugs" if the do not mate,, and if you see her digging around and restless,, even if she has not mated she still needs to expell the unfertilized eggs,, if she is not given an acceptable place to lay she will egg bind for sure,,,,
hope this helps some,, and if you need some pics,, please just drop me a line,,,
 
I think the nest box goes into the tank. She is about 11 months old now. She certaonly seems restless lately. She has been scraping her head and sides on everything in the tank - and she certainly does not have mites. And she seems to be getting somewhat heavier. So I guess before I leave I'll put a box in the tank. Thanks for the help.

Best regards,
Glenn B
 
I use a "laying enclosure setup" with all my dragons,,,when they are showing the restlessness,,, and scratching,,, i remove them to there own enclosure already prepared with the moist substrate, ready to go,,, i also try and have the lights on in that enlcosure for a day or two,, they will only tend to lay when the dirt temp is acceptable,,,( how they know is beyond me) but they will wait until it is just right,,, then lay,,,
you said she is scraping her head and sides on everything in the tank,,, is she getting ready to shed,,, ?
when they are ready to lay, or getting ready,,, they will scratch all the time,,, almost non stop.... and they go off feed also.. most of mine do, i only had one or 2 that ate up until they were ready to lay,,,,
hope everything goes well,,, ..
take care
 
She is not always scraping - yet, but is doing it quite a lot along with other restless behavior. I have never seen her act like this prior to or during shedding. She usually just lets the skin fall off on its own.

I will be placing some sort of a laying box in the tank today. Right now I don't have anything availble for a separate setup for her.

If she does lay, to what temp does the incubator need to be set?

Thanks

Best regards,
Glenn B
 
I use a 1 to 1 part( by weight) perlite and water medium to incubate in,, and as far as temp goes,,, 84 to 86 degrees works best,,, at that temp about 62-65 days,,, and you should see little ones,,,, make sure the "eggs spot" is located at the top of the egg, or the embryo will die in the yolk as it develops,,, if you candle it, you will see the eggs spot... also i like to put a mark with a non toxic marker on top of the egg to show the top of each egg,,, ( where the egg spot is)as they hatch some will hatch before others,,, and they will move the other eggs around. if you catch it quick, you can roll the moved egg back to the top dead center position, and the baby will not die in the yolk,,, also it may take 24 hours for them to emerge from there eggs( absorbing the yolk) and they usually don't eat until they absorb all the yolk,,, then hold on,,, lot of little eating machines.... and they grow fast! they hatch out at 3 1/2 inches roughly,,, and by the 4th week they are usually 4 1/2 to 4 3/4 inches... and by 8 weeks up to 9-10 inches is not out of range,,,
enjoy,,,
 
calcium??

Hi: Just wanted to put in my .02 cents worth...I have a reptile rescue and something that I was given was a young female Bearded Dragon that was bred, laid her eggs, and left with the male the entire time. She was not supplied enough calcium before, during or after any of this. Needless to say she ended up with severe calcium deficiency! She now has permanent physical disabilities (lost tip of her tail, deformed limbs and rubber jaw) and she will always require crushed crickets because she is not able to crush the crickets heads. She was starving on top of everything else because in her weakened state the male was eating all of the food and not letting her have any. Luckily, I got her just days before she would have died and she is recovering..can eat on her own finally..after months of handfeeding her baby food, water, etc. Sooo, sorry for making this so long but I just wanted to make sure you're giving her extra calcium if she is developing eggs because the outcome is very sad. Good luck with her and hopefully you will have babies soon..

Debbie
 
Back
Top