questions on breeding and obesity

[ashnazgh]

BREEDING!

i am planning on breeding my beardies one day - recently i have purchased a female dragon from valleydragons.com and she will be here soon. she will be 8-9 weeks old. obviously i am VERY NEW at this and want to get as much information as possible while she is very young, so i have a better understanding when she is good and ready.


what is a good age to start breeding them (for M and F)?
what is a good size enclosure for them to proceed with natural behaviors?
how do i successfully incubate the eggs?
how many clutches will she lay and approx. how many will she lay?
what is the best way too feed her while she is pregnant, etc...?
should i remove the eggs asap or leave them with her?

if i am missing any vital information, please let me know! i dont want to have colapsed eggs just because i missed a little tiny thing that was extremely vital.

OBESITY!

my male dragon, who i purchased from PETCO (saved is more proper) when he was around...5 inches...is now about 7-8 months old (12-16 inches), and fat. he gets skinny...then fat. and the cycle repeats itself. he will EATTTT and DRINKKK...then 'use the bathroom' and he will look fine. if i dont feed him greens and crickets he usually stays more normal sized. his head looks puffy around his beard and his stomach....oh my. its almost as if it is taking over his body. i tried reducing his food intake but that did nothing. is this just a phase he is going through? i have an adult too who i rescued from someome who 'found him in their backyard' - because they are native to maryland - and i have no idea how old he is. he looks full grown but he stil sheds parts of his body every so often. 2 weeks ago it was his stomach and bottom of tail, then his back legs and head, now it is his front legs and top of tail. what would estimated age for him? 2 years? i have no idea. this male though eats like a pig and doesnt show a sign of getting overweight.

i can get pictures later of them if need be, but right now i cant get to my camera!

PLEASE HELP ME. I HAVE LOOKED AND LOOKED AND FOUND NEER NOTHING, OR CLASHING INFORMATION. ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

 

[Rebel Dragons]

valleydragons.com

BREEDING!

i am planning on breeding my beardies one day - recently i have purchased a female dragon from valleydragons.com and she will be here soon. she will be 8-9 weeks old. obviously i am VERY NEW at this and want to get as much information as possible while she is very young, so i have a better understanding when she is good and ready.

There is a book called the Bearded Dragon Manual by Philippe De Vosjoli. I suggest you read it. It will answer most of your questions. After reading that book you will be well prepared to take care of your dragons. Afterwards if you have any questions please feel free to ask them.

You are lightyears away from breeding dragons. Females need to be around 18 months old to breed and weigh around 450 grams. Yours is 8-9 weeks? I think you may be jumping the gun on wanting breeding information at this stage.

As for your other questions...... Fauna has a search feature that you can utilize. I suggest you type in the topics you wish to know more about and get your answers that way. To delve into everyone of your questions in a single responce would take hours to do. Pointless in my opinion since the information you seek is already posted in other threads here in the bearded dragon forum.

OBESITY!

my male dragon, who i purchased from PETCO (saved is more proper) when he was around...5 inches...is now about 7-8 months old (12-16 inches), and fat. he gets skinny...then fat. and the cycle repeats itself. he will EATTTT and DRINKKK...then 'use the bathroom' and he will look fine. if i dont feed him greens and crickets he usually stays more normal sized. his head looks puffy around his beard and his stomach....oh my. its almost as if it is taking over his body. i tried reducing his food intake but that did nothing. is this just a phase he is going through? i have an adult too who i rescued from someome who 'found him in their backyard' - because they are native to maryland - and i have no idea how old he is. he looks full grown but he stil sheds parts of his body every so often. 2 weeks ago it was his stomach and bottom of tail, then his back legs and head, now it is his front legs and top of tail. what would estimated age for him? 2 years? i have no idea. this male though eats like a pig and doesnt show a sign of getting overweight.

i can get pictures later of them if need be, but right now i cant get to my camera!

PLEASE HELP ME. I HAVE LOOKED AND LOOKED AND FOUND NEER NOTHING, OR CLASHING INFORMATION. ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!

Your dragon is fine. The puffiness around his neck is actually his fat pads. They are there to store needed fat so he can use it should food become scarace. I can't imagine the weight fluctuations your describing actually happening. Perhaps your over exaggerating??? Your dragon will eat what he needs to survive. It is very rare for a dragon to over eat. They are pretty good about eating exactly what they need and nothing more. As far as your not feeding him and he looks "normal" comment..... Of course he will look thinner and more "normal". Your starving him!!! Just let him be and let his natural instincts run their coarse. Each dragon is different and will eat, look and act differently from any other dragon you have.

Dragons are not native to Maryland just so you know. There is no way to determine the age of that dragon if you have no clue when and where he was bought. He sounds as if he is an adult. Actual age though.... Your guess is as good as mine. He is shedding in patches as some dragons sometimes do. Although in most cases it is a sign of dehydration. Up his fluid intake and his shed will probably come off better next time. And yes, there will be a next time. Just because they are adults does not mean they stop shedding. they will shed their entire lives.

I'm sorry if I came off as harsh but it's just how it is tonight. I just got off the phone will some lady in Louisiana and I'm just pissed and wore out. She calls me up and says that her 11 month old dragon stopped moving today and hasn't ate in weeks. After asking her a million questions I find out that she has only ever offered it bearded dragon pellets as a food source. Never a cricket, mealworm, lettuce.... NOTHING. He was 11 months old and weighed 42 grams. He was starved to death because this lady had no idea how to take care of him. He was bought without any research or thought as to his needs. While on the phone with this lady she put him in a shallow bath of warm water and he couldn't even hold his head up. About 45 min later as I was trying to convince her to go to the emergency vet he stopped breathing and died. Don't know how this lady found my number but i wish she hadn't.

I understand that people fall on hard times and things don't go as planned but to have an animal die simply because you weren't smart enough or didn't care enough to read a book, make a phone call, look it up on the internet....... I mean come on. It took this lady 9 months to realize that something might be wrong with her dragon...... You know what I have to stop or I will go all night.

 

[Rebel Dragons]

Duplicate post

 

[ashnazgh]

well about the dragons being native around here...i was kidding. im not stupid. and im actually not starving him...he ALWAYS has fresh food redily available. just saying it seems like after he craps hes back to a less 'fat' looking stage. what i decreased was his insect intake, he used to eat so many he would litterally throw them back up (this was months ago, when he was around 2-3 months old) as for the overexaguration, you know baby kittens at all? how they drink SO MUCH MILK they can hardly move? he LOOKS like that, but he doesnt have a problem moving.

sorry its random, im scrolling upwards through the reply

and for breeding, i want to be WELL prepared. i know she cant breed for a long time. im not expecting a baby to make babies. i think knowing far in advance what im doing is better than knowing a few weeks before.

lets try not to be too cruel, im not the one starving my beardies for months and being an idiot about it. i do understand where you are coming from though... i asked someone to take care of my juvie jacksons chameleon for 3 days, came home and he was dead...kinda melted to the bottom of the tank. i asked 'what the f happened?' they said 'i forgot'. what kind of reply is that? forgot what? to take care of him or what happened? ugh. thinking about it makes me want to scream. 3 days was all it took! i knew he wasnt doing so well...but come on. even a simple call would have been better than this...

 

[Brenda777]

Mike that is so awful that someone would call you up to ask such questions when anyone with any smarts would have went to the vet long time ago. I would have wanted to reach through the phone and strangle her. People can be so dumb!

 

[Brenda777]

Viki I am sorry it seemed he was taking it out on you. He just needed to vent. He is very helpful and a friendly guy. Mike is right though. I would get that book he suggested, it is very helpful. You can also look on the different breeder sites and they post a lot of info on there. Even the breeders will help it you ask a question. Remember they need large and separate enclosures. Just to let you know breeding is costly. I would research first when the time comes and make sure you can afford to do it.

 

[Valley Dragons]

Hi, this is valley Dragons,

In answer to your questions....

what is a good age to start breeding them (for M and F)?
males - does not matter as long as they are big enough to take on the female. Females need to be at least 15 - 18 months and 350 grams.

what is a good size enclosure for them to proceed with natural behaviors?
LOL, mine would "proceed wiht natural behaviours" in a shoe box. But seriously, I would keep them housed seperately in minimum 40-gallon breeder tanks, and the introduce one intot he other's tank for a few hours a day until you either witness mating or you believe her to be gravid. The male should get the job done relatively quickly.

how do i successfully incubate the eggs?
I recommend a Hovabator or Little Giant still-air incubator. Place the eggs in moistened (moist enough to be able to make a ball, but not dripping wet)perlite or vermiculite in a sandwich container. Get a good digital thermometer wiht an indoor/outdoor temp gage and humidity thingy. Probe goes in sandwich container. Poke a few holes in the lid of the SW container and place cover on. Incubate at 81 - 83*F for 60 or so days, keep humidity at 70 percent or so. There are more pointers that I can give you on this, just PM me if you are interested.

how many clutches will she lay and approx. how many will she lay?
3-6 clutches are average from one mating. 16 - 40 eggs in each clutch.

what is the best way too feed her while she is pregnant, etc...?
Protein (bugs) daily, dusted with calcium, greens, squash, pellets, etc. daily, Vitamins 2X per week.

should i remove the eggs asap or leave them with her? She will need to lay in a nesting box - i.e. a big box full of semi-moist dirt (make sure it is plain dirt). Remove eggs within a few hours of laying. Candle eggs and place embryo-side up intot he incubation medium. Don't ever turn eggs after the first 4 hours. Hope this helps!

Jamie