# Guides to breeding Bearded Dragons...



## Tomcat (Jul 29, 2007)

Hi, a friend and I are soon to be breeding bearded dragons. I have a book on them and breeding, however would like an on line guide aswel, so i can double check on things.

Thanks


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## HadesDragons (Jun 30, 2007)

This is one that I put together a couple of years ago - I'm going to do a new one with more photos when I get round to it, but it should cover the basics:




Starting with the basics - it will cost you around £1,000 to get them to the point where they can be sold, assuming you do things responsibly, to minimise the risk of tail / toe nips and fights etc.

Firstly you need to "breedable" dragons - 18 months+, 400g+, fully grown etc. Don't breed dragons with deformities, don't breed dragon's who's health is questionable, and don't casually inbreed dragons. If you have sibling dragons and want to produce some babies, get another dragon.

If you've only just got your dragons, *let them settle in first* - the last thing that a female needs when she's stressed from a move is to have a male jumping all over her. Quarantine all new arrivals for 3-6 months. Unlike mammals, the slower metabolisms of reptiles means that serious problems can take months to become symptomatic. A strict quarantine will help protect the rest of your pets from any illnesses that may be arriving with a new dragon.

When a male and female are introduced, it usually only takes a few days to a couple of weeks for the male to "do his thing" - sometimes less. You will see him biting the back of the female's head, then climbing on top of her:












There's likely to be a lot of head bobbing / arm waving accompanying all this. It's common for the female to end up with missing scales, and small cuts are also seen sometimes if the males get too aggressive. As long as they are small and not oozing, they are fine to be treated with tamodine / tea tree cream. They will heal, but the female may end up with small scars. A female who has spent a week with an average male is unlikely to win any beauty contests.


Once mated, a female will usually lay a clutch of eggs after 3-4 weeks of being gravid. She will usually eat a lot more than usual during this time. Another clutch usually follows around 3-4 weeks after that. It's not unusual for a female to produce a third clutch from a single mating. I use a washing up bowl full of damp sand for the females to lay in. Once the female has been confirmed as gravid or has laid her first clutch, separate her from the male. Keep her away from males until the next year; it's not good for a female to be breeding more than once a year. Producing eggs takes a hell of a lot out of them, and it can have pretty serious consequences for a female's long term health and lifespan if you force her to live as an "egg machine".

Eggs need incubating at between 82-86f. Don't turn them at any time - be careful when transferring them to the incubator, as they are quite fragile. The exact temperature isn't important (as long as it's within the range), but it is important that it stays the same - once you've picked a temperature, stick to it. Humidity should be fairly high, but not so high that condensation forms above the line of vermiculite / perlite that you are using for incubation. Getting a line of condensation level with the top of the substrate should give you optimal humidity. Given that your female will probably lay a second clutch before the first one, you may need two incubators. If you buy ready-made ones, they can cost up to £100 each.

At 84f, the hatch time is usually around 7-9 weeks. Babies will poke their heads out of the egg, and rest for up to 24 hours before breaking their way fully out.

Once out, they need leaving in the incubator for 24-48 hours, in individual tubs, with high humidity. This lets them absorb their yolk sacs fully into their bodies; if they can't do this and the egg sacs fall away before the dragons have gotten enough nutrition out of them, they may be slower to grow.


They need housing in groups of five at the most; any more than this, and you run the risk of toe / tail nips. Each group of five needs a full setup - heat and UV. This is where most of your money will go; the second clutch will hatch before you can sell the first. As average clutches are usually 20-30 eggs, you need to prepare for up to 60 babies; that means 12 full setups, 12 UV tubes, 12 UV controllers etc. You might want to work out how much it will cost you to house the babies before you even consider breeding... (given that a UV tube runs at around £20, and a controller £10-£15, you're looking at a lot of money...)

Babies need feeding 2-3 times per day, and can eat up to 50 crickets each per day. This is where the rest of your money will go - you have to feed up to 60 hungry babies for the next 6 weeks. Believe me, they eat a lot of crickets. A lot of food means lots of poo - up to twice a day depending on the baby, so they need cleaning out at least once a day. That's 12 full cleans per day, as well as 24-36 feedings (2-3 per cage per day...) Assuming you can feed a cage in 2 minutes (optimistic) and can clean a cage in 5 minutes (again, pretty optimistic when you consider that there are 5 babies to catch, temporarily house, recatch and put back in the cage), you're looking at spending a minimum of 2 hours a day just looking after the babies. If you get 3 clutches of eggs, this will need to be done everyday for the next 3-4 months. Make sure you can spare that amount of time before you begin breeding!

As a general warning, you will probably make a loss the first time you breed - the amount you sell the babies for is unlikely to cover the cost of the housing and food you need to buy, let alone the time you have to spend looking after them. If you're not going to be around during the day, it will be very hard to make sure they get enough food. Depending on the level of demand in your area, you may struggle to sell the babies to people - I know people who have not been able to sell all of their babies until they were 3 months old; they had to pay for food etc for that whole time. If you decide to sell to petshops, make sure you check them out first and are happy with them. You should also expect to receive a lot less per baby if you sell them to a shop (£15-£20 each, compared with £25-£30 each privately). If you work out what it will cost you, not including equipment, you will struggle to cover your costs if they are sold for £15 each. Remember to take into account the electricity that 12 setups will use during the 6 weeks+ that the babies are with you...


That's the "basics", which is all I have time to write just now. PM if you have any specific questions about it all...


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