Is She Big Enough To Breed Help?

[leahellem]

Hi guys this is one of my female bearded dragons shes 19 months old was wondering if anyone knew or recons shes big enough and old enough to breed i dont want to hurt her so seeking advice thanks

 

[euphorion]

Yes but she needs more condition on her. She looks like she could be carrying a fair bit more weight on her by now if you were considering breeding her. You would need to watch carefully so that you didn't overstress her body and helped her to regain condition quickly after a clutch.

 

[Wally]

Yes, she looks big enough to breed.

Are you prepared for her to breed?

 

[euphorion]

As a matter of personal opinion they should be in peak physical condition before entering the breeding season. And i know i'm being critical in saying this but if you don't know if your animal is in breeding condition or not, especially a young female, then it might be a good idea to do a little bit more research before you try. It's a good thing you're on here asking though

 

[leahellem]

Iv done plenty of research im confident in trying i have everything setup like incubator and all im just very scared as its my first time and do not want things to go wrong, shes bout 17 inch from head to tail is that a big enough size iv read sooo many different facts its crazy thanks guys

 

[Wally]

Incubator is one thing.

Tubs/enclosures set up for potentially three clutches of twenty to thirty hatchies?
Food source for said hatchies? They're eating machines.
An ability to care for advanced hatchies/juviniles that you may have due to being unable to sell them all straight away?

 

[euphorion]

Length and weight aren't very good indicators as a long animal can be underweight and a smaller animal can be obese, both of which you don't want. Look for where the weight is carried such as the upper legs, around the face behind the eyes and in the base of the tail and above the hips. You want them to be carrying a nice amount of weight to put nutrients into their clutches, remembering that it takes a heck of a lot out of the mothers and if they don't have enough essential nutrients carried in fat and muscle in their body they will strip things like calcium from their bones potentially causing MBD. A solid, healthy female will go from looking plump and gravid two days before laying to looking emaciated and pot-bellied the day before and then plump up again in the days after laying with good food and supplements. You just want to make sure she's bordering on overweight before putting her in with a male just to make sure. And keep up your supplement regime

 

[LizardLady]

Iv done plenty of research im confident in trying i have everything setup like incubator and all im just very scared as its my first time and do not want things to go wrong, shes bout 17 inch from head to tail is that a big enough size iv read sooo many different facts its crazy thanks guys

Euphorion, I hope you don't mind my doing this, but I feel it really needs to be reiterated...

Leahellem, did you read this post from Euphorion: "

Yes but she needs more condition on her. She looks like she could be carrying a fair bit more weight on her by now if you were considering breeding her. You would need to watch carefully so that you didn't overstress her body and helped her to regain condition quickly after a clutch."

Irrespective of your research, no amount of that will take away your anguish and sick-to-the-stomach feeling you'll get if the breeding female doesn't have enough condition and you lose her....

Just saying......​

 

[euphorion]

Not to mention ending up with way more dragons than you ever wanted because you end up keeping all your holdbacks!!

You need two woody colonies per clutch. I use a 160L tub with UV and black lights for the hatchies up to four weeks them seperate after that. You might need to get your hands on a heck of a lot of bulbs!

It's rewarding and fun, but a heck of a lot of work. The bubs need supervised feeding, watering and poop-scooping sessions three times a day. At least that's what i do, everybody has their own routine.

Incubator is one thing.

Tubs/enclosures set up for potentially three clutches of twenty to thirty hatchies?
Food source for said hatchies? They're eating machines.
An ability to care for advanced hatchies/juviniles that you may have due to being unable to sell them all straight away?

 

[leahellem]

i have two 3 ft glass enclosures setup up with lights and all no ornamnets yet however when the time comes will do that i have an incubator which iv tested for right temps which works great and also i breed my own crickets and meal worms so hatchies food source isnt a problem at the moment my main concern is my female bearded and fisrt time at it i really want to do it and im really confident i can just not sure if she is thats all by the looks of what some of you are saying has been taking to mind i might wait awhile before i do it thanks for all you r help mean alot guys.

 

[euphorion]

View attachment 259302

can someone tell me if that attachment doesnt work? i always have trouble putting up pics

 

[leahellem]

It didnt work lol

 

[euphorion]

View attachment 259305

WAH! stupid photos.

 

[leahellem]

That one too im affriad what is it you are trying to link or show any other ways to see ?

 

[euphorion]

an example setup for hatchlings. salad, papertowel to absorb extra moisture after misting, shallow waterbowl for soaking (shallow to they dont get stuck and drown). dark rock for basking to warm their bellies, retains heat well after basking lamp turned off. basking spot located centrally so they cant get too far away and get depressed due to being too cold. no substrate so entire thing is cleaned multiple times a day (gets challenging when you work full time!!) white stuff is fluon to keep woodies in tubs so the bubs can hunt at leisure.

there is another photo coming of their sleeping setup which involves another small tub they go into so they arent left where woodies can come and chew their eyes for moisture, will upload soon!

bleh. cant be bothered to wait to upload the other but you get the idea.

 

[dangles]

hmmmm i was told by a bearded dragon breeder that woodies werent good for young beardies

 

[leahellem]

I think i heard that too i was told they mainly eat small crickets :/ as there main food source and then veggies and so on

 

[euphorion]

comparatively you will find that bubs raised on tiny woodies do a lot better than those raised on chrix. they have a higher moisture content, less chitin and are have a higher nutrient load. so, my personal opinion is that the woodies, of a SUITABLE SIZE, are more nutritious

 

[Frozenmouse]

breed it there are no where near enough bearded dragons in the hobby.

 

[notechistiger]

Frozenmouse's response is the best one imo All these doom and gloom posts The OP has done the research that everyone screams about, they were just double checking, that's all. The only thing the OP needs to realise is that there are so many bearded dragons around that they need to be willing to hold onto any hatchies that don't sell.