1.1 Beardie Enclosures

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Hey all, I have my little girl in a 4x2x1 1/2 enclosure at the moment. Can I put a male in with her? Shes deffinetly not breeding size tho. Shes about a foot long including her tail. If I got a male the same size, would they mate and her get egg-bound? Thanks a lot all.

[eyespy]

Yep, it's risky. Females have been known to produce eggs as early as 5 months so it's best to wait until she's of proper age and size. Even then, living constantly with a male will cause constant mating pressure and will reduce her lifespan.

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Thanks eyespy! I wasnt planning on getting a male, just thought I'd add a little more info to the collection. lol. thanks.

[Dragon_Slave]

Yes, eyespy is correct on this one. There was a member on another site that had his 7 month old dragon gravid. She thankfully layed eggs and didn't get eggbound, however, it's almost impossible that these eggs would be fertile.
If you plan on breeding in the future and have extra room for another tank, you can get a male... and keep them seperate until they are of breeding age. But yes, it is possible for a female to get eggbound at an early age and could likely either lead to death but would DEFINITELY shorten her lifespan. Hope this helps! :-)

[reptilez]

If the male was kept with her all year around, how many years would it reduce her lifespan to?

[eyespy]

One of my vet friends at Penn has yet to see a female housed with a male year long that has exceeded 8 years of age. She has over 300 dragons that are 12+ years old as patients, slightly over half are female. In general, beardies of either sex do best when housed alone as beardies do not generally hang out together except when sun basking. They go their separate ways to feed or sleep or brumate.