6 week old pogona vittecep

[ssnakess]

Hello, everyone. When i was researching about pogona vitteceps i didnt get to find any information on when a bearded dragon becomes sexually mature. The one I have now is 6 weeks old and i am wanting to breed it when he is older. So could you tell me when male bearded dragons become sexually mature, or if possible tell me when both male and female become sexually mature? I may want to purchase a female if I find a responsible breeder. Also, when I breed him is a 55 gallon to big or to small to breed them in? What would be the best size for a breeder tank? please help me with this answer.

[ssnakess]

no one here is replying to me geeez i feel stupid.

[Dragon_Slave]

Hi ssnakess!
I would first of all like to commend you on doing your research FIRST, before buying a female and putting her in a too small tank, and breed her too young.

Both the male and female bearded dragon become sexually mature at 18 months of age. They will both start showing 'ready to breed' signs, however, usually around 6-7 months... but they are under no means ready to breed. If you breed a female that is younger than 18 months she could become eggbound (not able to lay the eggs because she is just too small). But in any case, whenever a female is bred too young, it will drastically reduce her overall lifespan, whether she is able to lay the eggs or not. As far as the tank size goes, I believe that 55 gallons will be too small and would go with something more along the lines of a 75 gallon or larger. Do you plan on housing them together when you breed or have it just as the breeding tank and they each have their own cages? If you want to house them together, which some people choose to do, you'll want something more along the lines of a 100 gallon tank. But also keep in mind that if you house the male and female together all year round, you need to keep an eye on them. If the male is bothering the female too much, trying to breed with her constantly and such, then they will need to be seperated.
When you are ready to buy a female, feel free to message me and I'll help you find a good breeder.

Good Luck! :)

[ssnakess]

i already have the tank, the lights, the thermometers, the substrate, the rocks, the payed for bearded dragon. and no I am not going to house them together. The baby im getting is only six weeks old and the male bearded dragon i already have, i already knew when to breed them i just need to know at what age the bearded dragon becomes sexually mature...dont tell me to do my research, i have been watching these forums for a while and have decided to become a member because you people here at ssnakess seemed like you helped and then i seen you guys telling people to do thier research, i have done about 7 months of research i

[Matt_K]

I would first of all like to commend you on doing your research FIRST, before buying a female and putting her in a too small tank, and breed her too young.

Looks to me like she was saying she is glad you DID your research, not that you need to do more.. Im not sure why you replied the way you did to that, it was pretty rude of you.. If you have questions, by all means, ask them, but when people don't answer you the way you want to be answered, there is no reason or need to fly off the handle..

[ssnakess]

have tons and tons of books, lots of computer research caresheet after careshhet, i have everything i need to know, so research is not a problem, the problem is no one knows anything about this or out of the 40 people that have looked at it they would have replied. anyways i have another two bearded dragon that are 7 months old now and I have each of them housed in a 55 gallon tank, a breeder ive known for years told me that a 55 gallon should be big enough for one pogona vittecep.

[Matt_K]

Give it time, im sure someone will have your answer for you before you know it..

[meatbeef]

The 55 gallon tanks will be fine for them.
Breed them in a year.
Relax.

[Dragon_Slave]

Yes, that was extremely rude of you to reply in the way you did.

I took time out of my day to sit down and spend probably 10 minutes answering your question and you flip out on me. To quote myself ''I would like to commend you on doing your research first...''... I was trying to say that I thought it was great that you did your research first so just chill and take a deep breath.

I was offering my personal advice to you. I have about 4 years of research behind what I say. A 55 gallon is ok if you just intend to use it for breeding purposes, yes, but I didn't know if you had planned on housing both dragons in it for extended periods of time. But I just wanted to say that bigger is always better when it comes to housing beardies, the more room, the better. I was not, at any point, trying to challenge your knowledge of beardies, I was simply trying to help.
As Matt said, if you post questions on a forum and expect people to help you, show some respect and thank them for their time instead of going off on them for trying to help you.

[drewlowe]

Originally posted by ssnakess
have tons and tons of books, lots of computer research caresheet after careshhet, i have everything i need to know, so research is not a problem, the problem is no one knows anything about this or out of the 40 people that have looked at it they would have replied. anyways i have another two bearded dragon that are 7 months old now and I have each of them housed in a 55 gallon tank, a breeder ive known for years told me that a 55 gallon should be big enough for one pogona vittecep.

Don't take this the wrong way cause i'm not trying to be rude.

NOBODY knows everything there is to know and they never will, you say you have everything you need to know, but there is still questions, right???? We all have questions from time to time that's why were here.

40 views may be on there but you have to take into account that other members may look at this post "just because". not every member keeps beardies, but they may have thought it could have been a pic, and there are other reasons. This post hasn't even been up for a full day give the other beardie keepers time to answer, some of us have other things to do besides sitting on the net 24/7. Dragon Slave also answered your question in the first post she made. She also commended you which is a GOOD thing, not negative then she gave her advice off of things she has learned over the years, just like any other member would do.

To answer your question: They can become "ready" (i use that term loosely) as soon as 6-8 months, but that doesn't mean you should breed them that young. It's considered to wait until they are at least 18 months to start breeding the females. The reasons being; egg binding and shortning of the females life span. It's the same reasons Dragon Slave gave you.

As far as caging goes I agree with Dragon Slave (not to follow her, but because i belive the same thing) bigger is always better with beardies they will use every inch of space you give them. Yes beardies can be housed in 55 gal. tanks but a 4x2x2 would be better. If it's a large male then he should be housed in a 4x2x2 instead of a 55 gal. reason behind this is; If his tail is "cramped" then it can cause him not to be fertile. Yes it is true because it was happining to my male until i moved him up to a bigger cage diminsion for over a year, i can give you more specifics if you would like.

If you have any other questions i'm sure most of will try to help you out, but we have to be given time.

Jamie

[Pet with a tail]

well i send my apologies for being rude I just need to know because im buying a beardie ofcourse and just wanted to know some stuff that i wasnt for sure on but thanks for trying to help...now my friend has two bearded dragons she was told they were two females so she housed them together and it turned out it was a male and a female now they are about 7 months old, can they have babies this little its been a few days since they have been apart and nothing seems to be happening with the female, we dont think the male mated with herbut just incase, what is the youngest age a female can get gravid?

[damzookeeper]

I hadn't seen your post before this or I would have replied. I have been breeding dragons for a couple years now and by no means consider myself an expert or anything close. You learn new things about your herps every day. I also dont recomend breeding unless you really know what you are getting into. You can find homes for all your babies, feed them the 1000s of crickets they will eat weekly, give them baths and change their cages at least 2x a week, more if possible, and be ready to house some separately if they don't get along or are bullied by other cage mates. There is a lot more than most new herpers think there is to breeding and it should not be taken lightly. I love my herps and love watching the babies hatch, and I know that if I didn't have my day job I would not be able to afford all the food they eat. Beardeds, especially babies can eat, they are lean, mean eating machines and if they don't get enough food in the day they will get hungry and nibble on their cagemates thinking their toes and tails are food.
I'm not saying it to be rude or offend you... but before I even thought of breeding I too had done my research like you and I didn't have to ask at what age a dragon become sexually mature or at what age was appropriate and safe to breed them. If you don't have it already you should go out and buy the bearded dragon mannual. All your breeding questions will be answered in this book. I can also tell you this.. It is very unsafe for your female to breed before 18 months, it can be done and she may even produce and lay eggs but it will stunt her growth and some younger female may even die from becoming egg bound. I have never bred my females before 18 months. I even waited with 2 of my girls until they were over 2 years old because I found them to small at 18 months. I also never house a single pair together. My male stays with the females year round but they have 2-4 females to breed so that one female is not geting all his attention (if you know what I mean) and becoming to stressed out. A single female can become extremely stressed causing coccidia or other stress related parasites, lack of appetite or in extreme cases even death from being over bred by her cage mate. But if you house them separately and introduce the male for breeding you will avoid this problem. I had a female that I bought in 2002 just before Christmas at 1 year of age. She had never been with a male and while she was in quarenteen, her first week with me, she laid 12 eggs. She was so tiny and so were the eggs. A small clutch and a small dragon, I was just so glad she didn't get egg bound. She did better this year with 2 clutches of 15. Not big clutches for a dragon but she is a tiny girl. When I got her she was around 150 grams at 1 year, when she layed her eggs at that. A year later and she is about 100 grams heavier, not much for a bearded, or at least my beardeds. lol. I don't think she will get much bigger though.
Anyway, my point to this is that I want you to make sure you know what you are geting into before breeding, if you have any questions you can pm me or msn me at damzookeeper@hotmail.com or email me at deb@reptilerascals.com. Just make sure to let me know who you are cuz I get lots of junk mail that I delete. ;)
Hope everything works out well in the end.
Sincerely, Deb.

[Matt_K]

Pet with a tail/I have a cham04/ssnakess, is there a reason that you keep making new names and posting things?? I think everyone here would appreciate it if you stuck to ONE name..

[Dragon_Slave]

You know, I had a feeling that it was the same person... especially with the apparent attitude problem.

[Matt.B]

Hey ssnakess is the lieyer yay we caught him lying again.
Matt

[terry_stack]

Good eye Matt K. I was thinking the same thing. Too bad Pet with a tail/I have a cham04/Ssnakess wouldn't drop the attitude and the lieing and just be herself, there is alot of great people on this site with useful information.
Remember research, research, research lol.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

It just goes to show that many folks just want to hear what they want, not the truth. Then they get mad at the fact that they are simply not as bright as they think they are.

To bad, because this person has recieved a lot of great help, only to shoot it down over their lack of acceptance of their own ignorance. I wish that more people had the abilty to admit they are wrong and take it as that.....

[Dragon_Slave]

You are completely right C.m.pyrrhus. People these days just can't seem to accept the fact that they don't know everything.... it's very sad.

[drewlowe]

Originally posted by Pet with a tail
well i send my apologies for being rude I just need to know because im buying a beardie ofcourse and just wanted to know some stuff that i wasnt for sure on but thanks for trying to help...now my friend has two bearded dragons she was told they were two females so she housed them together and it turned out it was a male and a female now they are about 7 months old, can they have babies this little its been a few days since they have been apart and nothing seems to be happening with the female, we dont think the male mated with herbut just incase, what is the youngest age a female can get gravid?


Have you FULLY read the posts, they answer your question clearly. The earliest is 6-8 months, but as said 4 times prior they shouldn't be breed that soon you should wait till they are at least 18 months old.

Even after the 3 name changes us members at ssnakess still continue to give out the info. asked, in a NICE mannor. Out of respect for other members you should stick to ONE name and not "flying off the handle" at us for providing you with the information we have learned from experinance, it makes me not want to help you at all, and if you continue to repeat yourself and answering rudely i will not post in your threads anymore, i'm sure other members are getting aggrivated at this also.