by Anna Hofman

Created on: June 16, 2010

Bearded Dragons are excellent as pets for the experienced and amateur reptile keeper. They are wonderful creatures, friendly, exciting to watch and good with children. It is no surprise that you are looking into breeding these great lizards, but you must consider a few key points before doing so. Firstly, think about the space you have and what you will do with the young "beardies." Once you have incubated the eggs and they hatch, you may have as many as 40 (or more), babies to either find homes for, or buy new vivariums for.

It is best to breed you Dragons when they are 18 months of age: any younger may cause harm to your female, meaning she can never breed again, or she may even become egg-bound which (in some cases), can result in death or having to be put to sleep. To encourage them to mate, you can try turning the heating up by just a couple of degrees, and keeping their light on for longer hours, which will make them think it is breeding season. You will probably have noticed from keeping them for a long period of time that males, from a very early age, bob their heads to the female. When the male actually wants to breed, this head-bobbing will become much faster and the bobs will be much more noticeable. Bearded Dragon breeding can be quite daunting and watching the courting can make you want to rescue the poor female, who before long, will be pounced on by the male and her neck will then be bitten to hold her still. This behaviour from the male has been known to actually tear the skin of the female, but as with all animals, what looks vicious to us, is probably completely acceptable for the animal. Do not interfere, as if you discourage this behaviour they will not have bred successfully that time.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the female will put on weight and her belly will change shape. Eventually it will look like she has a stomach full of marbles or round pebbles. These lumps are the eggs and when she is a few days off of laying them, she will stop eating and will start scurrying back and forth, digging in the sand in different areas. She will not settle on a spot for maybe a couple of days after she has started this behaviour. Consequently, the male will need to have some high up branch or cover to hide in, else he get covered in sand. Unlike rodents or other mammals, the male and female do not need to be separated as they are such sociable animals, and the mother will lay her eggs, cover them over and then wander away, leaving them

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