i really want...

[Ashleabdlover]

to become a bearded dragon breeder, i think it would be fun.
i realize its a lot of work and money. but im willing to do it.
plus my bearded dragons arnt even old enough to breed, so i have a ton of time to prepare.
but its something i really want to do.

and i came up with my breeding name, AshDragons.
good, right?

so any suggestions on breeding? anything really important that articles cant tell me?
:study:

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

ok first its cool that you want to breed. I also am gonna breed when my beardie gets old enough. I am curently looking for info. i suggest that you just keep reading this forum like the posts in breeding even if you cnat answer the questiohn read opther peoples responses so you cna learn and i also found a kinda good site that i kinda liked heres a link http://www.kingsnake.com/gladescs/bearded/ (just scrool to the breeding part)
also it will cost money about 600.00 somthing for the suplys plus trips to the vet to be sure you mommy and daddy are healthy so you babys arn't sick. On the other hand if you have 25 babys(the average) and you sell them for 50.00 each thats 1250.00 and if there a good "mix" like goood colored then you can sell them for more money than that but if your just gonna breed for money i dont think you should because breeding is supose to be for the fun of it not for profit and also there is a chance that you female could die while giving birth. also i've heard you have to make the femalse go through bremation its liek a short hibernation(not totally sure what it is yet lol) you can also look at breeders sites sometimes they have care sheets for babys and breeding guides and you can e-mail them and ask for some info) heres some stuff u copy/pasted from a site


*Note: Bearded dragon females may cycle infertile eggs without breeding.
Breeding often requires a period of hibernation or brumation prior to the breeding season (see section on hibernation). When bearded dragons emerge from hibernation, breeding usually takes place quickly, so it is important to be prepared…
We suggest that your dragons (specifically females) be at least 18 months-old prior to breeding. Any small, sick, or young females should be separated from all males to prevent cycling, breeding, and potentially a loss of life. Dragons that are bred too young can wind up with serious health problems including death from egg binding. We cannot stress enough how important it is to have a healthy, mature female. Dragons bred before maturity will divert energy used for growing and maturity into making eggs, disrupting her growth process and altering her health. Female dragons bred too young and/or often will live shorter lives.
We also highly suggest steering clear of inbreeding, especially siblings.
Breeding behavior often appears violent. Head bobbing and black beards are among the breeding behaviors associated with males (*note: these behaviors are also typical of territorial disputes between males). Females often perform arm waving and slow head bobbing. The male usually bites the female around the neck to secure her and attempts to get the female to lift her tail for copulation.
Gravid females will get quite large and often appear lumpy. Feed gravid females often and supplement with calcium more frequently. The eggs can often be felt in the female's stomach when she is close to laying.
As soon as you see breeding behavior it is a good idea to have a lay area in place and an incubator prepared.
A good lay area is imperative to ensure that your bearded dragon does not egg bind. Lay areas may consist of a large area filled with one foot of a mixture of moist, somewhat packed sand and soil, peat moss, or bed-a-beast. You may set up this lay area inside the enclosure or prepare a separate lay enclosure to place the female in when you notice digging behavior. Females will tunnel into this area to deposit their eggs. Some dig for several days before they decide to lay. They like to be fully protected by their burrow (cat litter pans with an opening work well for this cave-like structure). Only her head will stick out while she deposit their eggs. After laying, the female will emerge and bury her eggs back up.
Females may lay clutches as often as 3 weeks apart and can retain sperm for several clutches.


Incubation:
Unearth the eggs GENTLY. Fertile eggs should be a nice white color and leathery in texture. If candled, fertile eggs will appear pink and a round embryo should be detectable. If the eggs appear yellow when candled or gelatinous, they are probably infertile (this is somewhat common for a first clutch of eggs).
Fertile eggs should be placed in a dish with moist vermiculite (and perlite if you wish) about one inch apart. This dish is then transferred to your pre-calibrated incubator. We suggest a "Hovabator" incubator. (You can find these at some pet stores, feed stores, and online). Make sure that your incubator is set at least 24 hours prior to use to avoid drastic fluctuations in temperature. We recommend incubating at around 84 degrees F. Do not let temperature range out of the 80s. Spray egg containers to maintain moisture level in the vermiculite. Eggs should hatch about 60 days after incubation.

Hatchling care (new!):

--Only house hatchlings of similar size together.
--Quarantine all new animals from different sources, especially with the new information on adenovirus in hatchlings.
--Make sure to supplement every day with calcium and vitamins. Small dragons can stress easily, especially when acclimating to a new environment. Vitamin B is a great stress combatant and helps the acclimation process. If your young dragon still seems stressed, administer vitamin b drops such as "stimulap", but try to leave them alone as much as possible. We recommend a 1.3 ratio of vitamins to calcium offered once daily to babies. See the supplementation section of the care sheet for more info.
--House hatchlings in an enclosure that they cannot see out of to limit stress.
--House hatchlings on paper towels or newspaper to prevent problems with impaction.
--Spray hatchlings 2 times daily.
--Feed babies 2-4 times per day. Steer clear of mealworms, they can be hard for young dragons to digest. Stick to small crickets and finely chopped greens.
--We know that these little guys are cute, but when first adjusting to a new home (the first couple days), handle these babies minimally.
--Because food sources are likely carriers of parasites, we recommend using Parazap as a preventative. We suggest only using medication as a last resort for babies.





Some things you will need.
You will need to have an incubator.
you will of course need a female and a male (female needs to be at least 18 months old but im gonna wait till mine is 2 years just to be safe)
you will need tanks for the babys i recoment about 5-10 gallon tanks and if you ahave 25 babys about 5 of them (5 to a tank) and heat lamps for every tank and uvb for every tank
lots of pin head crix (about 15 each a day they should be fed 3 times a day)
lots of meal worms(same amount as crix if feeding bnoth maybe a lil less)
lots of collards/ all of the greens/fruit
and well everything you have for yoour beardies now also you should keep them on news paper when there babys even if it isnt very pritty thats what i havae both my beardies on lol i dont care if its pritty.

well i hope this helps thats pritty much all i know for now i think i might be forgeting somthing though lol oh and sorry if there are som misspelled words in here lol
p.s thats the biggest post i've ever made

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

oo i dound somthing on brumation

Brumation:
A brumation or hibernation period is considered necessary for breeding cycles. Many bearded dragons will brumate or slow down eating and activity during winter months even without initiating any change in lighting and heat conditions. You may winter your dragons for approximately a two month period. We suggest following the natural light cycle and wintering during December-February. A slow reduction in daylight hours until you reach 8-10 hours of light per day helps to ease dragons into a brumation period. A temperature drop should also occur gradually until day temps are between 75-85 degrees F and night temps can drop to around 60 degrees F. Bearded dragons can safely tolerate temps down to the 50s. Before putting a dragon "down", be sure that your dragon is healthy and is free of undigested food. You may choose to provide a space in the enclosure for burrowing (we find aspen works well for this). Often dragons will dig and bury themselves for the winter. If you notice your dragon up and about, small amounts of food can be offered. A heavy hibernation period may not be necessary for many bearded dragons. When the winter period is over, slowly raise temperature levels to suggested highs and increase the photoperiod until it is around 14 hours of day to 10 hours of dark.

 

[Ashleabdlover]

thank you so much
and i dont really want to do it to make profit, i just think it would be a great experience.
like when my dog had puppies, it was seriously the coolest experience of my life, just watching the puppies be born and grow. we even kept one :wink:
but thanks for your help, and like i said, i have a ton of time before i would even start, but i do want to get a head start on it.
and whats good about it, a year from this december, my girl will be exactly 18 months, and thats perfect for brumation.

but thank you again

 

[Ashleabdlover]

oh and question, how many times do you usually let them breed?
cause i know of things that are like "oh its their 2nd and 3rd clutch"
i mean, how many clutches do you normally let them have?

 

[john_ny217]

they normally have more than 1 clutch. Do you think they only have 1 clutch after being bred once? No. They can keep getting pregnant for up to a year after only being bred once. I put my male in my females cage twice and they did the 'nasty' just twice and she had 3 clutches. So you have to be ready for more than 1 clutch.

There are lots of breeders that will breed their female then once shes done they will breed her back to back and never give her a break. Depending on how many clutches she has I would definatly give her a break inbetween breedings just to get her back to full health.

hope that clears up your question.

 

[Ashleabdlover]

it does thank you.
but would it be smart to only breed once so that i dont end up with a bunch of eggs?

 

[john_ny217]

Well you could put your male in with your female, they could 'do it' once and then she could end up not even being pregnant. Or you could put him in with her and they could do it just once and she could end up having 3 clutches....you cant really determine how many clutches she has off one breeding, all you can pretty much have a handle on is the amount of times she is actually bred.

so if your female ends up having 3 clutches off one breeding then you might want to give her a rest for a while...


but thats all up to you..

 

[Ashleabdlover]

haha alright, well ill probably just try breeding once, and if nothing happens after a couple of weeks, then ill just try again. i would rather have barely any eggs then too many, ya know what i mean?

Oh and ive always wondered this, when the eggs are hatching, and they just like have theyre head out, are you suppose to wait for them to fully come out themelves, or can you gently assist them?
idk ive seen pictures on breeders websites of egss hatching with little beardies poking their heads out.

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

Well you could put your male in with your female, they could 'do it' once and then she could end up not even being pregnant. Or you could put him in with her and they could do it just once and she could end up having 3 clutches....you cant really determine how many clutches she has off one breeding, all you can pretty much have a handle on is the amount of times she is actually bred.

so if your female ends up having 3 clutches off one breeding then you might want to give her a rest for a while...


but thats all up to you..

also sometimes when its there first clutch they can be infertle

 

[Ashleabdlover]

yeah i was wondering that too.
isnt it normal for like a first time breeding female to throw a good about of infertle eggs?

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

ya most do but sometimes the first clutch is firtle thast why when she does lay them to just incubate them just in case and when you candle them you cna tell(it saysall about it in the first post i made the one with lots of words lol)

 

[Ashleabdlover]

haha duh! i was just reading it again and it said specifically
"If candled, fertile eggs will appear pink and a round embryo should be detectable. If the eggs appear yellow when candled or gelatinous, they are probably infertile (this is somewhat common for a first clutch of eggs). "

dont worry, i read every last bit of your longest post ever :wink:
hah and i appreciate it

 

[ilovebeardeddragons]

haha ok just checking

 

[john_ny217]

yeah sometimes the first clutch could be infertile but i have had 2 females that their very first clutches all were fertile so its best to just incubate and plan as if they are.

when you see the head poking out of the egg you cannot touch them, it may take a day or two for them to fully emerge from the egg but they can do it all on their own and it is vital that they do.