I have no plans on breeding my bearded dragon, but I've had him for 3 months as of today. He has grown immensely. I contacted the people I got him from to inquire about his age since I completely spaced on asking when I took him on impulse. He was apparently 4-5 months old. He's very tame, but he's also quite shy. If I change anything in his tank it takes him a few days to adjust.
The first time I tried to check for the presence of a hemipenis he was uncomfortable with me touching his tail (he bearded and jumped off my hand, I had him in the tank close to the ground so he didn't hurt himself). I've been patient. I've been holding him, petting him, hand feeding him, calling him a pretty lizard, and slowly building up trust. It's been a mutual exercise, I think, because I'm no longer afraid of his impressive acrodont dentition since I started the hand feeding.
I had noticed lately that he has large femoral pores, and after a while of gently running the back of my finger along his tail he was comfortable enough to let me check. I saw two parallel bulges rather than one bulge going along the center. This photo is a bit old because he started shedding today. He's getting huge (From nose tip to tail tip he's about 13.5") and there's a lot of orange coloration coming in.
The first time I tried to check for the presence of a hemipenis he was uncomfortable with me touching his tail (he bearded and jumped off my hand, I had him in the tank close to the ground so he didn't hurt himself). I've been patient. I've been holding him, petting him, hand feeding him, calling him a pretty lizard, and slowly building up trust. It's been a mutual exercise, I think, because I'm no longer afraid of his impressive acrodont dentition since I started the hand feeding.
I had noticed lately that he has large femoral pores, and after a while of gently running the back of my finger along his tail he was comfortable enough to let me check. I saw two parallel bulges rather than one bulge going along the center. This photo is a bit old because he started shedding today. He's getting huge (From nose tip to tail tip he's about 13.5") and there's a lot of orange coloration coming in.
I'm super happy with him. It's been a bit weird having such a fast moving reptile since most of my experience has been with tortoises. He requires the same level of patience but he's a little speed demon compared to them! It's vastly improved my ability to handle wild lizards at least. I have some potatoes in containers out in the garden and tree lizards are attracted to them. They have no problem jumping down from the wall to get in, but can't seem to get out without assistance since the sides of the container are so slippery.
