Breeding Concerns

Quick question: I was recently handed off a beautiful two-year-old little girl dragon with a request to breed her with my leatherback. She does have some pretty unique and dark colors to her and I'm sure they'd have interesting babies but I have some concerns.

1 - I'm not sure her colors are natural. I believe she said she's been without a UV bulb for some time. I'm not concerned about the colors themselves (I don't concern myself with morphs and all that jazz). My concern is the UV. She's under a nice new UV light now, however, and she's brightening up. So, my concern is how long she's been without and what I need to worry about in regards to that.

2 - She's dehydrated (which I'm working on) and they've cut her nails! Short! She can't even cling on to my shirt. I know it's not fun to be "shredded" by an overly excited dragon but it's part of being a dragon mommy. Your kids pull your hair out all through infancy...it hurts...we don't chop away at them. >:/ I'm worried she's going to feel at a disadvantage or get hurt because she has no traction now.

As for the dehydration, they've been giving her salt baths to soften her skin. :/ I don't know if this is safe or normal or even adding to the dehydration issue. All in all, I'm wondering if this is even the right animal for them.

3 - Overall health considered, isn't it late in the season to breed?! This little girl should be worried about tucking in for the winter and not bearing eggs...correct? Is this even a good idea? My worry is that she'll go into brumation depleted and unhealthy despite my efforts to provide her the nutrition she needs to get through it healthy. I'm not even sure she's been getting calcium. She is nice and plump, however, so she's clearly not starving. Still, I don't feel like she's in good enough health for breeding. And it's almost October.

Any advice here would be greatly appreciated. I want to do the right thing here (no monetary exchange involved) I'm just worried about the health of the dragons. Thank you!

I absolutely would not breed this girl. Her owners don't sound all that great, how will they care for all the babies?
They will need multiple cages, all with proper heat/uvb.
Sounds like her owners just want easy money without realizing how expensive raising babies is.

It would be irresponsible on your part if you allow this to happen.

You are right that this is the wrong time if the year. Dragons breed in spring after they come out of brumation.

Stop the salt baths, it is doing nothing for her. Why would you think its softening her skin and why would you even want that?

Soak her in plain water so she can drink. If she is dehydrated, get her to drink or eat some juicy foods. Silkworms or water melon would be good.

Gail":1dsi74zn said:

I absolutely would not breed this girl. Her owners don't sound all that great, how will they care for all the babies?
They will need multiple cages, all with proper heat/uvb.
Sounds like her owners just want easy money without realizing how expensive raising babies is.

It would be irresponsible on your part if you allow this to happen.

You are right that this is the wrong time if the year. Dragons breed in spring after they come out of brumation.

Stop the salt baths, it is doing nothing for her. Why would you think its softening her skin and why would you even want that?

Soak her in plain water so she can drink. If she is dehydrated, get her to drink or eat some juicy foods. Silkworms or water melon would be good.

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Having 4 (possibly 5 if I can get this little girl's owner to sell her to me) very happy and healthy bearded dragons of my own and having been through multiple clutches of babies (21 frolicking about at 3 weeks and 2 days as we speak) I'm well aware of the cost involved in raising and caring for beardies and their babies. There really isn't much profit in it when you spend hundred feeding them until they are ready to be sold to responsible owners. I've explained this to the owners but they insisted on leaving her with me while I decided...just in case.

I have no intention of breeding her at this time. If I do, it will be much later. And I'm the owner of the male leatherback so it won't happen without my say and if/when it does it will be at my home only. So will the eggs as I can incubate them and the owners can not. The person they asked to do so told me she threw the last clutch she had out because they hadn't hatched by 50 days. I may have been a little harsh with her over this (or perhaps a lot - not saying) So, no worries there. I'm actually a very responsible dragon mommy.

I've got the hydration under way and she's looking better today, in that regard. She eats well so I've added misted greens, given her a bath in diluted Pedialyte, given her plenty of wax worms, and she now has water in her cage. I also give my dragons watermelon. lol. They love it. She isn't terribly dehydrated and is already perking back up quickly. But she is very dark again.

I'm not sure if you misread my post but I am not the one giving her salt baths. Her owners do that and I had the same questions for them as you did. Why? If she's not soft enough...I have a kitten they can have. So, again...no worries, she won't be getting salt baths here.

She's two years old (but very small - possibly stunted) and she's staying dark today. I'm thinking I might need to have her checked for parasites. I called the owners and she eats nothing but crickets. I personally hate crickets but to each their own. Either way, she pooped this morning and it's very watery. So, at this point, breeding (or any contact with my dragons) is off the table. I just need to figure out what's wrong with this sweetheart. I think I might need to move this post to the ER forum, honestly. I'm starting to worry about her. I've never seen my dragons stay dark like this. Considering it's a new place and cage and all that....still.

Thanks for the advise though! It's always appreciated.

Yes, I misunderstood about the salt bath. Good to hear you weren't doing them.

Sorry if I sounded harsh with you, I assumed you were inexperience with breeding.
Hopefully you can convince her owners into letting you keep her. It really sounds like a reptile isn't right for them.

Besides being dark, is anything else really wrong? Sounds like you have sorted out her diet and the hydration issues. I'd love to see pictures of her.

No worries! It's infuriating for me to hear about neglected dragons because I love them so much. And the sad truth is...most people don't listen so sometimes harsh is what it takes.

Aside from being dark, I don't see much else wrong. The one watery poo is the only other thing. She isn't eating much today and she seems to be needing lots of love. She wants out of her cage and comes straight to me every time she comes out. My boyfriend took her outside for some fresh sunlight today and I put her under a new UV and heat bulb to get her warmed up. She lightened up for a while and then I wandered off to cook lunch and she went all dark again. She's tucked into bed now but I was really hoping she'd eat to see if everything came out alright (if you know what I mean) :lol: .

I'm having a hard time carrying her around on me like I do my other dragons (which sucks for me and her both) because they cut her nails soooo short. If I put her up against my shirt she literally sits back in my hand...on her butt...so her front hands are barely touching me. So, I'm wondering if she's hurt (nails were cut too short). I've never seen a dragon do this. And, while it's cute, it's worrying me a bit. I'll get a pic if she does it while my boyfriend is holding her so you can see what I mean. I'll get a pic of the nails too. Some are cut almost to the finger tips.

I took a couple pics of her but I'm really bad about getting them on here. I'll give it a shot though.

Sammie <3

This link should help you with posting pictures. https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then put the XIMG link here.

I will use a scarf to keep my dragon in like a sling so she can sleep on me. If you have one of those long pashmina types they work well.

I will wrap it around me, tie one part of the bottoms to each other, put the dragon in, usually on my chest/shoulder then fold the other half of the scarf over top and tie it so it's tight and will stay in place. My girl will lie on me for hours like this, it gives her dark if she needs it, security and i have my hands free.

With the nail issues you have this might be a good solution.