Are my males too young?

[wildlife]

I have 2 brothers (6 1/2" from nose to cloaca opening) with MBD and I have them on the road to recovery (rescued them from ignorance) and a female also rescued (7 1/2" from nose to cloaca).

I was told the boys were a 1 1/2 yrs old but am not sure. Are they bad candidates for breeding b/c of the MBD and/or too young?

My female (i sexed her) is twice their size and weight, and just watches them from her tank all day! Is this unhealthy if she can see them? The interactions between them seem normal (head bobbing/flattened out and arched on all fours/head butting/circling) except my female is quite over zealous. She is the one initiating the whole dance routine! One of the brothers engages more than the other, but not fully. I have extended the hours of heat and light for my female for sometime now and just started to w/ my boys.

Maybe some candles and Marvin Gay?? lol

-benji

 

[RioReptiles]

For females you want them to weigh over 350 grams or their size may be too small and risk egg binding. This can be fatal for females if not caught and would have to be corrected quickly by surgery. Expensive. Also, if the female has any signs of mbd, I wouldn't think about breeding her unless you know for sure and is completely healthy. If she doesn't have enough calcium in her system for herself, she surely isn't going to have enough for healty eggs. The vet can check calcium levels with a blood test.

Behavior of cirlcling and tail biting is defensive, if she was willing to breed she would not do this. She is being dominant over her territory and doesn't want to be dominated by them so is standing her ground. If she were ready to breed her actions would be completely different and more submissive with waving and slow, downward head bobs.

 

[spyder79]

you should never breed a sub par dragon. A dragon with MBD possibly carries something in his genetics that made him more susceptible to health issues. You have a high chance of passing on health problems to his offspring. Honestly if both males have mbd they never need to be used as breeders.

 

[Twobeardieguy]

I agree I would not breed them. Good luck..

 

[wildlife]

Thanx for the info, but I was under the impression that any BD can have MBD if they were cared for improperly from birth. I know this was the case with the two brothers. Improper or No lighting as well as little to no vitamins was the reason for the lack of Ca and therefore lead to MBD.

I'm curious to know more about the genetics of MBD. Is it considered hereditary then? I understand the susceptibility issue, but i'm still wondering (for future reference) about the what is the avg. age/weight for a male to be sexually mature.

 

[spyder79]

18 inches 300 grams and as early as 12 months though for the healthiest offspring it is suggested that you breed no earlier than 18 months.

as mar as MBD being hereditary it is not. What can be hereditary is a predisposition to getting sick. Often when an animal get severe problems such as MBD it is a combination of poor husbandry and bad gentics (inbreeding and what not). Considering how shallow the gene pool is for beardies outside of australia you never want to breed subpar animals because they can pass on problems in their genetics that you do not know about. The mere fact that these males have MBD should completely disqualify them from breeding. You need 100% top notch healthy animals for a successful breeding program. Think of it this way, in the wild if these animals had MBD and were able to survive do you think that any wild female would submit to them for carrying on their line when there were healthier candidates available. The answer is no, because you want to strengthen a race not weaken it and by allowing the weakest of a line to procreate you are weakening the gene pool.

 

[wildlife]

I agree totally. And thanx for answering my Q.