I'm having a difficult time sexing my beardie.

[OhNoChloroformx]

Anywhere I take him, public opinion is 50/50 on his gender. I've had herp vets, reptile experts and a breeder all give me their opinions on his sex, and they all seem to think different things even though he's over a year old and this stuff should probably be easy to determine?


Ya see, he has the two large bulges above his vent, which is what I've used since I got him in December to say he's a male. But at the same time, his femoral pores aren't all that prominent or dark. Wait it gets more confusing! He will see his reflection in the tank and 'challenge' it, sorta dancing and bobbing his head and running too and fro (which signals to me that he's establishing dominance) and as an added bonus he's a very calm and collected beardie, so his beard almost never darkens because he never gets stressed out. Its all so confusing?


Any insight?

 

[peera]

I would say he's probably a he if he's got the 2 bumps. Not all males have the pronounced femoral pores, espesially if he hasn't gone down for brumation and woken up lookin' for some action. My males seem to get bigger as he gets older, I swear they weren't nearly so noticable 2 years ago. As for the other behavior... Well, all 3 of mine (1 male, 2 females) "challenge" their reflections, beard and all, but never a black beard from either sex. My little girl has also been known to black beard when I startle her and never waves, so there are no set-in-stone "This is female behavior, this is male behavior" signals. Go with the physical evidence. If you want, you can post a pic and see if you can get some opinions from the board.

 

[Embee]

Ya see, he has the two large bulges above his vent

My understanding is that in sexing, you want to be looking BELOW the vent (the tail). Maybe this is what you meant?

When I look at mine, he/she has two bulges above the vent that I think are just bone structure. I had been looking at this area early on (misunderstanding a photo I saw about sexing beardies), and thinking male, but then I read the article here a few months back, and realized I needed to be looking below the vent, at the top part of the tail... well, then, things were very confusing there! Still can't tell, beardie is four and a half to 5 months, and small for age to boot. Guess I'll just have to wait it out. *sigh*

Here is a link to the article from bd.org's home page, articles. I found it very helpful (well, in learning how that is, still can't sex my beardie! :? )

http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/

Good luck!

Em