is it a girl or boy??

[jacody]

not sure if this will is close enough or clear enough to tell, but I've always thought Crixus was a boy, but now that he?? is old enough I'm starting to doubt that a lot.. any opinions would be appreciated..

 

[jacody]

P.S. 1 more pic to possibly help decide..

 

[Oriheme]

Looks like a girl to me!

 

[MikesBeardies]

The picture is to dark and the tail isn't bent towards the head far enough to see the bulges.

 

[jacody]

Thank you for chiming in, I did do the whole one-handed hold w/ the 90 degree angle bend of the tail.. his/her name is Crixus (from Spartacus), but I've always called my pet Crixy for short so may end up doing that for now on.. do you have one of each and are they pretty easy to identify @ the ages that they are now?? Hard too, because I have heard breeders say that w/o years of experience there is no definitive way to tell w/o the probing by a vet and my registered herp vet told me w/ my last dragon that he was not convinced that Omni was a female and that she?? may have been simply (can't thin of the exact wording @ the moment, but basically "underdeveloped).. whatever the case TY for the response.. :wink:

 

[jacody]

That pic may be too dark, but I did bend the tail as much as possible and the pic I took was the same thing as I did see using 2 hands.. def. no side bulging and no indentation between the 2 bulges as there are absolutely none to speak of..

 

[MikesBeardies]

Some dragons are impossible to tell at an early age. Some have very defined bulges. I breed and I have two hold backs one male and one female who I sexed at 1 month of age.

I guess you just have to have an eye for it.

 

[jacody]

Mike- can you tell @ Crixus's age.. he'll be a year in late October.. when it is hard to tell, is it simply because they are underdeveloped or the technical term that means the same? I really don't care either way as I don't intend to breed him/her, but would like to know just for kicks.. don't know if you read my other post about my vet being unable to tell if my last dragon was definitively a female/male.. have you as a breeder had cases where you just don't know for certain.. TY again for your help and did not mean to sound snippy to you, i did what I could to see for myself, but like you said if you don't really have experience @ all than it really is a guessing game.. also, another quick ?? for you.. how often or at all do you run into "egg binding" that could cause problems for a female?? call me ignorant, but not sure what the odds of that really happening would be?? what does happen to the eggs if they aren't needed/used.. do they build up or dissolve?? i'm a female and obviously know how my body works, but want to know about what beardies do w/ them if unfertilized?? sorry so many ??'s.. thought I'd ask everything while I could..

 

[MikesBeardies]

You should be able to tell for sure at a year old. There have been some cases where you can't. However with a brighter picture I'm sure I could tell you the sex of yours for your knowledge.

Egg binding is a good question. I haven't had a problem with it and maybe it's because I take precautions. Egg binding is more common in beardies who are under developed due to mating to soon. Just because a female isn't ready doesn't mean a male can't put her in submission and do the deed anyway. Binding is common with people breeding to soon. Knock on wood I don't ever have that problem because I don't know what happens to the eggs she can't lay.

I wait for my females to be 350+ grams and atleast 19-20inches before I breed. I rather wait until 450-500 grams of weight is there so the female can stay healthy. When she becomes gravid and wants to lay eggs I place her in a storage bin with vermiculite and sand so she can dig.

When eggs are laid some will be infertile. You must wait until they are incubated before you start tossing them out. Eggs may become
Disscolored which I still leave in the incubator in a separate container until the other ones hatch to insure the eggs are bad.
Others are more noticeable within a day or so and can be disscarded.

 

[MikesBeardies]

As for sexing issues on my end.

You get the occasional few who you have to wait another month or so for them to develope and become a tad bigger. I can tell pretty early. I could put up pictures of two of my holdbacks from this years clutches at 1 1/2 -2 months age if you'd like.

 

[jacody]

Mike- that would be great.. I can try and get a clearer pic when I have help later this afternoon.. should I just post it here for you to check for me?? Thanks again for willing to help me out..

 

[MikesBeardies]

Yeah post it here please. I'm hoping its easier for me to take a picture since I'm showing you a very young beardie female. Ill have it posted here in a couple minutes.

 

[MikesBeardies]

Here is Gia she is a hypo het Trans leatherback dunner. 2 months of age.

Here's a closer picture of her.

What your looking for in this photo is right above the base of the tale in the center is a little bulge or a knot. One bulge in the center is a female. Two vertical knots is a male. Here's the first photo.

Can you see them?

 

[MikesBeardies]

All those pictures are from one female. The male I was going to use is in full body shed so you can't see it at the moment.

 

[jacody]

yes, that is a clear pic even to me.. like I said I'll try and take a better pic while bending the tail as seen in your pic, i don't think I was bending it curled up that way, now I realize what I did wrong.. TY again.. BTW I love the name Gia as mine is really Gina so I think it's funny it's so close..