Lack of femoral pores?

[Any1217]

Hi..! I was reading on femoral pores and have a couple of questions. I have a ‘supposedly’ male bearded dragon; a red het hypo transluscent leatherback beardie. He’s currently 8 months old and healthy (maybe a little chubby too..!)
Anyway... I have never seen anything SIMILAR to a femoral pore on him.
Do all beardies get visible pores? (From what I read, males do and females on ocasion?)
Maybe my beardie is too young yet? Or maybe not male at all? Although I’m pretty sure he has his two bulges.
Any ideas? And thanks!

 

[AHBD]

Males can have large or small ones but once they are mature they are always bigger than a females. Post a few pics with his tail arched up high + I can tell you [ 99.9 % of the time ] what you have.

 

[EllenD]

I just read AHBD's post and was going to say the same thing, try posting a photo and we can tell you what sex your dragon is for sure. Put him on all 4's and arch his tail way over his back, then take a photo of the vent area.

Just as an FYI, my male of 13 years had extremely small femoral pores, when he was young he appeared to not have any at all, and when he was older they were there, but they were smaller than the ones my adult female has. So I think that "rule" is just a generalization, but not always applicable.

 

[Any1217]

Thanks a lot! Will do as soon as I get home.. I’ve had a HELL of a few days and finally had time to check the post..! Thanks for replying so fast and so sorry it took me so long to respond! Will post pictures in a few hours

 

[Any1217]

Here you go...! He (she?) even head bobbed at me for the pics ?
Anyway.. I noticed he has a little scratch on the ventral area that he didn’t had yesterday but doesn’t look infected.. I’ll keep an eye on it. Any idea on the pores (or lack of? )

A few bonus pics..! He studies with us

And hangs like this

 

[CooperDragon]

That definitely looks like a boy due to the two large bumps along the sides of his tail above the vent. Very clear example if you ask me. I'd watch the next shed or two and see if the femoral pores start to appear more clearly.

 

[Any1217]

Thanks! I’ll do that... I was just son confused since I was pretty sure I had a guy and everywhere I found about these pores and couldn’t see any in him! I was a bit worried there was something wrong with him... maybe he’ll just have small ones? He’s almost nine months old already and over 18 inches long..! Shouldn’t he be showing some by now?

 

[CooperDragon]

I'd think so but they're all a bit different. He looks nice and healthy based on the other photos so I wouldn't be too concerned about it.

 

[EllenD]

Yep, definitely a male, no doubt. That's an easy one. Again, they are all different, and that "femoral pore" thing is one of those rules that is sometimes true, but sometimes not true, so it cannot be used to sex them. And also, I've seen dragons with huge femoral pores because they are or were at one time clogged up with gunk, so that's another factor too. It's just not a reliable way of sexing them...

 

[Any1217]

Great!
Thanks a lot all of you! I’ll keep checking him and see if they appear (if ever!)