Wanting to breed my beardie

[crazyeye72985]

so a friend of mine has a male beardie and said she wants to breed both of ours. i have a couple questions concering this.
1) does my female need to be a certain age
2) what are the side effects of it if any
3) does she need to stay in her cage or ?
4) how long does it take for her to lay eggs
5) how long do the eggs take to hatch
6) what do i do with the babies LOL
7) IS IT A GOOD IDEA?

and im about 90% positive its a female....i hope

 

[Brett]

1) Don't breed your female until its at least 350grams
2) If bread at the proper weight you should be fine just need to supplement more calcium and vitamins make sure she gets all the food she can eat to produce.
3) You will have to put them together while the breed then separate them after that.
4) How soon after breeding can they lay eggs i'm not 100% sure of mine was about 2 months but i suppose that varies
5) 50 plus days to hatch
6) If you don't have a means of getting rid of the babies i wouldn't breed them. Id check with local pet stores and see if they would buy them first.
7) Is it a good idea? Well you need to realize they only have to mate once and can have anywhere from 15 to 30+ eggs per clutch, they can lay 1 to up 8 clutches a season. That's allot of babies. This means more crickets more UVB lights more housing, more time to maintain.

 

[crazyeye72985]

hmmm LOL wish i didnt have the female HAHA im gonna hold out anyway i think shes to young still (underweight) shes not even a year old yet that i know of

 

[Brett]

ya it'll take about 18months to get to that weight

 

[Dragonsx6]

Hi crazyeye, speaking from experience I wouldnt breed until your girl is at least 2 years old. My female was very underweight & small when we got her and the male & due to their size we were unable to sex them properly. We only found out it was male & female when we caught him having his way with her, by that time it was too late. She was only just a year old when she had her first clutch of eggs, she then went on to lay another 5 clutches in 4 week intervals, they were all infertile, but it was making her ill. All the goodness she was getting from her food was going right back into producing the next set of eggs, as a result she got MBD putting an end to her being able to breed anyway. We had to take her to the vet and got her 'dressed' to stop her having any more eggs & when the vet performed the op there was another clutch forming which had we left her would have been her 7th clutch in 7 months. After her op & I went to collect her I was speaking with the vet and he thought she was only 6 months old - she was 16 months old by this time, that shows just how small she was. She is now a happy & healthy dragon, but I would not recommend breeding to anyone before they reach a minimum of 2 years of age, the stress is just too much for them.

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

It isnt just about weight. My 10 month old dragons push 400 grams. Its about maturity as well. The closer to 2 years you breed, the better it is for the overall health of the female. 18 months is a general guideline, but I always try to push for 2 years before breeding. I get bigger clutches, a better survival rate, and the female bounces back faster and gets back to normal quicker.