Female needs vs male needs?

[Hdrydr31]

Ok so I am still learning about these wonderful dragons and want the best for my little one.. I'm 80% sure I have a female beardie...Are there different requirements care needs for females that you don't have with males? Are they more likely to bruminate if a female? I don't intend on getting another one as 1 is plenty for me..

I'm a planner so I always try to know what is in the future..

 

[PatsyB]

The only difference in care is that the female could lay infertile eggs. If she is going to lay eggs she usually will start digging around in the bottom of the tank. When that happens you want to make her a lay box I think you could use moist children's play sand so she can dig a hole and lay her eggs. If she does become gravid you want to make sure she is getting lots of calcium because the eggs will deplete her stores. Not all females lay eggs though. My girl is almost 3 and she has never laid eggs or brummated.

I have 2 and it's sometimes a challenge to give them both the attention they need. My boy is very rambunctious and very much like a typical human boy. He is also very messy! He has lots of pent up energy and needs to be let out of his tank to burn it off. I don't think this is how all male beardies are though.

 

[Hdrydr31]

The only difference in care is that the female could lay infertile eggs. If she is going to lay eggs she usually will start digging around in the bottom of the tank. When that happens you want to make her a lay box I think you could use moist children's play sand so she can dig a hole and lay her eggs. If she does become gravid you want to make sure she is getting lots of calcium because the eggs will deplete her stores. Not all females lay eggs though. My girl is almost 3 and she has never laid eggs or brummated.

I have 2 and it's sometimes a challenge to give them both the attention they need. My boy is very rambunctious and very much like a typical human boy. He is also very messy! He has lots of pent up energy and needs to be let out of his tank to burn it off. I don't think this is how all male beardies are though.

Thank you oh knowledgeable one so what you are saying is I should prepare for if she shows signs of being gravid do this if not just keep doing the same ol same ol...

 

[PatsyB]

There's still some stuff I don't know, LOL! Everything I do know is from 3 years of experience. I still don't know much about egg laying or brumation. Although....both of mine kinda went into a partial brumation last year. They got very lethargic and lazy once the weather got cold. It's almost like they get seasonal disorder. They never fully went to sleep though, which is good because I would miss them! Currently we are learning about the birds and the bees My male's hormones are all over the place. We used to be able to let Luci (my boy) run around on the floor while Dexter (my girl) was on the couch but the other day he was across the room and he saw her and he ran to the couch trying to find a way to climb up! He also black bearded when he saw me giving attention to our chameleon.

 

[Hdrydr31]

There's still some stuff I don't know, LOL! Everything I do know is from 3 years of experience. I still don't know much about egg laying or brumation. Although....both of mine kinda went into a partial brumation last year. They got very lethargic and lazy once the weather got cold. It's almost like they get seasonal disorder. They never fully went to sleep though, which is good because I would miss them! Currently we are learning about the birds and the bees My male's hormones are all over the place. We used to be able to let Luci (my boy) run around on the floor while Dexter (my girl) was on the couch but the other day he was across the room and he saw her and he ran to the couch trying to find a way to climb up! He also black bearded when he saw me giving attention to our chameleon.

lol!! Well I appreciate all your information!! BTW my name is Dana just in case you didn't know... I am the kind of person that likes to know the "what could happen" so I'm not scrambling.... Heck I'm not 100% sure she's female lol I'm pretty sure but I know she's young yet.. I don't know all the in's and outs of these super cool dragon's!! I'm soo excited to have her and love her to pieces!! She is sound asleep on my chest between a hand towel that's doubled.. it's our routine at night as I want her to bond to our pack. Not just sitting in her 55gal in another room all the time.

I'm still learning what supplements to be giving her and how often since she is not eating much greens yet (she loves to poo in the friggin salad bowl! doesn't matter where I put it she hits it somehow lol) I try to offer her some each time I go into her room to see her while she basks.. I got her to eat a piece of collard green once....So I have to dust her roaches/crickets but still unsure of how often as I read conflicting info..

I offer her a wide variety of ok greens/fruits/veggies daily...Her insect selection so far is: crickets/roaches/butterworms/freshly shed mealworms, I've yet to come across waxworms that are not all dead at the petstores....

Am I missing anything?

 

[PatsyB]

Hi Dana! We didn't know the sex of our dragons right away and now we have a girl named Dexter and a boy named Luci! The names just fit them. We though about calling Dexter Dixie but it sounded funny. Sounds like you are offering her good stuff. I would only do the freshly shed mealworms, the ones with the shell can be hard to digest. Keep offering the salad and she will eventually eat it. Dexter used to always eat her salad and then she stopped around a year old and it's taken until just the last few months for me to get her to eat some of it again. I always make sure to feed her feeders her salad in hopes she'll still get the nutrients. Luci ALWAYS eats his salad, there's things he doesn't like such as fruit but he usually eats everything I give him. He's like a vacuum! When they were small I dusted one meal a day with calcium without D3 and 2 or 3 times a week I would dust with a multivitamin. Now that they are older and they don't eat every day I dust one meal a week with multivitamin and the rest with the calcium without D3. I never dusted the salads because I figure they had enough nutrients but lately with Dexter I've been dusting her salads because it gets her attention. I think she thinks they are bugs because they are being dusted.

When I go to the pet store, I learned to grab the containers on the back of the shelf. Those are the most freshest!

 

[Hdrydr31]

Hi Dana! We didn't know the sex of our dragons right away and now we have a girl named Dexter and a boy named Luci! The names just fit them. We though about calling Dexter Dixie but it sounded funny. Sounds like you are offering her good stuff. I would only do the freshly shed mealworms, the ones with the shell can be hard to digest. Keep offering the salad and she will eventually eat it. Dexter used to always eat her salad and then she stopped around a year old and it's taken until just the last few months for me to get her to eat some of it again. I always make sure to feed her feeders her salad in hopes she'll still get the nutrients. Luci ALWAYS eats his salad, there's things he doesn't like such as fruit but he usually eats everything I give him. He's like a vacuum! When they were small I dusted one meal a day with calcium without D3 and 2 or 3 times a week I would dust with a multivitamin. Now that they are older and they don't eat every day I dust one meal a week with multivitamin and the rest with the calcium without D3. I never dusted the salads because I figure they had enough nutrients but lately with Dexter I've been dusting her salads because it gets her attention. I think she thinks they are bugs because they are being dusted.

When I go to the pet store, I learned to grab the containers on the back of the shelf. Those are the most freshest!

Thank you PatsyB! I appreciate all of the info as you usually get the best info from people that have healthy happy pets so I reach out to those...I guess I'm like your Luci I am a vacuum for info lol I keep notes to refer to I just want what is best for Izzy to grow up happy and healthy with the best that I can offer. Yep all of my babies are just a tad spoiled lol.
I knew about the mealworms being hard to digest so I've only offered her fresh shed ones... I do the same thing at the petstore I look for the date they put on the bottom of when they got them. I also open them up and look at them to see how they are and I've yet to find waxworms that are alive they have them in the fridge and I think their fridges are too cold for them. Most are brown and the rest are mostly flat when I pick them up sigh... She Loves butterworms I know they are high fat so those are limited and are like candy to her lol.
Sounds like I need to get different supplement as mine has D3 in it...and I don't have a multi vit ...so those are on my list to get.

 

[PatsyB]

I think I ordered my calcium from Amazon because I couldn't find it in the store. I use Reptivite for the multivitamin. I haven't tried butter worms yet. I heard that some chameleons get an allergic reaction to them so I've been kinda hesitant since I like to get a bug that everyone can eat. I want to try silk worms but nobody ever seems to have them in stock. Hornworms are a big favorite in our house. One of the managers at the pet store told me to go through the cups before I buy them to make sure they are all still alive. One time he gave me two cups for the price of one because we couldn't find a decent cup and I was desperate!