how to tell what gender your bearded dragon is
Figuring out how to sex a bearded dragon is crucial for pretty much all owners. Knowing what gender you have can make it easier to provide elevation-notch intendance, or consider breeding them in the time to come.
But doing this is trickier than it seems. Unlike many other animals, there aren't obvious external signs to tell the difference betwixt males and females.
And that'south where this guide comes in. We'll teach yous how to sex a disguised dragon using a number of unlike and efficient methods.
Table of Contents
- Methods For Sexing Disguised Dragons
- Identify The Hemipenal Bulges
- Utilize A Flashlight
- Inspect The Femoral Pores
- Pay Attending To Their Behavior
- Arm Waving
- Puffed Black Beard
- Head Bobbing
- Hissing
- Are There Any Size Or Shape Differences Between Males And Females?
- When Are They Old Plenty For Yous To Make up one's mind Their Gender?
- Decision
Methods For Sexing Bearded Dragons
There are a number of methods that will assist bearded dragon owners figure out the gender of their pet lizard.
Nonetheless, it'south worth pointing out that trying to sex a disguised dragon when it'south younger than 4 weeks is pretty much incommunicable. At best, gender determinations when they're younger than this are just educated guesses at best.
In general, information technology is easiest to determine whether a disguised dragon is male or female person later they accept reached 4 to half dozen months of age. However, some experienced owners and breeders can make fairly accurate gender determinations over 4 weeks of age to 12 weeks.
When it comes to sexing bearded dragons there are a few dissimilar tactics you can use. These gender conclusion methods include:
- Hemipenal Bulges
- Femoral Pore Size
- Beliefs
- Size & Shape Differences
Place The Hemipenal Bulges
One of the nearly effective and popular ways to determine whether your precious beardie is a female or male is to identify the hemipenal bulges.
Expert Tip: To use this method you'll need to wait until the reptile is over 4 to viii weeks old. However, if you don't have a lot of experience this method will go significantly easier once they've reached iv to 6 months of age.
Male bearded dragons will have two hemipenal bulges that tin be felt underneath the tail nearly to their anus. To put it more than simply, there will exist one burl on either side on the underside of the tail.
In contrast, a female bearded dragon will simply have one hemipenal burl (or bumps) located centrally on the underside of the tail almost to the anus.
When checking this it's important to hold your beardie gently. Make sure that yous support the their tail and legs to assistance prevent injury to your pet.
Gently lift the tail and await at the underside of the tail. Exercise non perform this move quickly or too aggressively. Otherwise, your bearded dragon might experience hurting and fifty-fifty injury.
It tin can be difficult to spot the bulges at first. Showtime slowly and gradually increase tail acme to help smooth out the tail skin on the underside enough to properly see the bumps.
If you're still unable to spot the bulges, your dragon might merely be too young. Your beardie might be a bit overweight too, making visual inspection more difficult.
Fortunately, there's a variation of this method that tin can brand everything a whole lot easier…
Use A Flashlight
To perform the flashlight method for sexing bearded dragons, concur your pet in the same way we described in the section higher up. Ensure that its tail and legs are supported properly before gently lifting upwards the tail to await on the underside tail area at the aforementioned location.
And this is where things become kind of neat.
With this method, yous'll be using a flashlight to assist visual inspection! The light will assist make the bulges easier to spot through the tail.
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Expert Tip: Plough off all or most of the surrounding lights in the room to brand spotting the bulges easier.
Property your dragon pet e'er then gently, slowly ease the tail upwards being careful not to exert too much pressure. Your dragon may react angrily or become aggressive if it feels discomfort (in rare instances this can effect in a seize with teeth).
Shine the flashlight beam downwards on the pinnacle of the tail right at the junction where the tail is connected to the dragon's trunk. Property the light in place, look closely at the underside of the tail.
You should be able to see the lite shining through the tail, highlighting the dark bulges! Equally nosotros mentioned earlier, two of these hemipenal bulges on either side of the tail indicates that your bearded dragon is a male, and one hemipenal bulge situated in the cardinal portion of the tail underside indicates a female person.
These bulges volition look like shadows. This is because they block the calorie-free from the flashlight creating natural shadows where the bump is present. Here's a video that shows this method in action.
Inspect The Femoral Pores
Some other method to make up one's mind whether the sex of your disguised dragon is male person or female is to look for the characteristics and differences of the femoral pores. These femoral pores are located on the bottom area of your pet'due south hind legs.
Good Tip: These femoral pores are the surface area where the lizard secretes pheromones. The pheromones are chemicals that bearded dragons apply to communicate to others that are nearby.
The femoral pores are used during their mating seasons. The mating menstruation begins around one calendar month following brumation. Brumation is somewhat similar to other animal's hibernation periods. The dragon slows downward and sleeps longer during this time frame.
Disguised dragons begin to secrete the pheromones in order to indicate that they are ready to mate. Other nearby dragons of the opposite sex activity volition respond to these secretions.
It should exist noted that both the female dragon and the male person have these femoral pores. However, they wait a chip different, and this is what should be looked for when trying to establish the sexual activity gender of your modest pet dragon.
Await for spots that are located from knee to knee on your dragon's underside of its hind legs.
Males will have femoral pores(or spots) that are more pronounced in color. These spots are larger likewise. Females then take smaller sized femoral pores, and the color of the spots announced more faded.
Pay Attending To Their Behavior
Carefully watching your bearded dragon's behavior tin can give you a clue to indicate whether they are male or female. While this method definitely isn't perfect, it tin requite you an idea.
But kickoff, you need to know which behaviors are common among bearded dragons in general. The main ones are:
- Arm Waving
- Puffed Blackness Head
- Head Bobbing
- Hissing
Arm Waving
Bearded dragons may utilize waving behavior to signify submission before a larger or more ambitious male. It is too an indicator that a female is ready to mate.
Additionally, this behavior is used by beardies when other aggressive or predators are located nearby. The waving is performed as a alarm to other disguised dragons that are in the same vicinity.
Sometimes, this can exist used in combination with certain color changes to act as a warning sign of danger.
Puffed Black Beard
Bearded dragons will showroom a puffed head surface area when confronted by another beardie or some nearby danger. Their beard may turn blackness in hue as well.
This behavior likely indicates that the reptile is experiencing some kind of stress and is an effort to testify its dominance over the nearby threat. It'south besides a signal that the bearded dragon is ready to fight and defend itself or its perceived territory.
In full general, this beliefs is something you'll see in males more than females.
Head Bobbing
When a beardie begins to caput bob, it is trying to testify both assailment and submission (a confusing combo). Information technology'due south more likely to signal assailment when done in tandem with other aggressive beliefs.
Caput bobbing that occurs with submissive behavior like waving will typically indicate a more submissive behavior stance.
This caput-bobbing may besides be used when the bearded dragon is ready to mate. It is typically seen more often with male bearded dragons in this situation.
Hissing
Hissing is a less common beliefs, but it can yet be used when sexing bearded dragons. It usually occurs when a male dragon is threatened by a larger-sized predator or some other dragon that enters its territory.
While this isn't something you'll likely run across from a beardie in captivity, there'south a strong gamble you accept a male if information technology does occur.
Are There Whatsoever Size Or Shape Differences Between Males And Females?
While in that location are some high-level differences between each gender, using this as your primary method of sexing bearded dragons is unreliable. Instead, we recommend using it as another piece of information if you're nonetheless unsure after using the methods listed above.
Male bearded dragons generally have a thicker and larger head. They're also more likely to puff out and blacken the color of their beard. Spikes may become more visible during mating as well.
In addition to this, males usually take a thicker tail from tip to end. This is more apparent every bit they get older though.
Females, on the other hand, have a more trim and overall smaller head size. They as well take a noticeably thinner tail.
When Are They Old Enough For You To Decide Their Gender?
While we provided the general rule before in the guide, there are a few additional details that we wanted to include.
Determining the sex of a disguised dragon can exist difficult when the cadger is nether 4 to 6 months of age (if yous don't have a lot of feel). Withal, adept owners and breeders with many years of experience under their chugalug can normally decide the gender much earlier.
It'south non uncommon for an experienced breeder to accurately sexual activity disguised dragons at the eight to 12-week mark! Some reptile specialists may even decide the gender when the beardie is as young as 4 weeks old.
An interesting fact is that knowing the age of your bearded dragon can actually make information technology a lot easier to tell what sex y'all're dealing with.
Owners of pet bearded dragons can usually get the age record of their pet from the breeder that sold the beardie to them in the get-go place. Reputable breeders volition keep accurate records of the birth, growth, and age of their bred reptiles.
If the pet possessor does non have admission to the breeder's records, there are age charts that tin can be referenced that tin use the size of your disguised dragon to come up with an approximate historic period.
When measuring your bearded dragon to determine their approximate age, be sure to include the tail in this measurement. Accept your ruler or tape measure out and measure from the dragon'due south head all the mode to the tip of the tail.
Skillful Tip: Recollect that most charts are going to be useful for the most mutual species of dragons. At that place are other smaller species of this reptile that are rare and tend to be much smaller than the common pet varieties.
Conclusion
Every bit you tin see, learning how to sex a bearded dragon is a lot easier than it seems. Once you know the right methods, information technology'south actually rather straightforward!
Every bit long as you stick to the recommendations in this guide and handle your beardie carefully, we have complete confidence that you'll exist able to safely figure out their gender.
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Source: https://www.reptiledirect.com/how-to-sex-a-bearded-dragon/
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