Question on Bearded Dragons. How do the dots on their butty area help tell the difference in male or female?

Question

I was just doing some research on this one site and it said that those dots(forget the name of them) help tell the deffrence between male and female but didn't say how. Does anyone know? I already know how to tell by the anal area itself,but I thought I had a pair( was bought as pair, looks like pair when looking at vents). But the female has yet to lay eggs. I've had them for 9 months. They are both about 2ft long. I belive the male is a central beardie, the female a german gaint(due to coloring and that she is heavier than him and somewhat bigger) I also think he is somewhat older because he eats more veggies and she eats more feeder food. I know they don't lay eggs till 2 years old, but shouldn't they be at least that old? Any help apprieciated. Email me if more info is needed. [e-mail] ,Oh yea, I forgot to tell you I bought them as a pair at an exotic animal auction aprox. 9 months ago, no idea of age when bought. Was told that she was already carrying eggs inside he

Answer 1

Those "holes" are called the femoral pores. On males beardies they should be larger and easier to see. Males will have a waxy substance coming from them occasionally that you normally won't see. This helps them to breed, and mark territory.
Female beardies should not be bred until at least 16 mths of age for their health and safety. They can and have been bred before this as they are actually mature at around 1 yr of age but it is unsafe and will actually shorten their life span. If you want to breed, follow some of these guidelines. They need to be brumated(form of hibernation), seperately from each other. This usually is between the months of nov to feb, depending on your location, lights, heat, beardie health(DO NOT brumate if ill) etc. and the beardie too. I have a female who does not brumate no matter what I do! Lower temps a little at a time starting late Oct. Shorten the lights on time to the light/dark cycle of the day outside. Make sure their is no feed in their guts before they brumate... this can kill them. They will usually be pretty lethargic and not interested in much, including food or you for these 3-4 mths. It's a good idea to still give them a warm bath every few weeks to help with hydration, but not food. After brumation , warming them back up, and several good feedings, place them back together. This usually works. A great site for alot more info is dragontank.com
ps.... it is really quite hard to tell what a beardie is by its color anymore.

Answer 2

the dots are called "pores", they are larger and more visible on males, and less noticable on females. at two feet long, they are both fully grown. They reach maturity pretty early in life, but females shouldn't be bred until atleast 2 years of age because their bodies often arent ready for it until then. they need to have sufficient calcium and nutrients in their bones. often, a gravid female (under age 2) will absorb the eggs back into her body because her bones dont have enough calcium to deal with it. keep a close eye on the female, because she may go through "dyscotia", or egg binding. this means that she cant pass the eggs herself, and can eventually die if not helped immediately.


Here is a general care sheet I made with everything you will need to know.


.:HEATING/LIGHTING:.

A bearded dragon will need to be kept in a minimum of a 40 gallon tank. this needs to be more ground area than height. put a UVA/UVB light across the back of the tank, and put a basking lamp on on end of the tank. the basking temperature should be between 105 and 115 degrees F, and the opposite end ("cool down" or regular temp.) needs to be between 82-95 degrees. i would go with about 86.
Put a digital thermometer on each side of the tank and make sure the tank never gets too hot or too cold. The lights need to be on for 12 hours a day, and can be turned off at night if temperatures are above 65 degrees. buy a timer to do this for you.

.:SUBSTRATE:.

Substrates are a big issue of debates; people argue that sand is good, that carpet is good, wood chips are bad, calcium sand is good, etc. Don't worry about this; just avoid sand and wood chips. carpet can snag tiny claws, so dont buy it. Put a baby dragon on paper towels, and if you want, move it to tile when it gets bigger.


.:FOOD:.

Bearded dragon food isn't as much of an issue as you may think. First of all, babies need 20% veggies and 80% insects in their diet. You can give them crickets, phoenix worms, freshly molted meal worms, or small silk worms. Crickets need to be dusted with calcium. Phoenix worms, however, are naturally packed with protein and calcium, so they dont need to be dusted. Never feed it anything larger than the space between the beardie's eyes. Veggies can include kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, and collard greens as staples, then some other things added to make a salad. This includes bell pepper, occasional berries, and any type of squash imaginable. Check out the color-coded nutrition guide at www.beautifuldragons.com for more food ideas and nutrition content.

.:WATER/BATHING:.

A water dish (optional) can be kept inside the tank. The dish needs to be big enough for the beardie to get its entire body into, and needs to be shallow. this means elbow-deep for babies, and shoulder deep for adults. If you do decide to keep a water dish in the tank, keep it as far away from the basking light as you possibly can. The heat will evaporate the water, causing the beardie to contract a respiratory infection from the humidity. Most people choose to mist their bearded dragons instead of risking the respiratory infection. Mist it once or twice daily, and hold the misting bottle and let the beardie drink from a small stream of water. Don't mist the entire tank; only the lizard. This is especially useful when it sheds. Buy a humidity guage to monitor humidity levels. The in-tank humidity needs to stay between 20-30%.
Bearded dragons need to be bathed weekly; To do so, get a plastic bucket and fill it with shallow water (to the elbows for babies, and to the shoulders for adults. Let it soak for 10-20 minutes once a week. This also give you enough time to really clean out the tank.

.:OTHER:.

For basking purposes, beardies need a rock, log, or branch to sit on. the best idea is to buy a log half from a petstore so it has a basking area and a hiding place. Do not use heating pads or self-heating rocks because they will burn the beardie's belly!!!
Try to keep the tank as empty as possible; dont crowd it with accessories so that there is more room to move.



When you first get your beardie, try not to handle it for the first 4 days. It needs some time to get used to its new surroundings. Remember to buy everything BEFORE you buy the lizard.
After the first 4 days, handle it for a couple minutes each day, until it gets used to you.

if you have any questions, send me an email.

Answer 3

I forget what the pores do but a lot of lizards have those femoral pores, I haven't had lizards in years.

male's are larger and get swollen when its breeding season I think they might have sent glands in them

beardies are iguanids right? I think so but i forget.

Answer 4

Go to this website, http://www.tncbeardies.com/Sexing.htm

Answer 5

http://reptileguides.herpcenter.com/sexing-bearded-dragon-t20.html?s=71c3252a8008cb46b9d7ba27bd6e4853&s=47b2cbb

http://www.biology.lsa.umich.edu/research/labs/ktosney/file/BD.html