Sexing baby and juvenile bearded drgons can be a difficult task. Once you have had a batch of bearded dragon babies in the house, you will begin to notice differences more quickly. A larger group of beardies gives you a better perspective. If you don't have or plan to have baby bearded dragons, visit the local pet store or reptile show to do some "window shopping". Seeing babies and juveniles in groups will soon give you the chance to develop an eye for detail and make sexing less of a guessing game.
Males show the following traits:
Females will have the following traits:
- Head is more streamlined
- Tail is thinner and more smoothly tapered to the tip
- Often will "wave"
- May have small femoral and pre-anal pores, usually not present
- Smaller cloacal vent
To handle your bearded dragon while doing an examination:
- hold in one hand
- support underbelly and front legs securely
- gently grasp tail about half way up
- carefully bend tail back over dragons back, about 90° will expose the hemipenile bulges
- look just above vent for
Several warnings go with any type of sexing procedure:
- Do not bend the tail too far back or with too much force. You can easily break a dragons tail with too much of either.
- Some people may use the technique of exposing the hemipenile bulges. This also can be damaging to your dragon. Only let a professional manipulate your dragon in this way. It can be very dangerous for the wrong person to do the wrong thing. It only takes once.
- Do not lay your dragon on its back. It can expire very quickly in this position.
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