Breeding
Winterperiod
Instead of letting our animals hibernate we choose to give them a cool period in November. You should do this by slowly decreasing the temperature to 20 °C at day and 15 °C at night. The lighting time should also be decreased form 14 hours to 10 hours of light a day. The animal’s diet is also at a low point at this time. Now they are fed twice a week. Powder the food with calcium and vitamins. And of course, you should still give fresh water. After 8 to 10 weeks of a cool period the temperature and lighting hours should be slowly increased to the normal temperature and lighting hours. When the normal temperature is reached you should start feeding a lot. To regain a god level of fats and minerals mice are very good food (especially for females).
Mating
After the cool period the breeding couple is placed together, these will soon start showing mating rituals. The male does this by nodding its head and by putting his (now black) beard up. The female shows it by waving her front legs that she’s ripe for mating.
Males can be rough during the mating; they will bite the neck of the female (preventing her to get away), and in the end will wrap his tail around hers and so impregnate the female.
It also known that female bearded dragons lay eggs without mating. This can be explained by the storing of sperm by females, so that the second clutch doesn’t need a male for the fertilization. Males can be in a breeding frenzy in which the might wound a female. If you notice that a male is being to aggressive then you should separate the male from the female. To prevent a male wounding a female you can house one male with several females. Bearded dragons can breed a few times a year. If moved or stressed they can skip breeding.
Egg-laying and incubation
In about a month after intercourse the female’s abdomen starts to swell in this cause she’s fertilized. During the time between the laying she’ll become fatter. During this period she should be fed with food, rich of calcium and vitamins. Short before laying her eggs she’ll stop eating, this is the time there should be enough laying space. In case of a terrarium with an artificial-grass surface you can place a container with sand (15cm deep) in the enclosure. She’ll start digging in the sand and eventually lay her eggs. Normally the egg laying is during the night. The clutch can contain 12 to 24 eggs and in several cases even more. When laid the eggs should be dug up and put in an incubator. Fill a container with 10cm of moist vermiculite and place the eggs. The proportion between water and vermiculite should be 1:1 in weight. Close the container with a lid with air holes. To create an optimal moisture you could moist the lid by spraying it or to wet the vermiculite. The humidity in the container should be around 80 to 90%. Make sure that the lid is free of big water drops. If this is the case the container is too moist. Keep the temperature inside the incubator between 28 °C and 31 °C. We get the best result with a temperature of 29 °C. After 50 to 70 days the eggs will hatch. Avoid that the hatchlings walk over the other eggs. We have had our share of problems because of it. The Jung bearded dragons will start digging in the vermiculite. The eggs that haven’t hatched yet can fall in to one of the wholes the bearded dragon inside of such an egg can die this way. If the eggs are hatched you’ll place the Jung ones in a separate terrarium.
How to raise Jung Bearded Dragons
The Jung Bearded Dragons are placed together in a separate terrarium. But make sure it’s big enough (10 juveniles can be kept in 60x40x40 cm). Also the heat is critical don’t keep them to hot because they dehydrate quickly. You can feed them with small crickets and fruit fly's. Powder them with calcium and vitamins. You can also try vegetables and fruit if made small. It’s wise to feed them a lot otherwise the may start eating each other, especially the tows and tails are often bitten of. I also advise to give them sepia and crunched egg scales for a strong bone structure. Spray them everyday with clean water, you’ll notice that they’ll drink it this way. When you place a water container inside the terrarium then don’t take a big one and make sure the water isn’t to deep (juveniles drown easily). Otherwise they may drown. The lid of a soda bottle is a good water container.
Bearded dragons are mating
Bearded dragon laying eggs
Eggs in the incubator
Bearded dragons are hatching
