How To Tell If A Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female? Must-Know Facts!

If you are a pet owner of a bearded dragon, the first thing you need to know before providing top-notch care to it is whether the beardie is a male or a female.

However, recognizing the sex of your bearded dragon is much more complicated than it seems. Bearded dragons do not have such external dimorphic signs that make identifying sex easy.

A bearded dragon is sexually dimorphic physically, and their genders can be identified when they are juveniles. The female and male bearded dragons are pretty much the same sizes, and they look the same. Even though the process is not easy, there are some ways that might help us to distinguish males and females from each other. It is not difficult to tell the sex apart of a male and female bearded dragon for their breeding purposes in the future. Sexing between males and females can be started as early as one week old, but the inexperienced bearded dragon pet owners need more time to identify the bearded dragon's gender. After eight to eleven weeks old, you can sex the animals with certainty.

You can avail a bearded dragon from a pet store. They are great as pets and can be kept in tanks. You can also keep a pair of bearded dragons together, but if you see one dragon lying on top of the other, it is because one of them shows dominant behavior. It is not feasible to keep two males in the same tanks as they can turn aggressive towards each other.

If you are looking for more articles on bearded dragons, keep on reading the articles on why do bearded dragons wave and are bearded dragons good pets facts too.

How To Tell If A Baby Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female

Suppose you are a professional bearded dragon keeper with prior experience in identifying the sex of your bearded dragon. In that case, you can sex the dragons after a week they are born. The method of telling apart a bearded dragon's gender is completed in five steps. However, not all five steps are applicable in the case of a baby bearded dragon. This is because a juvenile male and the female dragon do not have well-developed organs like adult males and females. However, there are two traits given below that can help you identify the genders of male and female bearded dragons at a young age.

Hemipenal Bulges: A hemipene is an internal sexual organ that is present in bearded dragons. The easiest way to recognize male bearded dragons from the female bearded dragons is by observing the hemipenal bulges. If the bulges are present on the dragon's underside, then a hemipene is present. The hemipenal bulges lie next to the back of the bearded dragon's tail. Looking for the bulges at a very early stage will not yield any effect. Gently lift the tail upwards in the position of an obtuse angle. Tail lifting will cause the base of the tail to stretch a bit which and consequently, the outline of the hemipenal bulges becomes prominent. Female bearded dragons have a single bulge just above the cloacal opening; the males have two grooves running from the tail to the cloacal opening.

Flashlight the Hemipenal Bulges: This process is similar to the method of observing the hemipenal bulges of the males and the females. In this process, a flashlight is used to identify the sexual characteristics of a bearded dragon. Using a flashlight makes it easier to observe the bulges of the underside. Shinning a flashlight at the base of the tail by gently lifting their tail over their head will help you see the hemipenal bulges more clearly. In the case of males, two red bulges with shadows will appear at the back of the tail, while for females, one red bulge is observed in the center.

How To Tell If An Old Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female

Five simple processes help us identify the bearded dragon's gender, and all these processes involve observing the physical traits of the bearded dragon. Sexing bearded dragons is easier when it ages a bit. This is because an adult bearded dragon naturally has more developed features than juvenile or baby bearded dragons. To differentiate between an adult male bearded dragon and a female bearded dragon, you can observe and follow these three below-mentioned points. These three methods are only applicable for an older bearded dragon.

Femoral pores: Another way to identify a male dragon from a female dragon is by comparing the size of the femoral pores of the two. The femoral pores in male and female bearded dragons are used for secreting pheromones. The femoral pores are also used to determine the gender of a male or female bearded dragon. Femoral pores are small circular openings that are present in both males and females. The femoral pores are present on the underside of their hind legs. The males tend to have larger femoral pores on their back legs. Their femoral pores are also more defined than male beardies. The femoral pores of the female bearded dragons do not reach full size until they turn adults. Sexing bearded dragons by looking at the femoral pores only yield accurate results once they are over 12 months old.

Cloacal opening: The cloacal opening is used for urinating, passing feces, and laying eggs. The cloacal opening is wider in males than the cloacal opening of other bearded dragons. This method of identifying sex is also applicable for only a larger bearded dragon and not for a juvenile.

Behavior: Specific details about the bearded dragon's behavior will also help you to sex between a male and female species. The male bearded dragons are more aggressive than the females; they establish a dominating behavior by hissing and stamping loudly. They also bob their heads sometimes, so the black beard becomes more fluffy, appearing bigger and more threatening. The females are more submissive, and the juvenile females show arm waving to show their submission. Although arm-waving is common in a female, juvenile males also show submission by the arm-waving behavior.

How To Tell If A Just Born Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female

Sexing male and female bearded dragons in their just born stage is not easy. Sometimes the result also turns out to be inaccurate when sexing the baby bearded dragons. A bearded dragon is not fully developed in its juvenile stage; therefore, most methods to determine gender fail. If you want accurate results about the sex of the bearded dragon, waiting until they turn eight weeks old is recommended. Interestingly, if you know the bearded dragon's age, you can determine its sex easily.

Two methods help you tell the sex of a just born beardie: tail size and hemipenal bulges. In the case of a newborn bearded dragon, you cannon naturally estimate the bulges like the adults. For them, you need to follow the flashlight method of observing the hemipenal bulges. The bulges in juveniles are not pronounced; therefore, a flashlight is necessary to study the shadow of the bulges. Only one bulge indicates that the individual is a female, while two bulges indicate a male bearded dragon.

The tail size also varies between the two genders from their juvenile stages. The females have a narrow tapering tail. The tail becomes sharply tapered as it reaches the tail in the case of a female. The males have a thicker tail. The male bearded dragon's tail becomes thick towards the base. Some people also suggest that the head size of the dragons varies, as a male is believed to have a wider head. Another misconception is that only a male bearded dragon has a black beard. This is not true as the beard is the characteristic feature of the animal.

How To Tell If A Pogona Barbata Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female

The Pogona barbata, commonly known as the Easter bearded dragon or the common bearded dragon, is a species of the Agamid lizard family of Australia. It is one of the most commonly known groups of bearded dragons that are observed around the woods of Africa. Both the male and female Pogona barbata have a similar appearance, so the above methods of sexing a bearded dragon are used in the case of this lizard too.

The Pogona barbata has a triangular head, and its throat is covered with many spines. A male Pogona barbata measures 24 in (60 cm) while the females are a bit shorter and measures 20 in (50 cm) in length. The spines can be fluffed to form a beard-like structure in both males and females. Both the genders have gray-black or red-colored smooth skin, which can sometimes vary between yellowish-brown, reddish-brown, or dark brown. A newly born Pogona barbata is distinguished from the adults by their pale body color and distinctive body patterns. The males are generally more aggressive than the females. They are extremely territorial in nature, and the dominant male allows only the babies and the females in their territory. The male perches on the tree's highest branch and the other beardies occupy the branches below the dominant male. A female beardie can sometimes be seen coming out from underground tunnels. They generally dig an underground tunnel to lay a clutch of eggs during the breeding season.

The Pogona barbata shows a unique characteristic of changing their appearances without changing their chromosome formation. This phenomenon of the Pogona barbata is known as sex makeup. Some males changed their appearance to females and could give birth to juveniles in very hot temperatures. However, changing the sex makeup does not affect their chromosomes; the males still have the genetic ZZ chromosomes of typical males.

How To Tell If A Pogona Henrylawsoni Bearded Dragon Is Male Or Female

The Pogona henrylawsoni or the Rankin's dragon is one of the known species of bearded dragons. They are referred to as the pygmy bearded dragon. The male and the female species look similar to each other, and they have a blunt snout and measure around 12 in (30 cm) in length. The difference between a male and a female Pogona henrylawsoni can be differentiated by the abovementioned processes.

The male and female differ physically from each other in some aspects. A female possesses only one hemipenal bulge, smaller femoral pores, a tapering tail, and a slender head compared to the male. The beard in a female is also lighter when compared to a male. These differences can be seen more clearly in the adults than in the juveniles. Some differences may also be noticed in the structure of spines of the males and the females. The males generally have a wider head than the females, and the tail is thick at the base. Waiting for 12 weeks before sexing the Pogona henrylawsoni accurately is believed to be the optimum time. After that time, the differences appear more significantly. This summarizes the main differences between the males and the females of the bearded dragon species.

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for how to tell if a bearded dragon is male or female, then why not take a look at how big do bearded dragons get or how long can a bearded dragon go without eating?