How to Tell if Bearded Dragon is Male or Female: 5 Vet Reviewed Methods
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Sexing a dog or cat is easy, but it’s much more difficult to sex certain exotic animals. Reptiles are especially challenging because oftentimes there are no external differences between sexes. Thankfully, there are several methods you can use to try to determine your reptile’s sex. Read on to find our tips and techniques to find out if your beardie is a Mr or a Miss.
The 5 Methods to Sex a Bearded Dragon
There are five things you can do to sex your beardie. Each of these techniques is based on observing your pet’s physical features.
As your beardie ages, it will become easier to determine whether it’s male or female as these physical features are more developed and easier to see. Before you start the process of sexing, spend some time with your reptile friend so it is comfortable being handled. You don’t want to dive straight into searching for genitals, it wouldn’t be proper!
1. Hemipenal Bulges
Male bearded dragons have hemipenes, reproductive organs located on either side of their cloaca, or vent.
With one hand, gently place your beardie on its stomach, on a flat surface. Slowly and carefully lift the tail upward until the skin on the underside of the tail is stretched. Look for a hemipenal outline, which will look like two vertical grooves running down its tail toward the cloacal opening.
A female will have a single bulge in the center of their tail base.
Please ensure you’re handling your beardie with care. Be gentle with the tail; lift it very carefully when checking for hemipenal bulges so as not to cause stress or damage.
2. Flashlight Method
You can also look for hemipenal bulges by performing the flashlight test.
Use the same form of restraint as above, but as you lift the tail, direct a flashlight at the point where the tail meets the body. *Hot Tip* – lowering all other lights will make this method even more effective.
From your vantage point behind your beardie, look at the underside of the tail base to see if you can see the hemipenal bulges with the help of the flashlight. They will look like two vertical, dark red shadows.
Again, females will have a single central shadow.
3. Femoral Pores
Femoral pores are part of the holocrine secretory gland and are found inside the thighs of bearded dragons. These pores release pheromones to mark territory or attract mates. They look like a series of holes in a row on the underside of a beardie’s back thighs.
Both male and female bearded dragons have femoral pores, but they appear different between the sexes. For example, males have bigger and much more pronounced femoral pores than their female counterparts.
This method might be easier to use to sex your beardie if you have one of gender, and therefore a frame of reference. However, the pores don’t fully develop until a bearded dragon has reached adulthood, so this isn’t a reliable method of sexing your pet until then.
4. Cloacal Openings
The cloacal opening, sometimes called the vent, is on the underside of a reptile’s tail. The cloaca passes feces, urates, and eggs, and empties through the vent-like opening.
Male beardies have wider cloacal openings than females. As with the femoral pore test, this method of sexing your pet is only helpful if you have a frame of reference.
5. Behavior
Male and female beardies have different behavioral patterns that can provide clues to their gender.
Males tend to be more aggressive and dominant. For example, they may hiss or bob their heads to assert dominance or puff out their beards to make themselves look bigger and more threatening. However, females can also display these behaviors, so trying to sex your beardie using this method is not as accurate as the others above.
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Is It Possible to Determine the Gender of a Baby Bearded Dragon?
Sexing a baby beardie can be difficult because the features to look for when determining gender are not yet fully developed. Experienced beardie owners can sometimes sex dragons from 4-8 weeks, but generally it’s easier once they are 4-6 months. If you want to be certain about sex, you might want to wait until your beardie is at least a year old or enlist the help of a reptile professional or vet.
Final Thoughts
Sexing your bearded dragon isn’t as easy as it is for a cat or dog, but with our methods above, you should be able to get a pretty good idea of their sex. Remember, it’s almost impossible to tell the sex of a baby beardie, so if you want to be more certain, wait until they are 4-6 months old..
Featured Image Credit: C. Nass, Shutterstock
