Water Dragon Sexing The Right Way

Early on when water dragons are hatchlings, there is no way of telling what sex they are. Only until they are between 1yr and 1 1/2 yrs will they start to develop enough to see what sex they are.
Many people will come up with all of these different things to look for on them to tell but honestly, the only fool proof way is by femoral pores. It's in every reptile book I have ever read. It's also on the wonderful Tricia's website. Femoral pores on a male are dark and bumpy, females femoral pores are very light and almost not noticeable. That is how the Vet's determine the sex and then they determine the age by the weight and length the dragon is from snout to tail. When my dragon was at the vet last, he looked at him and told us that when they are young even they have a hard time determining the sex until the femoral pores are present. Femoral pores represent maturity. Breeding can begin for water dragons starting as early as 2 yrs old. I would wait until they are a bit older but it's a personal choice.
Ridges on the back of the head, neck, tail are subjective advice. Females also have those , it is only until they are much older can you tell the difference with those things.
I stand by my statement as well that if you are a first time buyer of a water dragon, please do your homework first. They are NOT the easiest to take care of. They tend to get parasites even from their food or from their water not being cleaned out multiple times in a day. If it's or you can tell they have been in it, clean it with anti bacterial soap and replace with fresh water. They tend to poo and pee in their water because they do like to be clean so again, you HAVE to clean their water often. Of course if you have a filtration system, that is good but if you just use a bowl or dish, please keep it clean. Also UVB is VERY important. Don't buy the cheapest bulb because it will not be strong enough. They need it to metabolize their calcium so that they don't get Metabolic Bone Disease. Once they have it they have to be treated for a long time. My boy has it and he gets liquid calcionate syrup every other day and he has a much better UVB bulb than he started out with.
Another thing I keep seeing in lots of videos is a serious lack of humidity. Keeping your dragon out of its habitat for hours on end is NOT good for their lungs. They are tropical lizards, they need humidity to survive. They can contract or develop lung diseases and die. They are native to rain forests so if you know what a rain forest is then you know keeping them running around in your room for hours is NOT tropical and not good for their lungs. Also true is to not keep it too humid because that can cause problems as well. These things have to be monitored constantly. I have a hygrometer and a temp gauge in my terrarium to keep an eye on both. Make sure they have a basking heat lamp aside from their uvb and make sure that they are at LEAST one foot away from the basking lamp because they can get burned otherwise.
As I said, they are very difficult and are not really a beginner pet. If you want a beginner, an iguana may be a better route or anoles. They are awesome lizards and are so much easier to take care of.
If you MUST have a particular sex, please make sure it is old enough that you know for sure. Unfortunately I have seen so many neglected or poorly cared for water dragons, even on here that it would make you queasy. I saw one one on craigslist that was in very poor health and they were trying to get rid of it because they could not afford the vet bills. So sad.
Also, if you take them to a vet, make sure you take them to a reptile specialist because a normal vet is not trained to care for reptiles. They cannot see what a reptile vet may easily see and you are risking your dragon's health.
I hope I have helped some with all the things I have learned by having a dragon of my own. I have gone through a lot with my baby but now it's down to a routine and he's a healthy boy now.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Water
• Dragons
• Chinese
• Iguana
• Lizard
• Reptile
• Sexing
• Herping
• Tegu
• Snake
• Monitor
• Frogs
• Terrarium
• Veterinary
• Femoral
• pores
• CWD
• dragon
• pets
• wildlife
• nature
• pet video
• tips & tricks

[JoaniMaster]

Smaug? Like the dragon from the hobbit?

[blissfulchild101]

@JoaniMaster Exactly!!! :)

[hwdraised510]

@blissfulchild101 hi my cwd is about 4 or 5 months old and can already start to see the pores is that a good sign its going to be a male?

[blissfulchild101]

@hwdraised510 I would wait another few months before knowing for sure.

[elstonadventures]

Thanks for posting this. I have been looking for months about sexing my dragon and now I see you posted this just a few weeks ago. I had no idea what everyone was talking about with the pores. I thought they meant the two big bumps.

[blissfulchild101]

@elstonadventures You are most welcome. I had to learn via a reptile book and also the vet.

[Rawlings67]

How big do they get

[MrExotic17]

@blissfulchild101 I have a water dragon about your size a bit smaller but i dont see any femoral pores and it is white instead of brown.

[TheRILEYRGOOD]

I just got one today:)

[epicfailx66]

wait you have to wait a year in order to tell if its a male or female??? o.O

[adamjameswilloughby]

nice setup bud iv just finished 1 my self vid on my youtube page have a peep let me know wot u think

[WyattField624]

Thank you soooo much I have been wondering about this for so long