Water Dragon Mating

A reader writes:

     "I am preparing to breed my Water Dragon with my friends male Water Dragon. We have put them together before and they immediately began to show mating behavior. I have read through the information on your Reptile Care Page about breeding and I was wondering if you could send me any more information or tips. "

     Just keep an eye on them when they are together ... mating can be kind of brutal with the male chasing the female all over the enclosure. The female often tries to escape, ends up running into enclosure walls etc. in an attempt to get away.  Often the male will drag the female when he's caught her by the crest.  This can result in damage to the females crest- area above her neck.  Scrapes and abbrassions or even chunks of tissue can be torn from the females crest during mating attempts.

     The male will more than likely be fine through all this unless he crashes into something while chasing the female lizard. However, the female could end up damaging her snout while being chased, or injuring herself when banging into enclosure walls which could result in  broken limbs or a tail fracture.   Crest damage is the most likely injury and if your female does suffer from scrapes, bruising or torn tissue please have some antibiotic ointment on hand to apply to the wounds.  The female can become very stressed during mating season.  Stress in reptiles can result in a decline in health.  So the main player to watch, when you are attempting to mate your lizards, is the female.

     If you are thinking of breeding your lizards, or housing multiple animals in one enclosure I can't stress enough the importance of a large enclosure.   More injuries occur in small enclosures during mating season.  The large the enclosure the better.   Also, from a female point of view, having more than one female in the enclosure for the male is a great idea.  This will reduce the stress on each female.   Males just never know when to quit!

     Perhaps short periods of introduction will be good enough to get a few matings in?

     During mating attempts the male will bob his head up and down slowly, then vigorously, flick his tail and then the chase will begin. 

     The female will often bob her head very slowly in return- sometimes to the side - just one short bob, to me this always meant NO.  If the female is receptive she won't run or won't run far when the male approaches and she'll actually lift her tail a little bit when the male grasps her crest.   If she's not very receptive she'll run run run.

     Often after a few matings the female wants no more of the male.   If she's gravid she'll tell him by arching her body when he bobs at her in a mating way, telling him she's gravid, and she'll walk away from him with her body lifted high off the ground.  This is actually quite an interesting walk to observe.

     Depending on what stage of her cycle she's at she could lay eggs within a month of mating,  but if she wasn't ready, or if conditions weren't right, she'll store the sperm and develop eggs when the time is right for her. This could even be several months to two years  after mating takes place.

     Do you have a plan for the babies if you are successful in both mating the dragons and hatching the 6 to 8 eggs that she might lay in her first clutch?    Please try to find good homes for the babies if you do have some, or a very very good pet store.  Sometimes,  baby dragons are sold to pet stores who don't care for the captive bred dragons well and don't inform the people purchasing the dragons of their care needs. You do want the babies to grow up to be healthy dragons right? 

     If you are mating your lizards or suspect that your female is gravid (with eggs) you should make sure that your UVB lighting is less than 6 months old.   UVB slowly depletes over time in UVB florescent tubes and other special lights that produce UVB.  The UVB level can be greatly decreased or even non existant after six months or more.    When a female lizard is gravid she uses her calcium stores in her bodies to help develop and shell the eggs.  If she's not getting enough UVB from her lighting she won't be able to use the available calcium in her diet and her calcium levels could drop to critically low levels.  Your husbandry  must be exact at this critical time for your female lizards sake.

    It's also a great idea for your lizards to have seen a reptile veterinarian prior to mating attempts and prior to housing them in the same enclosure to rule out an contageous diseases or infections.   Another reason to have already made contact with a reptile vet by the time you are attempting to mate your reptiles is that injuries often occur during mating attempts and some of these injuries require medical attention.

 
     Good Luck!