The easiest way to determine the gender of a bearded dragon is to look for its hemipenal bulge. This is a bulge that can be found halfway down each side of the bearded dragon’s belly, halfway from the cloacal opening. This method is best used on bearded dragons that are two months old or older, and if your beardie is younger, or overweight, this test may not be as accurate as you’d like.
If you find a hemipenal bulge, the beardie is likely a female. Female dragons have one bulge in this area, and males have two. Those bulges are the same size but the female bearded dragons’ bulge is smoother. Be careful when handling beardies because they can be fragile and may cause pain or stress. If you’re uncertain, use a flashlight to check for the bulge.
If you have trouble sexing a bearded dragon, try using a flashlight. Simply hold the beardie in one hand and shine a flashlight through the tail. Focus the flashlight on the base of the tail and look for two bulges near the hemipenal region. A male bearded dragon will have two red bulges in the center of their tail, and a female beardie will have just one.
The width of the head is another clue to the gender of a bearded dragon. Male beardie dragons have wider heads than females. However, you may not have any luck determining the gender of your beardie dragon until the male is five to six months old. A beardie’s gender will not change while it’s in the care of its owner, but it’s worth trying.
Female bearded dragons have the opposite characteristics. Their beards are black. The male bearded dragons have smaller bodies than females, but they are both similar in appearance and behavior. During mating season, male bearded dragons display their spikes more prominently. Female bearded dragons show little difference in appearance and have thinner tails. They are often hard to tell apart at this stage of development, so you should take it easy when identifying your beardie dragon.
A bearded dragon’s hemipenal bulge and femoral pores are reliable ways to determine its gender. However, sexing a beardie can be tricky if you don’t know its gender and are worried that it will fight with another dragon. A beardie’s hemipenal bulges are visible when it is between two and five months of age.
One way to tell if a bearded dragon is a boy or a girl is to examine its tail. Femoral pores, also known as pheromones, are found on the hind legs of both sexes. These pores secrete chemicals and serve as signals during mating season. Male bearded dragons are often more obvious when they are young, and female beardies will have a square shaped uterus just above their vent.
When breeding is underway, a bearded dragon will puff out its beard and turn black. A female bearded dragon will show a fluttering arm as a greeting to a male bearded dragon. While male beardies are not sexually active, they may exhibit aggressive behavior during mating season. If your beardie displays aggressive behavior in response to the head bobbing of a male, he is probably a boy.
