With pictures!
We have received many questions concerning sexing bearded dragons. Many breeders and sellers use a variety of methods to determine the sex of bearded dragons – body style, head shape, behavior, looking for hemipenal bulges, to even inverting the hemipenes.
We use a combination of these methods – but rely most heavily on looking for the presence or absence of hemipenal bulges.
Below are pictures of sub-adult (12 inch dragons) to show the physical difference between males and females. It can be really hard to tell the sex of a dragon that is smaller than 6 inches, but this method works well for dragons 6+ inches. Just remember that on a smaller dragon the bulges will be smaller!
Ready?
– Hold your dragon in one hand, facing away from you. Be sure to support its belly and front limbs. If its a smaller dragon, rest it on 2-3 fingers with your thumb on its back.
– Take the tail (about half way down its length) in your other hand and arch it straight up at about a 90 degree angle. Carefully! On a smaller dragon, you may need to ‘gently twist’ the tail by rolling it between your fingers & thumb to expose the 2 hemipenile bulges.
– Look to just above the vent for 2 bulges in a male dragon.
– Look just at the edge of the vent, in the center – for 1 bulge (or sometimes nothing) in a female dragon.
**WARNING – DO NOT bend the tail too far towards the dragons head! This could fracture the vertebra at the base of their tail and result in a visit to the vet!!
Sexing a Male Bearded Dragon –
Notice 2 bulges – one on the left and one on the right -creating an ‘hourglass’ indentation in the
center.
Sexing a Female Bearded Dragon –
Notice 1 bulge right at the vent – BUT this is not always the case.
