Where to Start
Breeding bearded dragons is fairly simple. You will need a female bearded dragon and a male bearded dragon. Our dragons start to show interest in mating in the spring when the average temperature in the house starts to rise.
When She is Ready to Lay
After mating, the first clutch is usually layed in about three to four weeks. You will notice the female digging in her cage and she will stop eating. At this point she needs a suitable place to lay her eggs.
We use a 40 gal. trash can filled about one foot deep with a mixture of potting soil and play sand mixed at a one to one ratio.
This mixture needs to be moist enough to hold a tunnel when she digs but not wet. After mixing the soil pack it down a little, this will help it hold a tunnel. The female is placed in the barrel and a heat lamp is set over it. Our dragons have laid their eggs two or three days after they stopped eating. After she has laid all her eggs, she will fill the hole and smooth the soil out. When she is finished remove her from the barrel.
We like to let her soak in luke warm water for about fifteen minutes. She is then placed in her cage and fed. When you take your dragon out of the egg laying bin, it is time to dig up the eggs. Carefully dig until you feel the first egg. Lift the eggs out one at a time being careful not to rotate them–I mean keep the part of the egg that is up, up.
Place them in a tub of vermiculite and perlite mixed at a one to one raito. Add water so the mixture feels slightly damp. We mix ours eight parts dry mixture to one part water by volume. After all the eggs have been transferred, place the lid on the container. The lid should have two 1/8″ holes in it. Put the container in the incubator.
Incubation
Your incubator should be set up before the female lays her eggs. The incubator must be in a location where the temperature does not exceed the temperature inside the incubator. The incubator will do best in a room that stays a constant temperature.
We set ours to 82 degrees. Our incubation time has been from 62 to 66 days. Check the eggs often. If water droplets start to form on them, leave the lid off for a day.
If they start to collapse early, they are probably drying out, so spray a little water on the inside of the lid and shake off any excess then put the lid back on. The eggs will grow as the babies develop and will collapse within 24 hours of hatching.