‘ One successful breeding of Jacky Dragons involved maintaining adults for several months in a refrigerated room .’
occur . Some dragon species have been successfully housed with various skinks and monitors .
Breeding .
Most small dragon species will breed in captivity if appropriate conditions are met - and most will breed within their first year of life . Active cooling , reduced photoperiod and reduced food availability are the biggest cues to get these species cycled and ready to breed . Cooling should begin in autumn by the gradual reduction of heating hours and intensity until the middle of winter , when heating can be turn off entirely ( depending on location and species – I ’ m Sydney based and have no problem doing this with my adults ). One successful breeding of Jacky Dragons ( Amphibolurus muricatus ) that I am aware of involved maintaining adults at 12 o C for several months in a refrigerated room , with a ‘ cold snap ’ of 4 o C for the week prior to heating individuals up to breed .
Ideally , during summer there should be 12-14 hours of heat and light , and in winter this can be cut down to 4-6 hours . Heating can be left off for around 2-4 weeks in mid -winter before slowly increasing temperatures again . With the reduction in heating hours , animals should be fed less frequently and feeding should cease a week or so before heating is completely shut off . Water should be supplied at regular intervals during the brumation process as animals commonly dehydrate during the winter cool down . Regular health checks should be performed as pneumonia ( or respiratory infections ) can be a problem over winter .
‘ One successful breeding of Jacky Dragons involved maintaining adults for several months in a refrigerated room .’
Animals that have a more tropical distribution shouldn ’ t be cooled as intensely as those from temperate zones , and night time temperatures should not be allowed to drop below 25 o C . Tropical animals also have a greater dependence on the seasonality of northern Australia , requiring a ‘ dry ’ and ‘ wet ’ season to increase breeding success . They should have their captive ‘ dry ’ season over the winter and then go through a slow build up to the wet season through summer . This can be achieved by gradually increasing the humidity at the start of October and through November by regular misting of the enclosures at the same time as temperatures are increased .
Some other common methods to enhance breeding success include : � The provision of UVA lighting as well as regular exposure to sunlight .
� Some believe that breeding success is increased by housing animals together during the cooling period . Studies involving
Left : Nobbi Dragon . Image by Tyson Keen . Below right : male Red-barred Dragon Image by Mitchell Hodgson .
Painted Dragons ( Ctenophorus pictus ) have found that a continuous male presence is required to stimulate follicular recruitment and fertilisation in captivity .
� Stimulating males by letting them engage in mock combat . This can involve the use of mirrors , or separating two males by a transparent divider .
All agamids are oviparous and steps must be taken to ensure they have adequate places to deposit eggs . Nesting facilities are best created for small dragons through piled moist sand or sand / coir mixtures in a cool corner of the enclosure . If a female continually rejects the nest site , try moving the substrate to a warmer corner . Although some success has been reported using elevated nest boxes , I personally have had no success with nest boxes and dragons .
Small dragons can have mixed breeding results in captive environments . Some species , such as the Central Netted Dragon and Amphibolurus species , seem to be quite consistent , whereas others are not . Captive Diporiphora and smaller Ctenophorus seem to have boom and bust cycles , but with that said , in boom years can be very productive , with a Tommy Roundhead female known to have laid 55 eggs in a season ( that ’ s massive for a lizard only about 7cm in length !) and a Gowidion longirostris female laying over 70 eggs in a single season . Generally speaking , the dragon species that are commonly available in the hobby are those that breed reliably ( or are held in outdoor set-ups in their natural range ), whilst those that are restricted in collections are harder to breed . These lizards can lay surprisingly large clutches , containing anywhere up to 15 eggs . Most
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