Captive Breeding
Several of the Pogona genus are bred in captivity as pets; the two most popular are this species, P. vitticeps, and the western bearded dragon (Pogona minor minor). The bulk of captive-bred bearded dragons today are thought to have originated from stock illegally exported from Australia during the 1970s.
Captives world wide are threatened by Agamid adenovirus, a virus that compromises the immune system of the dragon, and leads to death from other diseases. However, the majority of the infections are subclinical. Subclinically infected animals show no symptoms, but are active carriers of the disease and will infect other bearded dragons.
When the female is ready to lay eggs, she will generally stop eating and spend most of her time trying to dig.
Read more about this topic: Central Bearded Dragon
Famous quotes containing the words captive and/or breeding:
“My Vanquisher, spoild of his vanted spoile;
Death his deaths wound shall then receive, & stoop
*nglorious, of his mortall sting disarm’d.
I through the ample Air in Triumph high
Shall lead Hell Captive maugre Hell, and show
The powers of darkness bound. Thou at the sight
Pleas’d, out of Heaven shalt look down and smile,”
—John Milton (1608–1674)
“The surest route to breeding jealousy is to compare. Since jealousy comes from feeling “less than” another, comparisons only fan the fires.”
—Dorothy Corkville Briggs (20th century)