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How to Tell the Sex of a Chinese Tree Dragon

The Chinese tree dragon (Japalura splendida) may be called the banana-split mountain lizard, dragon agama or neon tree dragon. It's an agamid species, native to the trees in the rain forests of southeastern Asia, only recently been brought into the U.S. pet trade. When determining the sex of an adult Chinese tree dragon, you have a few differentiating physical characteristics to study.

Male Chinese Tree Dragon

Both genders of the Chinese tree dragon can have dewlaps, but only male Chinese tree dragons will have large cheek pouches and hemipenal bulges. You shouldn't determine gender solely on the head and leg size, but generally speaking, males will have larger heads and longer legs than females.

Female Chinese Tree Dragon

An adult female Chinese tree dragon is typically smaller than an adult male. A female will not have cheek pouches, nor will she have hemipenal bulges. An adult female will lay eggs -- she may lay infertile eggs if she has not paired with a male.