Peridot Dragon in DragonVale: August Gemstone Breeding Guide

Published October 24, 2026 Updated October 25, 2026 5 min read

Illustration: a lime-green peridot gemstone

The short answer: breed a Crystal Dragon with a Cactus Dragon during August. Breeding takes 31h (24h 48m in an Upgraded Breeding Cave), and each attempt has roughly a 3% chance. Outside August the pair cannot produce it.

Peridot is August’s birthstone dragon. This guide covers preparing both parents before the month starts, how many attempts fit into the window, how to confirm success from the timer, and what to do if you miss it.

Quick facts

Rarity	Gemstone (birthstone)
Level required	12
Combination	Crystal Dragon + Cactus Dragon (either order)
Window	August (the whole calendar month in recent years)
Breeding time	31h · 24h 48m upgraded
Incubation	31h · 23h 15m upgraded nursery
Odds per attempt	About 3% (wiki estimate)
Earns	2 gems a month at levels 1–3, 3 at 4–7, 4 at 8–9 and 1 a week at level 10
Gem price when offered	1,475 gems
Quest	Olivine’s Ordeal (16 hours)
Released	1 August 2012

About the Peridot Dragon

The Peridot Dragon was released on 1 August 2012 as the August birthstone. The game’s description has fun with how often it is mistaken for the Emerald: Professor Olivine found it in the High Plains of Faridat, where peridot dragons headbutt each other — “or maybe they’re just tired of being confused with emerald dragons.” It was also the first gemstone dragon whose recipe uses only three distinct elements.

Gemstone dragons share three rules worth knowing before you start:

They earn gems, not DragonCash — slowly, but forever.
They can never be used as parents. A gemstone dragon cannot breed with anything, including another of its kind.
The recipe only works while the dragon is offered. Outside its window, the pair simply produces other dragons.

Why Crystal + Cactus?

The Crystal Dragon carries Lightning and Earth; the Cactus Dragon carries Plant and Lightning. Lightning appears in both, so the pair contains just three different elements — Lightning, Earth and Plant. That is why Peridot is noted as the first gemstone to use only three. It also means this pair cannot make a Rainbow (which needs four).

Getting the parents ready

The combination is fixed, so the real work is having both parents ready — and at level 4 or higher — before 1 August.

Parent	Elements	How to get it	Breeding time	Level
Crystal Dragon	Lightning + Earth	Any pair carrying Lightning and Earth (e.g. Lightning + Earth); or 100 gems	24h	12
Cactus Dragon	Plant + Lightning	Any pair carrying Plant and Lightning	30m	12

Crystal Dragon: Also a parent of Emerald and Peridot.
Cactus Dragon: Fast 30-minute timer; also a parent of Topaz and Peridot.

Both parents must be level 4 or higher before they appear in a breeding cave, so feed them a few treats as soon as they hatch.

Step-by-step plan

In the month before, breed or buy a Crystal Dragon and a Cactus Dragon.
Feed both to level 4+; higher levels do no harm.
On 1 August, start the pair in your fastest cave.
Read the timer immediately: 31h (or 24h 48m upgraded) means success.
Clear failed eggs quickly and restart — every hour counts in a single month.
If you have two caves, run the pair in both for double the attempts.

The odds: how many attempts should you plan for?

The DragonVale Wiki lists the Peridot Dragon at about 3% per attempt. That number is a community estimate, but it is useful for planning. On average you would expect to need around 33 attempts — and because every attempt is independent, some players need far more and some get lucky on the first try. The table shows your chance of having at least one success after a given number of attempts, and how long that many attempts takes with one cave working non-stop.

Attempts	Chance of at least one	One cave (31h each)	Upgraded cave (24h 48m each)
10	26%	13 days	10 days
25	53%	32 days	26 days
50	78%	65 days	52 days
100	95%	129 days	103 days
150	99%	194 days	155 days

Two caves running the same pair halve the calendar time. Results here assume you clear or hatch the other eggs promptly so the cave is never idle.

What fits inside the August window

Assuming you start on day one and keep the cave(s) busy for the whole window (about 31 days):

Caves on this pair	Attempts → chance (standard)	Attempts → chance (upgraded)
1	24 → 52%	30 → 60%
2	48 → 77%	60 → 84%
3	72 → 89%	90 → 94%

Reading the timer

Birthstone dragons follow a neat pattern: their breeding time in hours equals the number of days in their month. August has 31 days, so Peridot takes 31 hours. Other gemstones share that length, but they are tied to different months or parents, so a 31h egg from Crystal Dragon + Cactus Dragon in August is almost certainly your Peridot. Our Egg Timer lists every timer we cover.

Breed it or buy it?

Which cave to use for gemstone attempts

Any Breeding Cave can produce gemstone dragons. The Epic Breeding Island is described in-game as a place where “some of the rarer dragon hybrids might come about more frequently”, and upgrading it to the Epic Breeding Sanctuary (225 gems) cuts its breeding times by 20%. An Upgraded Breeding Cave gives the same 20% time saving. During a short gemstone window, the time saving is the part you can count on: more attempts in the same days. Our Breeding Cave vs Epic Breeding Island guide goes further.

When Peridot is offered for gems it costs 1,475 gems. Because gemstone dragons pay back in gems over time, many players prefer to breed them and keep gems for event dragons that cannot be bred at all.

The Cactus Dragon has a 30-minute breeding time, so if you need one in late July you can breed it in an evening.

Recent windows

Recent appearances of the Peridot Dragon, including the occasional short off-season return:

From	To
1 Aug 2024	1 Sep 2024
13 Jan 2025	20 Jan 2025
1 Aug 2025	1 Sep 2025
26 Feb 2026	5 Mar 2026
1 Aug 2026	1 Sep 2026

What it earns and why it is worth having

The Peridot Dragon earns gems — 2 gems a month at levels 1–3, 3 at 4–7, 4 at 8–9 and 1 a week at level 10. That is slow, but it never stops, which is why gemstones are among the most sought-after dragons.

Common mistakes

Starting late in August. Parents should be ready before the month begins.
Parents below level 4. They will not appear in the cave list.
Breeding outside August and expecting a Peridot. The pair produces other dragons then.
Trying to breed with your Peridot. Gemstone dragons cannot be parents.
Letting failed eggs block the cave. Clear them and restart straight away.

Frequently asked questions

What two dragons make a Peridot Dragon?

Crystal Dragon + Cactus Dragon, during August.

How long does the Peridot Dragon take?

31h to breed (24h 48m upgraded).

Can I breed the Peridot Dragon outside August?

Only if the game brings it back in a special event; otherwise no.

Can the Peridot Dragon breed?

No — gemstone dragons cannot be used as parents.

Why does my Peridot look different from pictures?

The wiki notes its official notification art showed a light-green chest, but in game its chest is yellow.

Facts checked on 26 October 2026 against the in-game rules as documented by the community DragonVale Wiki. Breeding odds are community-documented estimates, event dates and prices change, and the odds tables are simple arithmetic from those estimates — not guarantees. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.

Tools

Put this guide to work

Egg Timer Lookup

Enter the breeding timer to narrow down what is in the egg. Open tool