Will my beardies be ok?

Question

I have 2 bearded dragons, the bigger one is now about a year old, and the smaller one is about 8 or 9 months old.

Both live in the same cage (120cm x 120cm x 120cm... estimate)

Today for the first time ever, i saw my bigger beardie bobbing his head very quickly, and then just darts at the smaller beardie, and bites him on the back of his head/neck. and then just moves back again bobbing his head, then darts at him again.

The smaller one does the slow bobbing of his head, in sub-mission of the clearly dominant bigger beardie, but the bigger one still darts at him.

Now i just want to know if the bigger one will settle some time, and let the small one go on with his stuff. Or will it be a danger to the smaller one, and should i rather try and get a separate cage/owner.

thanx

Answer 1

i would say tht u should get a seperate cage because if you want to put beardies together u have to put them together wen they are only a couple weeks old

Answer 2

hello

great question

I notice though, you do not actually say they are both the same s*x here.... do you know if you have males, females or one of each possibly...

I point this out as, the mating ritual sounds a lot like what you describe

I realize you may be looking at this answer (and others) and thinking "I have two males... or duuuh, I would have stated one male one female" lol

others have housed males together... some say just extra space and most of the time they settle -- given enough room there is no territory issue.. the experts always cite that only one male per any habitat...

there are pros and cons to both ways and sometimes what is best for most - is not best for all, or others

-- since what experts say is best often differs from what we find works, or is best for us--

the things to understand though here is personality, temperment and knowing how much room;

-- personality/temperment: they are each different, like each of us/person... the way I react is not going to be how you do- or like some who is claustraphobic etc... you are the only one <next to the bearded dragon> who knows if given the space will he settle

space; that would be some general guidelines and then also the factoring of the same -personality and temperment-

site/quote for multiple housings:

Bearded Dragons are generally not aggressive towards people and are fast becoming one of the top choices of families as a favorite pet because of their unique personality characteristics and gentleness. However they can be aggressive towards other bearded dragons as well as many other species of lizards and frogs. It’s likely that injuries may occur to other dragons, therefore we do not recommend putting bearded dragons of varying sizes together in a single enclosure. When housing more than one bearded dragon of the same size together, a large enclosure may be needed so both dragons have adequate space to thrive. We recommend a minimum of a 50 gallon reptile tank for housing a pair of dragons

http://www.georgiabeardeddragons.com/pag...

quotes and/or sites for you to peruse/use:

We wait 2 weeks after waking up to make sure the females are eating well and properly hydrated. Put the pair you want to breed in a large enclosure or a room in the house. All you have to do is make sure the female is not trying to bit the male's leg or tail off and the male does not injure the female. It happens fairly fast. There is some courtship of males head bobbing and females waving and bowing, but not always. Mating appears rough when the male is grabbing for the back of her neck and positioning the female. The actual mating is short, often less than a minute.

http://www.reptilerooms.com/index.php?ca...

most info says beardies need to be 12-18 months to be sexually mature but some have found; they need only be 8-10 months to be mature -- as this forum linked below shows;

http://www.repticzone.com/forums/Bearded...

http://www.anapsid.org/bearded.html

http://www.exoticpa.com/bearded_dragon.h...

the actual mating ritual is one of males supposedly hissing and puffing out their beards at each other and then attacking.

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/1682...

----

for your question "will it be a danger" -- no one can really answer that with anything more than "it might be.." or "depends on your dragons"

it is almost always best to "err on the side of caution"

so I would have to answer to your should you try to get another set up?

yes... if at all possible seperate the two - asap!

-mostly because either way; you will need to increase the size of the one habitat.. and since you will already have to buy/build another... instead of putting them both in and risking anything... just makes more sense to leave one in each....  then you do not have to worry if there is any danger from one or the other...

I hope this has been of assistance

thank you for taking the time to read it

have a great day

much luck with your "sweeties" there

Answer 3

If you have two males, this is a disaster waiting to happen for the smaller beardie.  I would recommend separating them immediately.

Even if the smaller is a female, the older may be wanting to mate now, and this can also end in injury or missing limbs.

If you are not planning on becoming a beardie breeder (and you need to do a ton of research before you do), I would suggest that you house the animals individually, or find a home for one of them.

Successfully housing grown beardies together is a rarity.

You might want to invest some time surfing links, and studying the behavior sections.

I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help.

Answer 4

u mite have to males and the bigger one has reached sexal maturitie and he is now th alfa male switch tanks now becuase he will not hesitate on killing what evr is in the way of his territory

Answer 5

that is also a mating ritual. they hold onto the female by the back of the head. if you want to get him to stop, you will have to get a separate cage and put the second cage out of sight of the bigger beardie. If he even sees the other beardie he will bob his head. it can be frustrating to the bigger beardie to keep seeing the smaller one but not be able to get to it.

Answer 6

Separate them before the larger one injures or kills the smaller one. Bearded Dragons really shouldn't be kept together except for a very short time for breeding.

Do you know their genders? It sounds like they are two males which is a definite no, while sometimes male-female and female-female pairs can live together.