Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just had my first clutch of beardies begin to hatch. There are going to be 12 total. I have heard bad things about housing them together due to their affinity for eating each others toes and tails. But I don't really have room to house them all individually and still provide the proper heat/uv for them. Does anyone have any suggestions for how to house these until such a time that they are sold? If they are given ample space, food, and hiding spots, can they be housed together? Is UV critical in their first few weeks? Can they be housed in small tubs and then the tubs placed in an aquarium so they can share a UV bulb? And finally, how old before they can start leaving to their new homes? Any and all advise is appreciated.

Thanks

housing hatchlings together is ok in small numbers. i had the same problem of them nipping eachother as well. so i talked to a bunch of breeders and found that housing 5-6 babies in a large rubbermaid container does well. i use rubbermaid containers for my rearing bins. yes UVB is critical for hatchlings. its critical for dragons of all ages. natural sunlight is still the best though. basking spots are also critical for hatchlings, temps of 105-115 for hatchlings just like adults. also offer a cool side for them to cool down, not dropping below 75-80 for hatchlings in my opinion. watch for dragons who grow larger than others real quick. move them into another bin if they are growing faster, they will start to pick on the smaller dragons. also watch for the nipper dragons too. if you find a nipper in the group move him in a bin by himself.

i would wait until about 6 weeks to start finding them new homes.
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Beach Beardies

3.3.0 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)

I don’t want to berate you too much, but the dad in me says, “why didn’t you think of this sooner?” Now that that’s off my chest…

We keep up to 12 hatchlings in 66 qt Sterilite tubs, Paper towel on the bottom changed daily and a platform for them to hide under with a small log on top so they can all get close to the basking spot. The platform is a 10 x 8 inch piece of plywood with 1x2’s attached to two sides (flat surface is raised up so they can crawl under it, to escape each other and the heat). Add something on top of this to get them close to the heat light. A heat light hangs over the top and a four-foot UV florescent stretches across three of these perfectly. As long as they are well fed, I stress well fed, there should be no problem. As they grow, they need separated out further (I would split them into two tubs by three weeks) they can be sold at six weeks but some people sell them sooner, I recommend 6 weeks.

As beachbeardies pointed out, watch for the dominant dragons in the group and move them to another container (never keep one alone or they will become aggressive towards others). We do keep our adults alone though. In any group, there will be a dominance hierarchy, dragons at the bottom of the ladder do poorly and need to be separated from the dominant ones to do well. I highly recommend at least three tubs per breeding pair to be successful. A watchful eye usually picks up brewing problems before they are out of hand. We have a very occasional nip, but it is usually with dragons about 6 to 10 weeks and rare, the only time we had nothing but problems, in nine years of breeding, was a clutch of translucent’s that seemed bent on tearing each other to pieces if more than one was in a tub.

There are many variations that work, I recommend some research. This is what works well for us. On a side note, raising baby dragons right takes considerable time, commitment, and expense.

I am attaching some pictures of baby Ornate Uro’s that show the plywood platforms under the logs (one has two plywood platforms stacked under the log). I know they are not dragons, but they show (sorta) the basic set-up we use for hatchling dragons. The logs and platforms are hosed off and dried in the sun as needed (2 to 3 days, sometimes everyday).

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Rick
Never Enough
Reptiles

You can house hatchlings in groups but crucial things to do to prevent toe and tail nips, is as follows:

-Plenty of basking areas with temp ranges between 100-115F or a bit higher. Large wide basking areas are good, so you can get several babies on it without 'stacking'. Several basking lamps work too, over different basking areas. Keep a cool area at the other end of the container or lots of hiding areas.

-Frequent feedings. Feed hatchlings at least 3 times a day, all they can eat in a 5 minute period (or a bit longer if they seem still hungry). Leave finely chopped greens and/or juvenile bearded dragon pellets to munch on between meals.

-Diligence. remove dragons that are better than the others, or remove the small dragons into separate containers so you can make sure they get enough to eat.

The best time to start selling the dragons is when they are at least 6" long head to tail, or 6weeks of age.
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PHLdyPayne