Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok so i dont get it...i have my babies in rubbermaid bins just like most do...i have 5 babies to a bin...i feed them 4 times a day, 3 crickets and 1 veggies....and they are still nipping eachother. i dont get it....there no big size difference between most of them...and if there is i seperate the smaller ones...am i doing something wrong here??? temps are all fine...uvb is fine....im lost....i had only a small clutch of 11 but now most of them are nipped and losing a hand or foot....please help
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Beach Beardies

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

OH NO!!!!! Sometime there might be an aggressor in the group if that's the case take him/her out! Try feeding a little larger meals, maybe 3 times a day and putting them in a larger tank/ rubbermaid. I have branches in my baby tanks and I find they can get away from eachother and spread themselves out...and you can usualy figure out who the top dog is because they are always at the highest peak. Good luck.

yea thats what i was thinking about the agressor...i took him/her out, who i thought it may be..but now i have 2 more nipped dragons. luckily these do not look as bad as some of the others. next thing im trying is using larger bins like you said. thanks
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Beach Beardies

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

I had that problem this year more than ever and then I realized this may have to do with cricket size. I feed small crickets but this year I increased the cricket size sooner thinking they would be getting a bigger meal(mind you not huge enough to cause chocking). I was watching and the smaller guys would grab a cricket and others would try to grab it from him causing front leg and nose injuries. I went back to a smaller bite size cricket and the chaos stopped. Grumpy little cusses anyway.
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3.4.0 Beardies
1.2.0 Crested Geckos
1.1.1 Box Turtles
0.1.0 Sulcata
1.1.0 Ball Python
2.1.0 corn snake
0.1.0 great plains rat snake
0.1.0 Blue Beauty Snakes
1.0.0 Banana King snake
1.0.0 Desert King snake
2.7.0 Guinea Piggies
3.6.0 Dumbo rats
1.0.0 Blue Front Amazon Parrot
0.1.0 Congo African Grey Parrot
1.1.0 house cats
2.0.0 Maine Coon Cats
2.0.0 Boxers

i feed my new hatchlings 1/16-1/8 inch crickets and i am feeding them 1/8-3/8 now and they are about 8-9 weeks old. i dont know if that may be it but it could be on your end. ive had this problem with my past few clutches and its annoying me.
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Beach Beardies

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

If they are 2 months old then you could be feeding them 2-3 week crickets, my babies that are 2 months old are eating, I guess, amlost 1/2inch crickets which are pretty much the space between their eyes.

I always liked the rule feed your dragons as much as they will eat in 5 mins. Or even over feed and leave them a few crickets in the cage and leave a piece of potatoe or orange slice and some veggies so the crickets have something to eat and don't dehydrated.

I had one little monster that was chomping on some of his friends, but not to the point of removing limbs, he stopped when I left a bit extra in the cage(obviously not too many crickets, as to not stress the animal but enough to keep toes out of their mouths)

Only way I know to guarentee little to no tail/toe nips is house each dragon in smaller groups (1-3) or singlely. Frequent feedings also help but what really triggers nips is usually just the movement of a cagemate's toes and tail and an automatic feeding response to eat everything small that moves.

Extra branches and other visual barriers could help reduce nips, as another poster suggested.
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PHLdyPayne

Hi
i have raised many beardies like say 200-300
i not got one with a nip not a toe not even a piece of tail.
i have a trick i believe in .
if you drop cricks in a group of beardies then a eating freanzy can happen if cricks jumping fast around and on top youre babies.
they look for every movement and every thing what moves they wil go for.
so also moving tails and toes.
the key is freezing cricks for 20 sec til 2,3 minuts for bigger cricks.
cricks in a tuppeeware box then in freezer and look for every 20 sec til they just stop moving so they not walk .
then i dust them and trow them in.
then after 1,2,3,4,5 minuts the cricks wil warm up and slowly start to move.
so easy eating for them and not all the cricks jumping around so acidents wil happen.
also it prefent the cricks wil hide in 20 sec so they come out at night and eat on yure babies.
i do this already for 5 years and never got a nipp.

i think its like with sharks if there is food sudenly all the sharks start to eat and even atack other shark the freanzy have startert.
good luck i hope this trick wil help you.
also some times there is one beardie who does it try to seek who does the nipping and separete him.
byeeeee
www.dragoncave.nl

yea i usually shake the crickets really well in my cricket container to kinda knock em out. that seems to work like the freezing technique.

but the odd thing is i havent seen one nip happen while they are eating. i drop a few crickets in, enough for everyone to have a few then let them eat, then drop some more in and let them eat, and so on until they are done. a few crickets stay in the cage. not many tho. and i stay and watch them eat and see no nips happen. then i come back later in the day and see a new nip on one of em.

i dunno, i been trying everything. this happend to my last clutch also of 26 dragons...13 got nipped. but that was alot my fault cause i housed too many together. now i only have 5 housed together.

thanks for everyones help and advice
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Beach Beardies

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

Hi
i have now 10 babies in a 40x50 centimeter terrarium.
not one get nipped.
atleast i am lucky
a breeder told me .
once it wil haappend to you to .
so i hope not .
good luck.
byeeeeeeeee
www.dragoncave.nl