Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi I was wondering if anyone houses males and females together full time. I am the owner of a wonderful female named LuLu who is 2 years old. I am going to be taking in a male who is 3 years old and do not want to breed. I would like to house them together, but if needed I will cage them seperately. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do?

do not house them together at all if you do not want them to breed. they will indeed breed if housed together, or at least try to. even if the male doesnt successfully breed to her, she will be more likely to produce infertile eggs. shes going to do that sometime in her life anyways, but being around male will up the chances.

and no people do not, or at least should not house male or female together full time. this leads to overbreeding which will end up stressing the female to the point of death.
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Beach Beardies

2.2. bearded dragons
1.1. Sugar Gliders
0.2. Felines *queen athena and missy*

1 male 2 females. There are inherant risks with introducing unknown males and females. It may not work out regardless of what you decide. You'd need an extra enclosure anyway for egg laying or if one gets sick etc.

Nice condo your dragons live in!!
The beardies are beautiful too and look in great shape.
Congrats!

Thanks. They didn't always live together. They moved in together in April. The one on the ramp is actually on her own right now because she lays a clutch of eggs every 14-15 days. 3 so far and I know she will have another next week. I need to keep her separate right now to get as much food as possible in her between clutches.

Many people think it's easier to house dragons together but it's really not. You always have to have extra enclosures available for a variety of reasons. You can't put a nest box in a cage with a male there. lol. Also feeding is kind of a communal thing so there is no way to monitor each dragons intake. Unless you happen to be watching there is no way to tell who has diahria or is not pooping either.

3 seems to work better than 2 also. When the male is there alone because both females are in lay boxes, etc. and then I add a known female he is brutal to her for the 1st day or so. If one is always there then when I add another known female he just takes it in stride. lol.

I just love the way the females bow to the males. It's just too funny how they know who's boss. lol.

You will need two cages regardless, as any new animal, even bought from a reputable breeder, should be quarantined away from your own animals. Keep him in a separate cage in a separate room if possible, for at least a month. A fecal should be done to make sure he has no parasites. Three months would be much better quarentine period to ensure no diseases etc, aren't incubating. Three months with a fecal done once per month so you have three clean fecals over the three month period and a clean bill of health from a qualified vet, is the best way to go before introducing a new dragon to an existing healthy dragon or group of dragons.

Basic quarentine measures aside, a male and female housed together will have a very high chance of breeder and producing fertile clutches. A male constantly bugging a female to mate can cause her undue stress, prevent her from eating and feeding properly, get her pregnant which will only had more stress to her health. She will need extra care, extra feeding and attention to ensure she can carry frequent clutches, about once every 3-4 weeks on average. She will need extra calcium to ensure her calcium levels don't drop etc.

Even if no eggs are produced, having another dragon in the cage doesn't mean they will get along. One or both may seriously injure the other, including tearing off limbs if the fights get severe enough. An attack like this can happen in a flash, you could see them basking peacefully on their logs one minute, come back in another and see a dragon all covered in blood with a missing foot the next. It may never happen, but it can happen and it has to other people who have posted here.

Thus, my suggestion, get a second cage of the appropriate size and not bother trying to put them together. Also don't have them out together either, as it only takes a couple of seconds for a male to grab a female and mate her.
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PHLdyPayne