Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boyfriend and I, about a month ago, decided to purchase a 2-year-old female dragon to mate with our 3-year-old male dragon. We introduced her into his cage and he was aggressive from the start to the time we returned her (we didn't have a choice - he was too aggressive); by bobbing his head, and arching his body towards her, and blackening his beard. After we returned her, he continued to display aggressive behavior - bobbing his head randomly, and puffing his beard. It's been quite a while since she's been gone, and lately he's been acting lethargic and not basking much, so today I took him out and he immediately puffed his beard, totally blackened it, and when I set him down he flattened out and arched his body toward me. Is his aggressive behavior reversible? Is the lethargic behavior something we should be worried about?

I appreciate any help.

-Hannah

well these behaviors hes displaying towards the female are signs of him showing dominance and wanting to mate. why he is still doing this, who knows. hes probably showing his dominance to you. and he has seen a female now so probably wants to mate with a female. unless he was hurting the female there was no problem. a male mounting a females back and biting the back of her neck is perfectly normal.
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Beach Beardies

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

Yup. Totally normal. My big guy does it to my friend's female beardies. He's probably still displaying at random times in hopes that the female will see him and be impressed. Mine use to challenge people's feet for dominance, but he out grew it.

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1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Rex- "normal" orange fire)
1.0.0 Bearded Dragon (Glutany- German Giant Mix)
0.1.0 Okeetee Corn (Okatee)
1.1.0 Spotted Python (Hotdog and Shoelace)
0.1.8 Emperor Scorpion
0.0.1 Vietnamese Centipede

His behavior is normal.

You should introduce the female again. If you've never seen it before it can be a little scary.

Make sure his home is big enough for 2 dragons. Especially the basking spot. I use tile as there is more than enough room for 2 dragons to have basiclly equal basking sites.

The male will bob his head, flatten his body, and the female should bow or do pushups. The male will then race around behind her and bite her on the back of the head and hold her down. "This is the unpleasant part. lol" She will flail her arms as if he's hurting her and when she stops he will either mate her or set her free, happy that he has shown his dominance.

Keep in mind that if the female flattens her body and circles excessively that is a bad thing and you should remove her. Then try introducing them on the floor later where there is room for her or him to run away before an injury occurs.

I don't know what your long term plan is. Are you just looking to mate them or are you hoping to have them live together permanently? It can be difficult to put 2 strangers together as adults. Injuries can and do happen if you're not real careful and the husbandry conditions are not what they should be.