Reptile & Amphibian Forums

What reason does a bearded dragon have for making a mess of his cage? He is scattering his greens and running through his stool then he wipes it off his foot and onto the sides of his cage. He only started doing this a few days ago, but he keeps making a worse mess than the last. Does he want a bigger cage? His cage is 30 in. long. Does he want more things to climb on? I read in a bearded dragon book some bearded dragons do it because the want to dig. Is that what he wants?

Are you watching him when he does this?

This time of year sometimes bugs come in and are attracted to the fluorescent bulbs. They bounce around and the dragons try to catch them.

A 30 gal. is too small for an adult dragon though. The minimum for an adult is 4 x 2 floor space.

I don't watch him. He usually does it in the morning after I give him his greens. I notice the stool everywhere when I get back home from work. If I do see him do this I take him out of his cage and handle him to calm him down.
The weird thing is I have another bearded dragon in the same room, but she doesn't do this at all. She is usually in her basking area or resting in the cool end of her cage eating greens.
Is he doing this because there is a female bearded dragon in the same room as him to show dominance, even though they are not in the same cage?

That's a likely senario. If he is old enough that his beard turns dark then you should not allow him to see her at all.

When I first got my pair of bearded dragons they were in separate 55 gal aquariums on oposite sides of my living room. The male at points freaked out like you described to the point that he tore the ends of his pinky toes off. When I put them together, he stopped. But of coarse about a month later I had eggs coming, and coming and coming. You could try putting them in separate rooms. My experience with that is my male just laid down and acted like he wanted to die. he's pretty old though, proubly about 9 years old.

I have to second that the cage is too small for an adult dragon. A 30" long cage is maybe a 30 gal long tank which is way too small. It should be more like a 55 gal long or bigger, but definitely at least 4'x2'x2' in size as BDLvr pointed out.

Seeing a female across the room certainly will get your male dragon worked up and running around his cage trying to find a way out to get to your female, is one good indication he is more than ready to breed.

I suggest getting a bigger cage, moving your male or female into a different room and try and clean up poop as soon as possible (though I know if you are gone all day and it is during the day he typically goes, can't really be there to clean the cage right away. But if you see it in the morning before leaving, clean it up right then. Less chance of your dragon running through it if its gone as quickly as possible.)

As for greens, i find placing them more centrally in the cage and having a clear 'path' around the cage ensures it is less trampled through than if the food dish is placed in a open clear area.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks everyone for the help. I don't want to breed thems so I'm going to move the female and get a bigger cage for both of them because they are both in their own 20 gal. long.