Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just rescued a 6 year old male dragon from a local family whose kids lost interest in their animal.

"smiley" as he was called is almost half the size of Dusty, my 2.5 y/o dragon. Smiley came with a 40 breeder tank, but due to size, of two tanks, wanted to put them together.

I was told that he was a male, as well as Dusty, who was marked a male when I got him as a hatchling. I have no idea how to appropriately know their sex, whether they are both males, one of each, or both females for sure.

I introduced them in the bathtub, a neutral site, and dusty tongued smiley as he does when he is out and about his tank, in new surroundings. Smiley did not seem too happy, but not too bad.

I let them be for a while, and they just crawled about for 10 minutes.

I took them to the one cage I have set up, changed some things, and put them in Dustys cage.

Smiley instantly puffed his chin, turned black, and both started to bob and wave. They soon circled, and I separated them, setting up the second tank for smiley.

Questions....

#1. How can I tell for sure what sex they are?

#2. Will they ever be able to be introduced to one another and co-habitate?

#3. As for the new ones size, would this be to underfeeding? He is healthy, have an appt for the exotic vet to check him out, (probable answer to #1!) but is there anything I can do to fatten him, or is he stunted for life?

Since I named Dusty for the great Dusty Hill of ZZTop, Im thinking of re-naming "smiley" to Billy Gibbons, Dusty Hills band mate, and fellow long beard wearer...

Just want them to be healthy and safe.

Cheers and thanks!

They are both males and you should separate them. The best thing would be to set up their cages where they cannot see each other. If you want to put them next to each other you can buy some background paper from almost any pet store. I think males bearded dragons are alot like siamese fighting fish especially around spring time. hope this elps a little.
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don't marry the cow when the milk is free when the milk drys up it's time for a new cow

1. Here is a good site to help you properly determine the sex of your dragons.

http://www.dachiu.com/sexing.html

2. If they're 2 males, no. If they are male/female or female/female maybe. You didn't say the lengths and weights of the dragons but they should be about the same size if f/f it's OK if the female is larger if they're m/f but in any case some dragons just don't do well with cagemates.

3. Again you didn't say his/her size. Perhaps he/she is just a small dragon but that is just a guess. At 6 yrears old I wouldn't expect him/her to grow any longer.