Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone out here house male/female pairs or male/2 female trios together year round?

How much extra stress is placed on them this way vs keeping them all housed seperately.

I have always done individual housing but recently was chatting with a person who use to breed beardeds who just had a large cage with a harem in it.

Just curious what was typically done. What size enclosure would be recommended for a pair or trio?

Breeding and egg laying puts alot of stress on females regardless...though a trio in a large cage can work well. But this does depend on individual dragons. Some don't like cage mates at all and will attack them aggressively. Others couldn't care less either way. It all depends on the individual dragons and the size of the cage.

However, I always feel its best to house separately. Less chance of a sudden burst of aggressive resulting in a serious injury. There are also all the other issues potentially caused by housing multiple dragons. Competition for basking space and food, difficulty in knowing who is pooping regularly, how much each dragon is eating, spread of disease and parasites etc.

For two adult dragons I recommend at least a 5'x2' cage..or 4'x3' for additional animals I would add another 2' or more square feet. It is best to house a male and two females, to prevent over breeding of a single female...though I still think separating males from females is best, to give not only the females a break but the male too.

Setup is more difficult too as you want to make sure there are many basking sites that reach the appropriate range of temperatures so your dragon's are not competing for prime basking area (ie that 'stacking' look which some people find 'cute' when it really is a sign the dragons do not have room to bask separately, and the more dominate dragon is getting all the heat/UVB instead of the other dragon (dragons don't let heat and UVB pass through their bodies, so the 'under dragon' is cold and miserable). Making sure there is plenty of food for everyone but having more than one food dish, spread out in the cage.
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PHLdyPayne

Thanks for the info. I figured that was the case.

I am not planning on adding to my bearded anyway - mine "Alfred" is happy living alone, he is a 7 year old very well manored dragon.

Yeah, with a male that old, probably best not to house him with others, he may not like it. Also he is rather past breeding prime anyway.
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PHLdyPayne

Right now I have (3) 1.1's and (2) 0.2's. I have had 1.2's in the past but 1.1's seem to work better for me.

My 1.1's all work well together. There is no abuse or overbreeding issues. Dragons housed together only breed in the late winter. After that there is only an occaisional time when the male reminds the female who's boss. Knock on wood, I have never had any injuries at all.

The biggest thing is that you can't make a pair be compatable. You have to just get lucky and find animals that are happy together.

All my pairs are in 5' long by 3.5' deep cages. Regarding stacking, it is interesting that compatible pairs generally choose to be together rather than spread out. My large enclosures have 2 identicle basking spots but most of the time the dragons are sharing one. If I have to take the female away the male is visually distraught and depressed.

Some males are just ultra hyper and cannot be with another dragon without causing stress and injury. It seems to be that dragons that grew up around other dragons do well in groups. The rescues I get in may have never seen another dragon and therefore are just crazy when they see one.

""Some males are just ultra hyper and cannot be with another dragon without causing stress and injury. It seems to be that dragons that grew up around other dragons do well in groups. The rescues I get in may have never seen another dragon and therefore are just crazy when they see one.""

It's awesome to observe a group set-up isn't it?

Give them enough space and dragons can be quite social little creatures.