Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Last week I got 4 bearded dragons for my class. Three were about the same size(born in June) and one was about 4-6 weeks younger. After about a week with no problems and feeding them every day, one morning one of the older dragons sprinted across the tank and bit the baby's head. If I didn't pry the mouth open the baby would of died. I think the attacking bearded thought the baby's head was a cricket - I hope that was the case. At first the I thought the baby was going to die. After some TLC it looks like it will make it. It is eating two hearty mels a day. At first I thought the baby was blind in one eye, but the swelling went down and he can see out of both. However, the baby's head is now black. Is that a bruise or some kind of stress related condition. Any thoughts on the head? I seperated the baby from the other dragons, should I get a second for the tank or will that cause more stress?

Thanks for any thoughts.

I'd say it's a bruise if the rest of the dragon isn't dark. You may want to plan on getting each of them a tank. Seldom do they stay together w/o fighting. Especially males, they can fight to the death.
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TheClassyLizard

his whole head is black? or just the beard? i know their beards will go black but never heard of the whole head. have you thought about taking him to a vet?

The upper part of his/her(too young to sex they say) head is black. The area between the eyes and back a little towards the body.

If your dragons are 6 inches or larger, you should be able to get a fairly accurate guess on the sex. Were you the person who posted last week? Please do seperate the injured beardie from the rest. It won't hurt to seperate out the aggressive one as well. We can't know if it is a bruise without seeing. Pictures may help, and so might a vet.

seperate like the others said, but i would be concerned that that black area is dead or dying tissue, i woudl get him to a vet asap and have him looked at, if you need a herp vet in your area post here and im sure someone can help you out.
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reiko
photos

>>Last week I got 4 bearded dragons for my class. Three were about the same size(born in June) and one was about 4-6 weeks younger. After about a week with no problems and feeding them every day, one morning one of the older dragons sprinted across the tank and bit the baby's head. If I didn't pry the mouth open the baby would of died. I think the attacking bearded thought the baby's head was a cricket - I hope that was the case. At first the I thought the baby was going to die. After some TLC it looks like it will make it. It is eating two hearty mels a day. At first I thought the baby was blind in one eye, but the swelling went down and he can see out of both. However, the baby's head is now black. Is that a bruise or some kind of stress related condition. Any thoughts on the head? I seperated the baby from the other dragons, should I get a second for the tank or will that cause more stress?
>>
>>Thanks for any thoughts.

umm....why didnt you take to baby to the vet when it happened? Espically if the babies head and eye was swollen?
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Owned by 1 bearded dragon, 2 Leapord geckos,1 iguana, 2 cats,1 dog , 2 wonderful kids and a husband