Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We just built a big bearded dragon box...5' long x 3' wide...how many beardies should live in there comfortably??? I was thinking maybe 1 male and 3 females???

Also are the mercury vapor bulbs a good idea??? I've heard mixed reviews on them...

Any suggestions on this???
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

I'd say two females to live comfortably. Definetly NO male-male or male-females. (Leaving a male in with a female all the time heavily stresses the female)
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Zeo)
0.2.0 Leopard Geckos (Vienna, Chomps)
1.0.0 Golden Retriever, Rocky, 10 years young

Don't use the spot ones though get the flood. Go to beautifuldragons.com and check out the study being done on UVB bulbs and you'll find that they produce ALOT more, almost 3 times the amount of other UVB bulbs. I would suggest a 160 0r 175 watt bulb for the basking area in a cage that size. I agree with the other post on the occupancy.

Robert

n/p
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

The more space the happier the lizards. Therefore I think it would be better to have two happy lizards with more space, then three stressed lizards with less space.

There was some breeder a while back who posted on here that he kept 3 bearded dragons in a 40 gallon tank...this I totally disagree with but this tank is 168 gallons...(not saying that it's a good idea or that it is right) but I would think I could put at least three and possibly 4 happy beardies in there...just wanted to clarify how big the actual tank was...

I'm not a spacing expert by any means...i'm just trying to get everyone's opinion...OH! also...why is it that all the books say that 1 male can be housed with a few females if it's going to stress the girls???
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Chris

1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.2.0 Green Basilisks
1.1.0 Crested Geckos
1.2.0 Veiled Chameleons
1.1.0 Corn Snakes
1.0.0 Tokay Geckos
0.0.1 California Kingsnakes
2.5.1 Leopard Geckos

If the females get along, yes 3 can co-habitate in that space just fine. As far as books.....yes, it can be done, but males are relentless breeders.....and the females are stuck in "jail" with him bothering them all day long. So is it best for your females, definitely not, and you also risk injury from the males bothering the females as well. So for the best of your girls, healthwise and happy wise, please keep them seperate from your males for general living and only placed with your male for short supervised periods when you want breeding to occur.
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Tracey
Tracey's Beardies
www.beardiecrazy.com

I'm no expert either. I just know my motto in life is better safe than sorry, so personally I'd rather have a few dragons with lots of space. But I've never had more than one dragon at once so I'm not the expert on keeping multiple dragons around here. Just keep doing what you're doing, learn learn learn. I've had my dragon for 2 years now and I'm still always looking to learn more and keep him happy.

3 maybe 4 girls in there. Can make 3 basking spots for them. Females will share basking spots. I don't like to house males with females for the reason tracey mentioned. Can it be done? Yes. Is it done? yes Do I think it is best? NO!!! You can introduce him for a day or two at a time when you want your dragons to breed, but you really need to supervise. I like to let my dragons do the deed on the reptile room floor. It seems to work. I am thinking of setting up a "breeding bin" for them this year. So they can be placed in a non familar bin with basking spot to get them to breed. Lots of light is a stimulant to breeding. Also if he is introduced to the females they may actually gang up on him. Just my thoughts.
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Derek Affonce
DeKeAff Exotics
dekeaffexotics.com

I I don't post here that often anymore, and even though I'm probably one of the only persons who are not crazy about this bulb here on this forum, I decided to stick ,m neck out here anyway.
I'm glad you are aware of the two sides involving the MV lamps.
Yes, they produce one heck of a lot of light and heat, in fact by the time I had to remove the MV bulb from the porcelain socket (of a 10'-12" dome), the metal screw part of the MV bulb had expanded so much due to the intense heat that is fused to the porcelain. I had to break the bulb and use needle nosed pliers to remove the screw part. This happened with all three bulbs I tried. On top of that, I have read veterinarian reports that two beardies under MV bulbs (there were only two involved using MV - a third beardie was tested who had not been on MV bulbs, so not a big study)had significant amounts of mercury built up in their tissues. Mercury is a poison. It was not discovered just what the animals died of (I wish I had saved that article), so I don't know that they died from the mercury poison, only that they had it in their tissues. So, it is not conclusive by any means, but it is for me to decide not to risk it. We have learned so much after mistakes have been made, and some mistakes aren't evident for years to come. So, I choose to stick with the old tried and true methods of delivering uvb. The tube or the coil (which fits in a normal light bulb socket). One more thing I learned first handed is that the MV bulbs will, even if only temporary, change the coloration of your dragons. They yellow them. If you see an animal unusually yellow, chances are the pic was taken of the animal under mv lamps or just removed from them.

examples:

Sandfire yellow normal:

Sandfire yellow exposed:

Red normal:

Red Exposed:

Sunburst normal:

Sunburst exposed:

RFXSF normal:


RFXSF exposed:

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Photos

Wow those pictures are shocking to see and makes u think twice about these bulbs, i am not a big fan of these bulbs also beacause of the potential harm they could do to both beardies and humans, the temps on these bulbs are extreme and it they ever come into contact with other material by mistake then you're just beggin for a fire. Also bulbs break and when these bulbs release mercury from them, the danger levels are extreme. Excuse me for thinking about worse case senarios, but these things happen to very unfortunate people and i just dont want to be one of those people and i dun want anything happening to my beardie, especially like those pictures