Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi fellow Beardie Lovers!

I would love to get some opinions on something I am thinking about doing...

I have a 2.5 year old female dragon named Drayco, she is completely healthy but I have been thinking about getting her a cage mate (female) so she is not alone anymore.

I work 8-5pm M-F and just feel guilty for not giving her as much time as I should. I spend time with her every morning and evening but in the daytime while I am at work she just mopes and lays in her cave unhappy. When I am home, I have her out and I am around, so she of course is happy and alert.

My concerns are, since she had been alone most of her life would she even want or welcome a female cage mate or would it stress her out??

I just feel so bad every day when I leave and she runs to the window of her cage every morning and watches me leave, I feel so bad. So I thought if I got her a cagemate that may help during the daytime.

Any thought are welcome. Is anyone else in this situation, if so what did you do (especially if you kept the Dragon solitary)
How do I make her happy??

Thank you for your thoughts and advice!!

If you do get her a cage mate you will need to get one oof a compatible size. To me it sounds like you spend more time interacting with your dragon than a lot of other people. It might be worth getting a cage mate if you have the room. The ones I have to gether lay on top of each other all the time. You need to be prepared to have an area to keep them separate in case they don't get along.

They do get very inquisitive, and like to explore however.

Dragons are solitary animals by nature, and you should be very careful when considering a tank mate. It's extremely unlikely that you'll get any combination to get along other than 2 females, and even then it can easily not work. Beardies can be very territorial, and have been known to even cannibalize one another in some cases.

If you absolutely must try it out, make sure you have a VERY large tank, and stick to housing two females together. A female and male is a bad combo (typically) because males tend to try to mate all the time and stress out the female. Also, two males in one tank tend to get to fighting pretty quickly.

You also need to make sure that the dragons are of relatively equal size, there are often issues of one dragon dominating another.

MAKE SURE you have another setup ready to go so you can seperate them at the first sign of trouble.

If you do get another dragon, have a separate cage for her ahead of time. This is to ensure you can properly quarentee the new arrival to ensure it isn't carrying any parasites or diseases that could harm y our current dragon. Quarentee should be three months, with a fecal down each month. If they are all clean then it should be safe to start introducing the two females. If the fecels are not clean, then you will need to treat the dragon as prescribed by the vet.

Once three clean fecels in a roll happen, then you can start introducing your dragons. The best way is to introduce them in neutral territory, the living room floor works good for this. Watch them carefuly and separate if there is any form of aggression. (ie attacking or biting). I would do this every day for about a week till they seem to enjoy eachother's company then you can try putting them both into the one cage (I would clean the cage before hand, maybe change the furniture around a bit as well so neither dragon thinks it is their territory). Watch them carefully and see if they still get along. If all goes well you can leave them in the cage together but keep looking for signs of stress in either animal.

That all being said, I think the main reason dragons look like they are moping around is lack of stimulus. They know their cage quite well and nothing is around to peek their interest. This is one reason why they get so inquisitive when out of their cage, they have more room to explore and cover. I try to change things in their cage once in awhile, adding a rock, removing a rock, adding a new cave or branch to climb on. Maybe a tile or two, just small changes to encourage them to come off the basking spot and see what the new thing is. Too much change too often would become stressful.

I let me two beardies watch TV all day. Honeslty, they seem to be mesmorized by any kind of automobile racing. I'm guessing with the buzz and color of the cars they might look like bugs running around.

Keep the sound up so she can hear it too. I can just about guarantee you will make her happy with a small TV.

She's really probably just looking for some more stimulation of some sort and I think a TV can help.

Hope this helps!!
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Rob Talkington

who has a tv in the lizard room. I usually keep mine on animal planet for them. LOL

Sean
Heart Mountian Herps