Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 2 year old female (Lily) and a 4 month old male (Lou). We have been slowly trying to introduce them, but at first Lily thought he was food! Well after waking from burmation, Lily no longer thinks he is food, but is VERY interested in him. Last night she came running at him, stopping occasionally to quickly bob her head. I thought only the males do that, do the females also? We didn't let her get close enough to carry out her intentions, but was she trying to mate or is this aggressive behavior? She is about 15in and Lou is about 12in but I still am wary of her hurting him, should I be?

That is a dominating posture, which could be considered aggressive. If I remember correctly, beardies don't really mature until their about 1 year old, so I wouldn't recommend it. Since she is bigger than he is, she could be warning him off, so I would DEFINITELY try to keep them apart until he gets bigger, or he might start stressing out, which is definitely not healthy. What does he do when she does this?
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Dl

I was holding him, and he's always squirmy so he was trying to get away. I lifted him up and she proceeded to climb my leg! I have never seen her more determined!

>>I was holding him, and he's always squirmy so he was trying to get away. I lifted him up and she proceeded to climb my leg! I have never seen her more determined!

Definitely sounds aggressive. Keep them apart until he can reach sexual maturity and close to double her size, then reintroduce them. It would be better for them both.
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Dl

Head bobbing is usually a male trait, but it is also an agressive display. IMO you should never have a 2 year old in with a 4 month old. Dragons have a pretty one track mind, if it moves and will fit in my mouth it must be food. Get them separated and keep them separate until you want to breed.

Sean
Heart Mountain Herps

They always have been in separate enclosures, I was just trying to introduce them. We get them together once in a while to see the reactions. For the most part Lily had ignored him unless she was trying to eat him. This sudden display was surprising and made me curious. I've seen pics of larger and smaller dragons together, but apparently Lily has an attitude.

>>They always have been in separate enclosures, I was just trying to introduce them. We get them together once in a while to see the reactions. For the most part Lily had ignored him unless she was trying to eat him. This sudden display was surprising and made me curious. I've seen pics of larger and smaller dragons together, but apparently Lily has an attitude.

That's probably because Lily OWNS that home, and has for the past two years you've had her, and she has never had to worry about another beardie infringing on her territory. If she is overly attached to you, she can even get aggressive when you "mess" with the other dragon (I know, sounds "too human" doesn't it?) Ever see a beardie get agressive around his/her feeding bowl when a person gets close? Dogs and cats do it too, so there's some territoriality factored in there somewhere.

The converse of all this is you can continue to introduce them, and they will eventually get used to one another, but you really have to watch the smaller dragon. If his eating and basking habits change because someone keeps "bullying" him, it's not healthy. Any "multi-beardies" out there want to put on a different spin on the ball here?
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Dl

When you see pics of smaller and larger dragons together, it is only for the pics. People don't house them together. Your female head bobbing is a definate display of dominance.
Their jaws are strong and can even break bones in other dragons, let alone loss of tails and toes.
Male/female shouldn't live together anyway, so there's no reason to introduce them.
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