Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a female and a male of 13 weeks that are brother and sister, in the same cage. I got them at 11 weeks thinking they were both females and until last week they were fine, now i have figured out that one is a male... He is doing the head bob and sometimes waving and she is waving too... I can't clearly see the two buldges, so do females act like this by any chance if they are... confused... well anyways, the female is not eating and her oranges and yellows are dull even though she does bask. She isn't eating very well either, should i expect this?

>>>i know the risks, i'm trying to get them out of the same cage
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*~*Erin*~*
0.1 Jazmin -leopard gecko- April 17, 2004
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -bearded dragon- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
Blaze -bearded dragon- March 20, 2004-August 22, 2004 *~*Rest in Peace*~*
My Web Page! Check it out!

Could be that she's shedding. Hades will stop eating as much when he's shedding, especially his head. Shedding could also be the reason the colors aren't as bright.

Other then shedding she might have an infection or parasites or something. So you could take her to the vet to get checked if you are really concerned about her. She's probably also still adjusting to her new home and environment so that might also be a reason why she's not eating.

I hope this helps.

Hades took about a week and a half to adjust from moving from downstairs in my brother's room to upstairs in my room. Then I moved him again into a bigger tank and he's still adjusting a little bit.
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GUY: You know I have a tendency to grow on people.
GAL: Yeah, so does fungus.

"Maybe there is no actual place called hell. Maybe hell is just having to listen to our grandparents breathe through their noses when they're eating sandwiches."

Both males and females do the head bobbing and arm waving thing. Not only is it a mating ritual, it is also used in dominance/submission displays. I would get a second cage and put the female into it and keep them both separated.

Though both are only around 4 months old, within a month or two you will have to separate them anyway as you don't want a brother and sister to mate, nor a female that young.
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PHLdyPayne

They both just shed, and both were very very beautiful, now the larger one is dull... The other is charging her but not biting, I feel she is stressing out and that is why she is not eating. Are they trying to breed, that is, When beardies breed do the females not eat and lose/dull their color?
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*~*Erin*~*
0.1 Jazmin -leopard gecko- April 17, 2004
0.2 Tiki and Tahlie -bearded dragon- July 18, 2004 -high oranges-
Blaze -bearded dragon- March 20, 2004-August 22, 2004 *~*Rest in Peace*~*
My Web Page! Check it out!

they aren't trying to mate,they are in the begining stages of fighting.If you don't seperate them soon you could end up with a seriously hurt dragon.
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(c) 2004 Neopets, Inc.

I have seen this behavior a million times before when people try to house two beardies together. Its really hard to sex them at this young of an age so its probably not mating behavior. What people tend to forget is that head bobbing and arm waving isnt just a mating behavior but is also a dominance/submission behavior that can be seen between beardies of any sex.

There are lots of different ways an animal can be stressed out. But to a beardie, there is nothing more stressfull than being housed with a more dominant animal. Stress between lizards is a hard thing to pick up on sometimes because when we see two beardies perched on top of each other we think "awe, how cute." We usually dont realize that even behaviors like this can be stressfull to the smaller beardie. The submissive animal will frequently give up the best basking spots and not eat as much and can eventually die.

I would recomend seperating your beardies immediately and work on fattening up the smaller one. once they are adults, if they are opposite sexes you can breed them if you want.

Let us know how it goes!

~Mim

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