Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have what we believe to be a female and then acquired a known male and his child (we don't know the sex yet) that were housed together since his child's birth. They are all living in the same tank and have been fine until a couple of weeks ago. The known male is being aggressive towards his child. I know 2 males can't live together but if the child was male wouldn't they have shown aggression before now? The child is about 10-11 inches long.

Get them separated NOW.... I'm suprised the baby hasn't become lunch yet. Bigger dragons will dominate/injure/kill/eat smaller ones.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

I understand the frustration that everyone who is replying to this post feels, but we all have to realize that beginner-keepers do make mistakes. Because of the overwhelming number of posts directed toward keeping bearded dragons together because they want or need "company" is frustrating, we still need to be able to sit back and access the situation and try not to "rant" or "rave" at newer members trying to get the information that they need. I'm not trying to start a war here - but I think that we all need to show some common courtesy.

However, this is rather urgent. Males and females should never be housed together for long period of time. To me, a long period of time for any species that I'm trying to breed being housed together is a week or less. These animals are solitary creatures in the wild. Although in captivity, these animals have instincts. A male's instinct will be to mate with any female around.

Smaller dragons should never be housed with larger dragons. Unlike you and I, we see a baby-human and we have no urge to go eat it (except maybe Jeffrey Dahmer, haha, joke). To bearded dragons, and pretty much any other reptile, smaller means food. Period.

Get the animals into their own tanks as soon as possible. Bigger tanks is always better. I have my adult animals in a 4'x2'x2' (lxwlh) ply-wood cage that I built. Not the most asthetically pleasing piece of furniture in the house, I assure you. But it gets the job done. Ply-wood was like $11 a sheet (4'x8' - 11/16''). I also put a piece of plexi-glass as a "door". It was a little over $30.
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Josh Ellis
Kaufman County Dragons

Other than for the purposes of breeding these animals shouldn't be housed together.