Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i've had two bearded dragons since August of last year. They were young and were about 5 inches, with one being slightly bigger, maybe a half inch. Today both are healthy but the one that was slightly bigger is now significantly bigger. The size of the big one to this day is 14.5 inches and 157 grams. He is a male. The other, a female, is 11 inches and only 68.5 grams. She is much thinner but still is healthy. To boost her size i would remove the male and put crickets in the cage. She would eat a few and then jump on the branch and bask. As soon as i put the male in, he cleans out the crickets in minutes. What suggestions does anyone have to get her back on track???

Simply the fact that you are housing them together can be a factor. Stress may be what is keeping her skinny. How do you know she's healthy? When was the last fecal or vet visit? They are about breeding size; are you going to keep them together so that she may experience more stress? Have you read any of the previous threads about the stress of dragons being housed together?

Separate them. The female may be stressed by the larger male and you shouldn't keep a male and female together. Actually, it's not even ideal to keep 2 females together especially if one is bigger than the other. I speak from personal experience that even two dragons who seem to get along well could be dangerous even at a young age. Missing toes, tails, etc. Best bet is to keep them in thier own enclosure and give them each a chance to eat well and live happy.

marilee
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1.2 Bearded Dragons (Dezirae, Artimis & Papi)
0.2 Dogs (Timex & Brady)
1.0 Sulcata (Speedy)
1.1 Hamsters
1.2 Horses (Joey, Joi & Crystal)
0.2 Beta Fish

If you feel that your dragon is not doing well due to the presence of the male then I think it is obvious you should separate them. That is the most conservative course of action. If you wish to breed them or house them together at a later time when both animals are thriving then you can try again.

Dragons can be kept successfully alone, in pairs, trios or groups. This is nothing new and many long time breeders have done this for years.

I do think keeping them together is more complicated. Some animals seem to thrive no matter what you do and others are very sensitive and never seem to be as robust. They have different personalities and do well or not in different situations. In this way I think it is very important to take each instance on a case by case basis. Generalizations (like this is always right and always works or this is wrong and never should be done) are often times of little use. Of course your understanding and the husbandry you employ are primary.

If you are new to beardies or reptiles in general, it may be best to develop a good understanding of them by housing them alone first. Get your animals thriving, learn about them and what they do well with and what they don't. Then you can experiment after you have a solid base to work from. Then you can make better decisions when things get more complicated. Of course they are your animals and you may do what you like with them. Just understand that you are responsible for their well being and they are the ones subject to the consequences of your decisions or lack thereof.

Good luck,

Ian

I would definately seperate them, although i agree with ian when he says people do keep them in pairs with no problems, but there is obviously a problem here and you will probably see a great increase in the females size if she is housed alone and fed alone. Also, as spook said, they are of breeding age and you do not want to stress ur BD further by having her mated right now
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0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican kingsnake
1.0.2 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Rose Hair Tarantula
1.0 BTS
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

Yea i took all the advice. i went out today and bought a backup enclosure. hopefully she will do better. but she is doing something strange. As soon as i put her in she began waving her arm. i've seen her do that before but not so frequently. I know it means submissive behavior, but why is she doing it when no one is there. u think shes lonely??

>>As soon as i put her in she began waving her arm. i've seen her do that before but not so frequently. I know it means submissive behavior, but why is she doing it when no one is there. u think shes lonely??

It is definitely a submissive gesture, and you're probably seeing more of it because she felt repressed by the male, and didn't move much if at all. Since you're primarily her only line-of-sight "threat" (that is, if you did the right thing and remove the male completely from her sight), she's displaying more for you now than when she had the male in her enclosure.

This will GREATLY reduce the stress factor and allow her more freedom to eat at her leasure. Now she won't feel like she has to compete for food, so it should all work out for the better. Good luck.
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Dl