Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for ZooMed
Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You

Should i get him a companion?

yellowfox May 10, 2005 08:14 AM

Well Drayko is going good. He could definately be eating more and he seems to be a little lazy/stressed. I know hes still new but he really ate good the first day or two. Now he only eats a couple crix a day.

How often will they normally release used crix? haha It has been a couple days and i haven't seen anything. starting to concern me

I'm going to give him a nice soak tonight to hopefully help him out a little if he needs it. Whats a good water temp to soak him in?

My last question is i have thought about getting him a female. not for breeding purposes but to keep him active and company. I know they have to be the same size but i thought if i were to do it now would be good so they can grow up together. What do you think? recommendations?

Replies (2)

AlteredMind99 May 10, 2005 09:47 AM

A few things...if you do decide to get a "compainion" make sure you wait until this guy is established, eating well, pooping, and is not sick.

As far as keeping beardies together...some people od it and have no problems, most people agree that its not a good idea. They aren't exactly communal(sp) animals and don't suffer and feelings of lonliness if they are kept singly. Humans have a habit of "humanizing" their pets...attributing human qualities to them that they dont have.

There are several problems with housing mulptiple beardies together...

1. If you have a male and a female they will breed wether that is your purpose or not, and if they are kept together from the time they are young they will probably breed to soon. It is impossible to keep them together and prevent them from breeding, and breeding a female to young can be fatal to her. Also, keeping a single male with a single female can cause the problem of over breeding, even if they are of breeding age. The male has no other females to divert his attention and he may spend all his time harrassing the female. This can lead to a bunch of problems, anywhere from actually problems with having too many eggs and not enough calcium to produce them, and also just generally stressing the female out. It is generally recomended with any lizards that if you keep both sexes together, keep one male and at least 2 females, this way the male will not spend all his time harrassing one of them.

2. Illness is harder to isolate and treat if your lizards are housed together. If one gets sick, the other is sure to follow. Also, you cannot always keep tabs on who is doing what. If you find a suspicious looking (runny, foul odored or otherwise not normal) poop in the tank you dont know which beardie is having a problem and you will probably have to bring them both to the vet.

3. Beardies housed together, especially young beardies frequently get stressed by the presence of another. A lot of people want their buddy to have a "friend" so they get two and one grows like a weed while the other usually doesn't do so good. Although no signs of disease are apparent they tend to not fair well...they may not eat as much, be as active, get the good basking and they may get parasites.

4. There is also the problem of space, although having two beardies doesn't require as much room as say having two iguanas, it still means you will need a very large tank.

If you were to house two together i would recomend going with two females (which you cannot do if you already have a male) or not putting them together until they are old enough to breed. Remember also that the new beardie must be quantined before introducing her to yours

This is all a very abbreviated version of some of the reasons why I personally don't think its a good idea...im sure others will elaborate.

Hope this helps!
-----
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

yellowfox May 10, 2005 10:57 AM

thanks! I wanted to delete this post but couldn't find the edit or delete post. After searching and finding out my beardie could be sick i seen that they don't usually tolerate each other well until adulthood. thanks for all the useful info!

Site Tools