Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have to wait for the last pieces i need to finish the cage i have been working on, but my beardys have outgrown the 20gal they were in so i made a cage to use till there home is finishedi will get the doors on and finish decorating it this weekend

also the basking spot is only hitting 100 so i will have to raise the rock or if i mount some thicker branches to the cage will they use this for basking, i also want to get them closer to the uvb

let me know what you all think
Tony

Looks good I would advise trying to get them up a little highr like you said but so far so good.

Now that you know how, time to make another one. They shouldn't be housed together, especially with that size difference.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

its not that i dont know how to build things i just prefer to make it look more fitting for a livingroom, this is just a temporary home untill i finish my display cage witch will be much larger. also as far as seperating them goes i am hopeing to keep them both together possibly even adding another female later on, so far there has been no sighn of agresion or dominace from my male at all, they share the veggies and pellets without any problems, basking also hasnt been a problem so far, they also do this with no agresion toward one another.
now i understand that it is within there normal behavior to become dominant and agresive this is not always the case if there needs are fullfilled (basking spots food and space) the aggresion can be minimized.
if in the future stress from trying to overbreed or any other sighns af aggresion show up i will have this cage availible for seperation at that point, most of the other cages i have built would be to small or just improper for an adult beardy
i do apreciate the concern but so far in my situation it is working for now
Tony

Man that's a huge size difference, and your male is the larger one? You need to get them separated ASAP, he's big enough to take her head off in 1 bite.

"now i understand that it is within there normal behavior to become dominant and agresive this is not always the case if there needs are fullfilled (basking spots food and space) the aggresion can be minimized"

No, not really and I don't know who told you that but they're full of it. Sometimes you can get away with 2 females living together but never 2 males and very very rarely a male female pairing. Plus when she hits breeding age he's going to nail her, no doubts about that and she is way too young to be bred. Also you need to get rid of that purple crap, I'm assuming it's calcisand or another of the CaCO3 based substrates. I don't care what the bag or the pet store that sold it to you says it is definitely NOT safe for beardies.
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Heart Mountain Herps

maby its just the way it looks in the pic but the size difference isnt all that much. here is a recent pic of them side by side so you can better see them, Thorn my male is 16in and Liela my female is about 13in.
by the way i am planning to switch to some play sand tommoro

I'll leave the great sand debate alone for now except to say that I am firmly anti-sand, at least it's better than the calcicrap though. I'll also leave your post up top alone and just say here that asking oppinions from 'pet' people can be dangerous and I would also explore their experience level to go with their experiences... here's some of mine because I'm sure you're wondering 'who the hell is this guy to pop out of no where and throw around advice' lol. Actually I'm not new although PH is probably the only one that would remember me. I used to be very active on this board back when it was much more popular and had many more breeders on it (I'll leave out why we all disbanded in the interest of fresh start and all, although it is still a thorn in my side), I had really just stopped by to see a pic of Matts baby and couldn't believe some of the bs answers that were being given for some very basic questions so I decided to answer a few. I have owned numerous reptiles over the past 20 years and been professionally breeding for the last 12. I have literally bred thousands of beardies alone and have several years experience with them. In most cases I tend to error on the side of caution as far as husbandry is concerned when I give advice.

As far as your female goes, even if he doesn't outright kill her she is still in a huge danger by being with him. She is hitting sexual maturity (if she hasn't already) and he WILL breed her. She should not be bred at this early of an age, minimums are 18 months and 350 grams (you could cheat a little on that but not this much). Because of sperm retention even if she made it through the first clutch I seriously doubt that she would make it through the whole process.

Sean
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Heart Mountain Herps

im not trying to dispute your knowledge or skill level, sorry if it seems that way. i just feel its better to get as much info as posible and not just listen blindly to the first opinion you get ie: the pet store guy saying ya that hot rock and a 20gal is all you need, yes that is a different senario butim sure you see my point. a veriaty of knowledge is the reason for forums like this and no one was chiming in on this thread so i tought i would start a new thread. let me try to put it this way some guy goes outside and falls under a bus, should everyone then always stay home? again thats a strech but im looking for realistic odds and you cant get that from just one opinion, now it sounds like you know what you are talking about and i bet most everyone will probly back up what you are telling me but i need to know for sure

by the way what substrate would you recomend, and dont say paper towels as they are un attractive, high maintainence in my opinion and Thorn eats them

I completely understand. A lot of people I know have been having great luck with tile lately, the rougher surface stuff not the slick kind. I still use non adhesive shelf liner, I'm not as concerned with looks as convenience and ease of cleaning. Reptile carpet also works very well and can look good. All 3 of those come in a variety of colors, textures and patterns and are all easy to clean and no impaction risk.
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Heart Mountain Herps

well i already have tile picked out for the display cage im building bbut maby i will try the carpet in this cage, i already have some i bought in bulk for my loepard gecko.