Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm sorry to report that unfortunately one of my 5 month old bearded dragons died yesterday. I have no idea why, because his tank mate is perfectly fine and happy. When I found him he looked incredibly skinny, although he hadn't been hours before and he had flipped upside down. They had both been doing fine and then the one just suddenly, without warning, died. They have multiple hide spots so I don't think it was stress. If you have any insight please help.

What it the humidity? The other may appear fine but if humidity is too high that can cause problems.

Normally the answer is heat problems, what is the cage size? With a 5 month old if kept with a tank mate I wouldn't go under 40 gallons. When my beardy was about 5 months I got her a 40 gallon and that was just enough. 10 gallons are FAR to small although I doubt you are using a 10 gallon for 2 beardies. 20 gallons are too small once your beardy is a few months old and has started to gain in size. Also, even with good cage sizes bearded dragons may not thermo-regulate properly. If it gets too cold at night they will spend longer than they should exposed to heat. Also, some are literally just dim, I have seen wild bearded dragons that cooked themselves before. I would find a fresh-cooked one occasionally when I lived in Canberra Australia, and there would be a dark, damp area next to it in a rock formation that was certainly cooler than the rock surface externally.

A last possibility is genetic time bombs. Not only humans are subject to genetic disease, all animals are. The difference is that not nearly as much is known about animal genetic diseases when compared to human genetic disease, let alone reptiles. Reptiles can't talk or make facial expressions of pain in the way mammals can which makes it difficult to tell if there is something wrong internally, especially if it isn't involved in digestion.

Sorry for you loss

Thanks for the help. He's not in an aquarium, but instead a large storage container. That doesn't sound ideal, but it's essentially the same as a terrarium except larger and not see-through. I'm not sure about too high, but it's possible that the humidity was too low. I'll figure it out.