Beardie Cohabitation

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diamc

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Quite a few members here have been here for a very long time and we have seen and heard of LOTS of issues relating to cohabitation. Very rarely, 2 females can safely be housed together but depends mostly on their personalities not so much on the size of the enclosure. It's impossible to watch their behavior 24/7 so who's to say what is going on between them when they aren't being observed and it can go badly in a split second. Some beardies have lived together for yrs and the owner thought all was fine until one day out of the blue one attacked the other causing severe injuries or death. I have spent quite a few sleepless nights trying to help owners with injured beardies that and unfortunately some couldn't be saved in time. :cry:

Having them housed together can cause health issues too. If one gets ill, the other can get it and also the same with parasites. Another thing to keep in mind is that they always have coccidia in their systems but if they are under stress from cohabbing, the count can rise drastically very quickly which can also cause death.

I have had dragons for over 16 yrs. In the very beginning (when I didn't know any better and before I joined this forum), I had 2 together for a very short time. Even though their sizes were almost identical in the beginning, I noticed that one was growing more rapidly and just looked happier than the other. And when I took a closer look, I realized that the more timid one was spending less & less time basking, would be laying on the bottom of the tank quite often with darker & dull coloring. But, when I took it out of the tank, the colors almost brightened immediately and the eyes were much more alert. When it was time to put it back in the tank, the beardie was hesitant to go in and almost darkened up instantly. I had not witnessed any aggression at all but did notice that the smaller one didn't chase after the crickets as quickly as the slightly larger one, seemed hesitant to react the way it should.

I decided it was time for each of them to have their own tanks and that was the best decision I made, just wishing I had done it sooner. The smaller one was now allowed to do what it wanted when it wanted and started developing its own personality and started gaining wt very quickly. I was so surprised and happy that I made this very important move for the overall health for both of them. I will never house 2 together again and cannot recommend to anyone and never will, it's just not worth the risks.
 
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