Buddy; New MVB!

ok people... as many of you know, i already have a darling little dragon(most know him as L.G.) whom i got as a rescue effort. i've had him for nearly a year now and he's doing great, heres a recent pic:


i'm starting to feel more confident now about taking care of dragons in need and have had my eye on these two that just "scream" rescue. i've been going to this pet store for some time now(where i found L.G.) and there are(there were :roll: ) two bearded dragons for sale. they are both adults and have been living in a 40 gallon tank their whole lives. the sand is never changed and the smell coming from the cage is terrible. i was able to talk the boss down to $125 even for: 40gallon screen top, 5.5" basking lamp and the 2 dragons. i dont really care whether he feels like he ripped me off, i just want to get them outta there.

here is a picture of the pair:

im 99% certain that the larger of the two is female. that, or its a very, very, very laid back giant male. the little guy is gonna be trouble . he is actually from the same clutch as my little beardy:shock: . in fact, he is possibly partly responsible for L.G.'s extensive damage. here is a pic showing why i want to get them out of there so badly:

these are the darkest stress marks i've ever seen and the little male always has them ...

whenever i walk past that cage the little boy puffs his beard out and starts bobbing his head aggresively. sometimes he even jumps off the log at the glass... i asked the store owner if he bites and he said no, then he asked me if i would like to hold him. i was alittle hesitant but went ahead. he was pretty tense while i was holding him, like a big wadded up muscle. he felt like he couldnt wait to bolt. i didnt hold him too firmly, but i didnt want to risk anything either. the female was a different story. she was very calm and relatively relaxed, but always seemed to be giving me "the eye". i almost felt like simply picking her up was going to hurt her because of her shear size and weight :shock: . she is definitely a lap beardie :mrgreen: .

i may try seperating them but i am going to finish researching it first. i know dragons should be kept seperately but these two have been mates for about a year now. i've read that once two dragons form a bond breaking that bond would fling them into a pit of despair. i've read one persons thread(ill try to find the source) that mentioned after recieving major harrasment for keeping two rescued adult beardies together he finaly seperated them. the result was instant: niether beardies would eat, they developed dark stress marks and all they would do is wander around their cages(almost like they were looking for each other). he let them do that for a week or two before deciding to reunite them. the moment they were reintroduced, they ran to see eachother and their colors returned. after that, they started eating and acting normaly again.

the FIRST thing i plan on doing is washing out their cage. i'm going to make it spotless and change the sand out for something solid(not sure which yet).

i plan on changing their basking spot from the middle of their cage( ) to just one side. i have already ordred a 36" reptisun 10.0 from petmountain, it should be here within the week. this will be the first UV-B they have EVER recieved to my knowledge.

the only thing the store owner has been doing partly right is feeding. he told me they each need at least 20 crickets a day with some vegitables too. he has been gut loading his crickets with carrots though, and ive read carrots contain alot of Vit.A which binds calcium. i will continue to feed them crickets but slowly increase their diet of veggies. the female must be 2 years old, so she NEEDS more veggies!

by the way, if anyone didnt notice: the male dragon has no fingertips on his front limbs, so he cant really climb in the normal sense. they were bitten off around the same time L.G. recieved his wounds, about a year ago. the female is missing a few random fingertips on each of her four limbs, but seems unaffected by this. im pretty sure nobody was seriously considering buying these guys, considering they were "damaged goods" and the store owner was probably going to have them on the shelf until they died of neglect. i just got sick of walking past them every week and not being able to do anything for them.


well, thats pretty much where i am at right now. they will probably be coming home tomorrow if all goes well. man look at me; cash has been so tight lately and when i finaly get some extra money, what do i do? blow it on bearded dragons :roll: :mrgreen: .


any suggestions or comments would be great.

Well I wouldn't say you "blew the cash". I think it was well spent. As much as I hate to give any business at all to pet stores that treat their animals so poorly, I'm glad you got these two. It was a sad existence that they led and I'm sure they're going to be so happy with you. Good luck with them and please keep us posted on how they're doing. Personally I would try separating them. If they don't do well then I would reunite them. The size difference alone makes me think they shouldn't be housed together.

yea, theres a pretty huge size difference. i'd say the female weighs at least 3X as much as the male. the store owner told be that the large one has never shown any aggresion, he is thinking she may be brain damaged. its the little one who is aggresive. the owner says he has even seen him bite her on the back, once or twice in the last year.

i will try to seperate them and if it goes well i may give one away via "beardy rescue-train". i dont mind giving them away so long as they go to a good home.

jscott":4d98c said:

yea, theres a pretty huge size difference. i'd say the female weighs at least 3X as much as the male. the store owner told be that the large one has never shown any aggresion, he is thinking she may be brain damaged. its the little one who is aggresive. the owner says he has even seen him bite her on the back, once or twice in the last year.

i will try to seperate them and if it goes well i may give one away via "beardy rescue-train". i dont mind giving them away so long as they go to a good home.

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Yep, cash well spent. With your care they should be back to 100%, your doing a wonderfull job with L.G. I'd make sure there not near L.G because if they have any diseases they can pass them onto him. I'm sure you know that though :wink: I would of got a MVB for them though, but a reptisun 10 should be good too. I'd up there basking spot to 105-110 aswell. I would seperate them two, even if you want to get a glass devider so they can still look at eachover if they do stress, I would say they would be happier alone though, seperate them for feeding aswell so the big one doesn't hog the other, I'd also put two seperate basking spots next to each over so they can bask seperate, give them a few more hides so they don't have to hide together and just use paper towels at the moment, It won't look as good but its easiest for now. I'd also give the little fella some slurries maybe to gain some weight. Goodluck with them.
Cheers,
Dave

Hello Jason,

WOW what a huge size difference for sure. I am afraid you will most likely have to separate them though, because that could become a problem.
Good of you to take them in & care for them. I do not understand what is wrong with petstores sometimes, they can be so cruel.
Keep us posted on them.

Tracie

here is one incidence of which i speak:

by bmb527 on Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:00 pm

[TOPIC AUTO-LOCKED DUE TO INACTIVITY]

Hey all,
I am wondering about the mental health of my male and female dragon. I rescued the female about 6 months ago and put her in with my male, they had a clutch of eggs right off. Then a couple weeks ago, she laid another. I decided to separate them and put them in separate tanks and now they both seem depressed, not eating much and wandering around doing what could best be described as "searching" for each other. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Yesterday, I put them together to see how they would act. They checked each other out, then climbed up on the log in their cage together and laid next to each other and slept, after an hour, they got up and ate some salad, and won't get more than a foot apart.
I know most folks frown on housing them together, but, being as they live in groups in the wild, do they like the company of their own kind? Mine just seem much happier together. The separate tanks are made of a 135 gallon acrylic aquarium with a epoxy coated plywood divider so they can't see each other.
What do y'all think, am I losin' it?
Bill

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i'll try to find the other.

jscott":af045 said:

here is one incidence of which i speak:

by bmb527 on Tue Feb 19, 2008 1:00 pm

[TOPIC AUTO-LOCKED DUE TO INACTIVITY]

Hey all,
I am wondering about the mental health of my male and female dragon. I rescued the female about 6 months ago and put her in with my male, they had a clutch of eggs right off. Then a couple weeks ago, she laid another. I decided to separate them and put them in separate tanks and now they both seem depressed, not eating much and wandering around doing what could best be described as "searching" for each other. This has been going on for 2 weeks. Yesterday, I put them together to see how they would act. They checked each other out, then climbed up on the log in their cage together and laid next to each other and slept, after an hour, they got up and ate some salad, and won't get more than a foot apart.
I know most folks frown on housing them together, but, being as they live in groups in the wild, do they like the company of their own kind? Mine just seem much happier together. The separate tanks are made of a 135 gallon acrylic aquarium with a epoxy coated plywood divider so they can't see each other.
What do y'all think, am I losin' it?
Bill

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i'll try to find the other.

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I disagree with one thing he said, they live together in the wild. They actually don't, they come together to mate and then normally leave. I know people who house females together, but male/female male/male etc normally doesn't work.

trust me: i really dont think they should be togther. i honestly hope they can get along ok seperately. if that is the case i will gladly give the large female to a good home. the little toeless one stays with me :mrgreen: ...

jscott":09999 said:

trust me: i really dont think they should be togther. i honestly hope they can get along ok seperately. if that is the case i will gladly give the large female to a good home. the little toeless one stays with me :mrgreen: ...

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Oh, I'm not saying that your doing it wrong :lol: . I just wanted to say they don't live with each over in the wild (which most people know). I don't see why not if they will be together, If they are compatable with eachover and you can watch them and the tank is big enough for them to not be in eachovers face then why not? Its only if you keep them in and they keep fighting is when people will say things.

I'm glad you rescued them. They will definitely be better off with you, especially if you decide to keep them both. The large female looks like a German Giant, notice the long head. We have a male GG and he is the most laid back of all of our beardies, so that may be the reason for the calm personality. That kinda bugged me that the petstore employee thought she might have "brain damage." :roll:

I would also recommend that you separate them because if she ever pounced on the little guy, limbs could be broken or worse. She might not have even done it intentionally but still something that could happen.

Good luck with them, you made the right decision even if you have to eat peanut butter & jelly for a wk. :mrgreen:

Certainly don't mean to hijack your post, but wanted to show you a couple of pics of our male GG, I think you might see a similarity to the female. The whole body structure seems different.

you made the right decision even if you have to eat peanut butter & jelly for a wk.

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lol more like leftover pizza :roll: .

*sigh* i hoped it wouldnt come to this but it seems inevitable. i love them both so much and i want to keep them. theres just NO WAY i can keep 3 seperate 36" reptisuns and 3 heat lamps running at the same time all day long. i knew they had to be rescued so i didnt hesitate buying them, i was just hoping since they had been together for so long i would be able to keep them like that.

this is redundant i know, but bare with me. i just bought these guys about 8 hours ago:

what if i got a used 60 gallon tank? they have been living together in a 40 gallon for a year now.

i know, i know... i've read all the same threads, its just that i really hadnt planned on giving one up so soon(i havent even payed in full yet) so this is kinda tough.

i love the big one alot, but would be ok with giving her to one of you guys(pending approval).

send me a PM if you are interested in the big girl.

here are some more pictures of the two i am rescuing:


this is how they usually are when i come into the store. i've never seen any aggresion. when the larger one wants to move, she simply slides out from underneath him. he doesnt have any front claws so he cant scratch her.


here is L.G.'s brother. he always has these stress marks... hopefully i can fix that.


here is the dragon i am thinking about giving away. let me know if you are interested, i live in los angeles california, near the foothills.

They both are absolutely adorable. For now, I suggest you just see how things go. The little guy sure looks dehydrated in some of the pictures. When do you pick them up?

hopefully tommorow. i dont have a license so i have to wait for a friend.

lol, its all alittle complicated but heres how i feel: they've been together for a year already. i cant provide EVERYTHING at once so im going to prioritize things:

if i didnt buy them they'd still be together AND living in bad conditions. at least i'll be cleaning that sand out and washing their tank.

im going to try the feeding tub thing for the first time in my life(and theirs too). lets hope they get used to it. that sure would make it easier to control cricket sharing. i've seen them eat in the pet store and the big one eats more. she will lick up 5-6 crickets before chewing them all up:shock: ... its pretty cool, considering L.G. only eats that many in one sitting :laughing6: .

of course, i would feed them in seperate tubs. i would probably try to stuff them with veggies before giving them their crickets. i know for a fact the store owner only feeds them romaine lettuce a few times a week. i would try to offer a fresh mix of dandilion, collard and mustard greens as well as bok choy and cactus fruit(in season here)...

most importantly, they would get to go outside! i'm not sure HOW im going to do it, i think i may have a large rubbermaid storage container. i never had to worry about L.G. running away but these two :roll: ... i would love to buy a kiddie pool!!! those things are HUGE compared to a storage container. can you imagine how happy they would be in my back yard with dozens of square feet to run around in the sun and shade?! im going to look into that.

diamc, i just saw those pics you slipped in(sneeky-sneeky :laughing6: ) and they do look alot like the one im getting. especially the one from the side.

ooh, this whole thing has me giddy with anticipation :mrgreen: .