Greetings from Tessa, Draco, and Mom

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TessasMom

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Hi All,
New Beardie Owner here, along with my husband we picked up two babies recently from Petsmart (and yes I looked them over first, both the babies and the store for overall animal health and practices), lol.
Anyway, we have both always loved the herps, have both had snakes and a variety of other reps, but this is our first time with beardies and they are currently our only kids.
My husband had been doing a lot of research into beardies and we had both become very interested in picking one up, so as a surprise one day for him, I picked up Draco. Draco turned out to be very friendly off the bat, and ate very well, so after two days I needed to run back to pick up more krickets for him, and ended up falling in love with Tessa. Tessa is slightly larger than Draco, and I presume about two weeks or so older than he is. She is a champion eater, and seemingly very intelligent.
Both kids are handled by both of us several times a day, and they have also both been introduced to the neighbors.
Morning begins each day with the house lights going on about 15 minutes before the vivarium lights go on, to mimic sunrise. About 1/2 an hour to an hour after some basking in the "sunlight" comes bath and cleaning time for the tank, followed by breakfast of krickets and salad. Since they are both still small, bath time consists of a warm water soak in a small water dish for one while the other gets some Mommy time. Then I pull out the basking rock and wash it for them (have to since the basking rock seems to be Drako's favorite poop spot), Leaving the rock wet when done for any interest in licking for any further hydration. Substrate at their small size (about 8-10 inches long nose to tail-tip) is paper towels for quick and easy cleaning every morning. Salad varies each morning between, kale, tomatoes, bell peppers, cantaloup, apple, yellow squash, or carrots. Draco still seems mostly uninterested in the salad, but watches Tessa as she eats it, so I believe he will also begin eating it soon.
For a few days we were worried that Draco wasn't eating, but then I saw that he was pooping regularly, even though he seems thinner and smaller than Tessa, and his energy level never lagged off, so he was probably still adjusting to the changes in his life. Draco and Tessa get along very well, and frequently can be seen lounging on each other.
They have two distinctly different personalities. Draco is quieter and generally more layed back than Tessa is. Tessa is rambunctious and highly curious. My husband can walk around the house for an hour or so with Draco just lounging on his head, While I have to have Tessa in a harness and still have to watch her carefully as she likes to get into everything. On the other hand, Tessa already responds to her name, and moves her head for "kisses" with me, and I am working on orienting her into "step in" to her harness, "Stop" when she has stepped in to the right place, and "step out" when she needs to walk forward to get out of the harness. Cant say if it will work, but I can try.
I have begun to remove Tessa from the vivarium for about 15 minutes at the beginning of feeding times, so that Draco has a chance to eat without being "watched" as he seems to be a shy eater, and that may be part of why he seems to be eating less. We will see if it helps, but in the meantime, I at least know he is eating some (had just tuned on the viv lights one morning when he started to poop, so did witness where and when he likes to go) , probably when Tessa is sleeping and we are not close by.
The current Vivarium is a old ten gallon tank we had, while another tank (75 gallon) is currently under a restructuring process for them and should be done in a day or so. But for the moment, they seem happy and healthy, so I think they will do well till their new home is ready.
So that is my introduction to our new kids and how we are raising them for now. I look forward to sending more info on them as they come along, and I thank you all, very graciously for all the information provided here that aided in them getting a (I think) great start in life.
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destiny1998

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Hi. They are cute :D However beardie should never be house together. They are very territorial and will fight. It's not unusual for one beardie to be very big and one very small. Also when they do right one usually ends up with missing feet, legs or dead. The 75 gallon is good for ONE. The other needs his own.
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
Destiny is right and, the struggle has already begun right before your eyes. That cute little cuddling thing where they are stacking on each other is to proclaim dominance over the other. The smaller one is probably not getting enough to eat either (as you suggested). I have seen and, read enough stories about how dragons that seemed to get along and, a sudden outburst caused severe damage to one of them (or both) sometimes ending in a miserable death or having to be euthanized.
So in short, I am begging you to PLEASE separate them ASAP!!!!!
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
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