Questions about my baby..

My baby is a couple of months old. I never thought about him needing a playmate. Is it better to have more than 1 beardie in a cage? Also, we are getting ready to build him a custom cage, is it ok to use small chicken wire? And last question... I am not really sure if it's a boy or girl. The guy at the pet shop said it was a boy, but he also sold me a 10 gallon tank and mealworms which I have learned since joining this site that those were bad suggestions. Any easy way to tell the sex of a beardie? Thanks!

Kelley

It's usually a good idea not to keep 2 beardies together. They get territorial and especially if you don't know the sex yet you can get in trouble if you house 2 males or a male and female together. Beardies can easily get stressed when housed together if one is more dominant and controls the basking place and food area. Then you run into all kinds of health problems with the less ''assertive'' one When they are hatchlings they can be kept together but sometimes you will see some of them with missing nails/toes/tails as they do take bites out of one another!

Are you building his custom cage to take him outside in the sun? then it's probably a good idea. But for a permanent beardie home, chicken wire is not a good idea because it makes it very difficult to keep the high temperatures you need in the cage. You could maybe use the chicken wire for the top (as long as you can get access into the tank), but making the whole enclosure out of chicken wire will give you a hard time with the temps.

When they are this small, beardies are more difficult to sex. Give it a few more weeks, there is an article on sexing beardies on this site, under Caresheets and Articles and you will likely be able to figure out if your baby is a girl or a boy.

Yes, a 10g tank is way too small and mealworms are not a good staple. They should not be fed to small beardies, but for whatever reason, many pet stores do.

Chicken wire might not be the best to use. It can sometimes have sharp edges and can scrape, cut, and hurt your beardie. Also, wouldn't the holes be easy for your little one to climb through?

Home depot sells some stuff that is covered in a black material. It's a lot like screen, but the holes are a little larger. You can find it in the pet section with the chain link fencing. I can't remember the name of it, but works great for an outdoor cage. The holes are small enough to prevent lightning bugs/fireflies from getting through....which will kill your dragon very quickly if he eats one.

If your thinking of making a vivarium inside, wire/screen probably isn't a good idea.....as it makes it hard to maintain a heat gradient inside.

Yes....playmates are a bad idea. As humans we seem to want to pair things up....this is bad with beardies. It usually leads to dominance, stress, fighting, and injuries.

Yes, mealworms are bad. And yes....you need a much larger tank. One that allows for your temps to have a gradient. 85F on the cool side to 105-115 in the basking area at the other end. (Note - the stick thermometers can be off by as much as 20 degrees.....it's best to use a temp gun or a thermometer with a probe to monitor temps.)

Sexing is easiest when they get a little older. But the best way to check is to put your beardie flat on a table. Lift the tail gently to almost a 90 degree angle from its body. If you see two lumps on the sides at the base of the tail by the vent....it's a male.....one lump in the middle=female. I tried sexing ozzy holding him up and looking underneath him....it won't work that way. You gotta had them sitting on their bellies for it to be accurate.

PS...here's a great site you might want to check out:

http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html