VenusAndSaturn":2q0bwr05 said:
Its good you finally separated them, though its very sad that you didnt do it until one had to get hurt badly.
Personally if i were you just go out and buy two separate enclosures so nothing else bad happens. Its a shame you have not learned from your first mistake, after all what if the "barrier" collapses and they see each other, one or both will get seriously injured and possibly killed.
You should not get more animals if you can not already care for the ones you have or do not have the space already. I may sound harsh but honestly these are not toys for a child to play with. These are living, breathing creatures with feelings just like us and that should be taken into account before purchase.
I understand where you're coming from, but the barrier is stable and is extremely hard to take down even when I am cleaning the cages. Gizmo's arm was not seriously injured and she is healthy. I have learned from my mistake, and I have stepped up the time and effort I put into them. Getting the third bearded dragon wasn't my choice, yet somehow the work eventually ended up falling on me.
As for the separation that happened months ago, it was very difficult to even bring up the topic to my parents. Since they were just "babies", my family assumed that if they grew together, they'd bond. In my father's experience with dragons, he had two that lived together their whole lives; which led him to assume that mine could do the same. Since they were so tiny and in a cage quite large, he also assumed that they could live in that their whole lives. I tried to talk to him about it more, yet he would just push it away and restate his point about the money, time, and space it would take in my bedroom.
Long story short, I ended up not being able to get separate cages while I went on vacation, and they were stuck together in a tiny "temporary" cage until I could be home a couple weeks later. That's when it happened, the day before I was to go home. Clay bit Gizmo's leg. I completely panicked and started worrying about things that most likely wouldn't happen. I was far from a reptile vet (or even a reptile store) so I called my vet in FLORIDA, while i was in NC. When I was finally back home I took her to the vet immediately, and they performed x-rays. The leg wasn't broken, it was just a couple of scratches on the skin. Still, Gizmo had been hurt, and it had been my fault.
This finally told my father that it was time to take action and do the thing we had planned on doing so long ago. They are both healthy, and Gizmo's leg fine.
I understand that reptiles (or any animal for that matter) are not toys, and they should be properly taken care of. I'm working my hardest to find a way for bigger enclosures, and I've even put money from my babysitting and dog-walking toward more hides, a more varied diet, supplements, and etc. etc.
I agree that it's bad I didn't separate them until after the last minute. If I could go back in time and fix it, I definately would. But I can't. Nothing I can do except put more time and effort into making sure something like this never happens again.