So I have my awesome boy Toa, but there is this poor adorable dragon at petco who is now 6 months old and is half off. I know the people who work there and they take good care of their reptiles so I'm not concerned about her health. I know it would be more food, plus an additional setup. But is it a lot more work?
Would it be possible to introduce them for supervised out of tank time? Or would that have to be separate?
She is super sweet and has no problems being handled and eats very well.
I just don't want to bite off more than I can chew.
You will need a new setup if they are different genders, and should not introduce them to each other unless you want them to breed. It isn't that much more work, as you just do what you do to take care of your current lizard.
There is the financial aspect, and then there is the question of whether you will have enough time to snuggle and have out time for them. None of my 3 can be out together, and after brumation, my boys want to be hand fed, in addition to hand feeding my special needs girl. Then there's the nightly bath. I love them all dearly, but I know I could give more attention with fewer. I often feel guilty about not meeting everyone's every need daily. Many folks have more dragons than I do, successfully. You know best what you have time and energy to handle.
I can say from personal experience (as being owned by 8 wonderful beardies) it is more work, but it is totally worth it. I spend about 1-2 hours a day with them. Each dragon gets their mommy time (and even some maw-maw time, my mom loves all the babies ). Some times we'll each have a dragon out, but we don't let them interact. I have 6 males and 2 females, so we're careful with which dragons we have out together.
When I got the second dragon it really wasn't that much more work (just extra bugs and greens :lol.
Thanks for all the good input! Toa doesn't get out much during the week, especially with writer and shorter days. By the time I get home he gets a bath, can run around for a half hour or so, then dinner, and eventually bed. During longer days there is more time to hang out (Toa is asleep by dark no matter when his lights are set). I think it's doable. My main concern right now is having to move in a few months and already having two cats, a dog, an emerald swift and Toa. I might be hard to find a place already. But I'm pretty sure she will be gone soon. Being a responsible adult is no fun! Lol.
But you guys gave me some good things to think about. I'll update you when I know what im going to do!
With one dragon I am actually throwing out greens and have too many bugs. The biggest difference I notice when I add more critters is the space, initial investment, and down the road vet bills. With critters that can catch things from each other the bills go up that much more if you need to screen or treat multiple animals in your collection.
You may get lucky and they can interact, or they may hate each others guts but that's not much different than having two different species.
Well, we were able to get a (much needed) larger tank for Toa, so as soon as we finish a few upgrades if the girl is still available we will take her home. Fingers crossed!
She was still there! We brought her home a few nights ago. She is so sweet! We have been letting her adjust and trying not to bug her, except for feeding. She did eat yesterday so that is good. But I'm going to have to give her a bath tonight because she is shedding. Without further ado, here she is!
Look at that beard! Such a chub.
Here she is checking out her new home a little bit.