Baby beardie puffs beard

[JaffaCake]

Well my baby beardie, Jaffa, is acting a bit wierd. I hear a weird noise like a pop or crack or something then he starts suddenly puffing his beard then gulps and does it again and gulps. I can't see anything when he opens his mouth. Is he choking? He is shedding his body and upper tail at the moment. I fed him locusts yesterday, along with some lettuce and juvenile soft pellets.
Duncan is acting fine so I don't know why Jaffa is doing it all of a sudden. Any ideas?

 

[beardeddragongirl]

He could be trying to break the skin off of his beard by stretching and puffing out his beard. My beardie ( who has since passed) used to do this every time he was shedding. I don't think it's anything to worry about

 

[JaffaCake]

Oh, thanks for telling me it makes me worry everytime I see him do it but now that I know I won't worry haha. I'm sorry for your loss, I've lost 2 beardies they were adults when I got them so I decided to try baby beardies.

 

[diamc]

If they are housed together, he could be trying to show that he is the boss by puffing his beard to look bigger. How old are they?

 

[JaffaCake]

They are about 2-3 months old, I will be separating them soon due to Duncan being so small, he will grow much bigger if he is alone. Also Duncan always lays on top of Jaffa, I've been told this is a dominant sign?

 

[diamc]

Good that you will be separating them very soon. It's not good that Duncan is so much smaller than Jaffa and does actually prove that the housing together is really affecting him. They will both thrive when they each have their own setup.

When they lay on top of one another, it means that they want the basking spot all to themselves rather than having to share it. He is actually fighting over that particular spot. Yes, it certainly a dominant sign & it will only get worse.

 

[JaffaCake]

Yes I've been wanting to separate them for ages now but my brother insisted that they were fine, since he has had a longer experience with dragons we believed they were both fine but I could see how it was affected little Duncan, his nickname is cake. Duncan is the same size as jaffa's tail...his tail!....I knew Jaffa was the biggest out of all of the ones in the pet shop but it's been 2 months since then and Duncan is still the same size maybe a little bigger since then.
I feel really bad for keeping them together even though I knew it was affecting him I already have a tank for him but I just need to move jaffa's tank over to fit Duncan's there. Would you like to see a picture of how small he is compared to Jaffa?

 

[diamc]

Oh, how sad that he is that small. What size tank is it? Perhaps it is big enough to put a petition down the middle until they can be separated.

That would be good if you could post a picture.

 

[JaffaCake]

Yeah :/ Duncan is also very scared of me, well everyone really even Jaffa. Everytime I go near him he puffs up and runs away, usually to a corner and stands in a defensive position. Jaffa has been laid back he's never done that to me and accepted his new home but Duncan is still very scared, taking him out of the tank for a daily exploring is proving a challenge since he is very fast he sprints down my body and bolts for it. I have tried what people have suggested which is put a worn shirt In the tank with him and hand feeding him but he's too scared for me to put the food in there.
Umm the tank is pretty big, I forgot the size.... I'll get back to you on that sorry.
Here's a picture of Jaffa and Duncan side by side weeks ago. Jaffa has grown a bit since then.
http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/JaffaCakez/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps83472b24.jpg.html
This is the defensive pose Duncan does whenever I put my hand in the tank.
http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/JaffaCakez/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps4025dad6.jpg.html

I thought he would have warmed up to me by now, also sorry I've gone off topic a lot :/ this has been bothering me for a while.

 

[diamc]

That is so sad that he is terrified like that. Must break your heart seeing him coward in the corner like that. He feels threatened by Jaffa since he is so much bigger and perhaps he is even more insecure with you because of you placing him back in there each time.

He is extremely thin including his legs and tail. Stress alone can kill them because it makes them prone to having an overabundance of coccidia which they have in their bodies anyway, but it can make it out of control if they are stressed out. He also has a LOT of stress marks on his beard, chest & belly in every picture.

You really need to consider doing something about their housing asap because he actually doesn't look like he can handle much more. To help put some weight on him, you could put drops of chicken or turkey mixed with sweet potato or squash baby food that he should willingly lick off. That will help give him a boost.

If the tank is at least a 40 gallon breeder, a cardboard or wood divider down the middle is something you should do right away.

I made the same mistake of housing two together many yrs ago before I joined the forum. The smaller one brightened up some when I took him out but when I put him back in, you could tell that he wasn't happy just by looking at his eyes and he spent a lot of time just laying on the bottom with his head down. When I joined here, I learned the signs of stress to look for and he had all of them. I couldn't believe the difference in him when they were separated. He was finally able to develop his own personality, could eat when and how much he wanted to, could bask when he wanted to, started gaining wt & shed non-stop.

Please help Duncan by giving him an area of his own sooner rather than later as he is crying out to you with his behavior and dark coloration.

 

[JaffaCake]

It breaks my heart seeing him cower in fear like that, how would i set up the wooden divider? thanks for helping me out, I cant bear him being so afraid of me. I feed them both Separately, Duncan's appetite has increased the past few days, he ate 25 locusts for me, Jaffa ate about 20-21.
The new tank will probably be ready in a couple of days, im moving some stuff around so there will be plenty of room to place their tanks. All I need to do is clean the tank out.
I will be able to get some Baby food tomorrow, they are both pretty good to be honest, they both drink out of their water bowl every now and again and they are great with their veggies.
The Sooner I separate them the better, My brother reckons he's a dwarf but i mean imagine living with a roomate who was big and intimidating, i would be scared aswell.

 

[diamc]

That's good that you are feeding them separately and that he is eating pretty well. Hopefully he will soon double or triple the amount of small locusts.

Please let your brother know that he is VERY thin. If he was a dwarf, he would be small but would have some meat on his bones rather than the legs being so extremely thin. That isn't good at all.

Would be a good idea having them both checked for parasites too.

For the divider, you would cut a sturdy piece of cardboard or wood and just slide it down the middle so that it is secure.

 

[JaffaCake]

I don't know if there is a qualified bearded dragon vet near our area, the last one i went to was about my last beardie spike, he had liver or kidney failure and said he had 2 months to live yet he lived for another year.
I informed my brother that Duncan is very small and very thin, he didnt say much about it, Tomorrow i will set up the divider, do i need to do anything to make sure it doesnt fall? Theres a tube light on the roof of the tank also. I have an extra White bulb too.
Here is a picture of Duncan from Monday.
http://s1265.photobucket.com/user/JaffaCakez/media/Mobile%20Uploads/image_zps0be9d439.jpg.html?sort=3&o=0

 

[diamc]

You should make sure that the divider fits securely so that it can't become loose or fall. I'm glad to hear that you will be doing that tomorrow.

Let us know how you make out.

 

[JaffaCake]

Im sure one of my relatives will help me out with it
thanks for your advice