Dominant female

[MODragons]

Hi all, got a pair of 4 year old dragons recently, a male and female which were housed in the same tank since they were little. I've separated them after what I thought was a rather brisk fight drawing blood to the mouth of the female. Maybe this is the wrong forum but I figured folks breeding dragons would have more experience.

Its my understanding if a male and female were put together the male would be rather aggressive with head bobbing while the female would be more submissive waving and all. My guys are just the opposite, the original owner sexed them and thought the female could be pregnant, we've confirmed their sexes through our own novice research but I don't think she's pregnant or "gravid" if I understand the term correctly.

Now that they are separated, the female is the one doing all the glass dancing, rubbing her nose on the glass, and throwing substrate all over the place....trying to see the male I assume. She knows he's there but I had to put paper over one side of the tank so she couldn't see him. The male in the other tank will arm wave. I recently put the two together to see their demeanor towards each other, after a pause of nothingness the female ran from the other side of the tank and tried to bite the male. I quickly separated them again.

During bath times when they are both together, the male will get much more aggressive and bite at her neck, no head bobbing or arm waving from either one. I guess my question is has anyone seen this sort of "backwards" behaviour between the sexes before and if so what should I make of it ? The female is really getting worked up sometimes, could this hormonal thing I read about on this forum mainly concerning the stress a male goes through work for females too ? At what point does a female quit going through the mating hormonal thing....my girl is right around 4 years old the previous owner told me.

Thx in advance for any replies

 

[Claudiusx]

It's not necessarily backwards behavior.

The more dominant dragon will be the aggressive one. It's not always the male who is the dominant dragon.
Its very likely the female is getting all worked up because this is around the time they start to mate.

I think it goes without saying that you should not let them near eachother again.

-Brandon

 

[ChiefsDaddy]

Bearded Dragons is general are dominant animals. It isn't always the male. Both sexes will fight for dominance, and in this case, the female wins. I would leave them separated.

 

[Coliosis]

I'm not sure if this would have anything to do with your female's dominance, but I think this article is interesting either way : http://www.hadesdragons.co.uk/tdsr-bd.html

Here's part of the summary:
"There have been reports of so-called "hot" female bearded dragons. This is a well-known phenomenon in some female leopard geckos which have been incubated at a high temperature (intended to produce males). If a similar effect was present in bearded dragons, this would explain aggressive, stereotypical "male" behaviour by "hot" females."