Errm, help?? :S :(

[Sean]

I am a newbie to BD's and i am holding (at the moment) 4 bearded dragons.
2 are mine, i am just looking after the other 2 until they get sold.

So here is the story.
I bought my BD's maybe 3-4 weeks ago. I haven't had any problems until this morning.
As i woke up to turn their heating light on ( I haven't got a timer yet ) everything was fine, the BD's just woke up and did what they normally do.
10 minutes later i heard lots of scruffing around in the tank.

2 of my BD's were fighting

I quickly opened the door to stop them fighting and one of them jumped out of the tank, straight onto my lap.
I then noticed that the BD that i'm sure started the fight walked up towards one of his feces and then tried eating it. ( I will come to that in a second.)

One of my problems now is that i noticed that my BD was bleeding on his front left leg.
He can't stand on it properly and he keeps holding it close toward his body (the only way i can describe it is how you hold a cast if you have broken your arm).
What should I do with my BD? Will his arm be normal in like 2 weeks or so? or should i start thinking of some special treatment (I have no money at the moment, or else i would've shot straight to the vet.)


Now the thing with the food.
It might not belong here but while i am typing i might aswell ask it.

The old owner of the BD's said that i should feed them one - two grasshoppers a day and I should leave green plants (dandelion, small pieces of apple, daffodills, etc.) in their tank 24/7.
I have been doing so. Is this too little, because after they had their fight, I fed them and they have been in their tank peacefully ever since.
My BD's are pfff, maybe 10-12 weeks old now, if that helps.

Please don't get mad at me because i have done something wrong, I just want my BD's to get along with eachother.

 

[Buddysfam]

First thing you need to do is separate them, beardies are "bachelor" kind and prefer to live by themselves, they can get very territorial. That's probably the reason for the fight. Also, I've never read about daffodils for food, try some green veggies like kale, mustard greens or bok Choy. However, if they are that young, they should be eating crickets or worms primarily with veggies as a constant option. You should be feeding them as many crickets as they can et in about 15 mins, then remove the ones they haven't eaten.

As far as his leg goes, someone else will have to jump in, I'm not familiar with the procedure there... Sorry! :dontknow:

 

[Buddysfam]

You might also want to give some specs in regards to how big a tank you have, lights you're using and the substrate you have them living on. It will help to answer any further questions.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there,,,yes, as the other poster said, you'll need to separate them for sure. The leg will probably be sore, but they usually heal on their own and he'll most likely start using it again within 7-10 days. That's unless it's severely bitten/mangled. Then a vet visit is in order. As for feeding, they need to eat all the live feeders they want 2-3X a day. This can easily be 50 crickets/grasshoppers each, but the bugs should be no longer than the space between the beardie's eyes. If the bugs are too large, the dragon can swallow them but then become impacted , unable to properly digest them and the beardie may vomit them up or it can cause paralysis and even death. Some good greens are dandelion, mustard, rocket [ arugala ] cilantro, turnip. Do NOT feed daffodils, those are toxic I believe. Hopefully you can separate them and your little guys will thrive.

 

[Sean]

WHOOPS i didn't mean daffodils!!! i meant daiseys!! the little white and yellow centered flowers that grow in the garden.
So you guys are saying that to feed them i should just let all the crickets loose in their tank and give them 15 minutes to eat them? Then collect all the 'left overs' again. oh that is very different than what the old owner told me.

And you guys recommend i separate them? I will try to do so as soon as i can.

Thanks for your guys's help.


Cheers,
Sean.

 

[Buddysfam]

Ya, daisies probably aren't that good either... Pesticides and all... When you put the crickets in, keep track of how many you put in, if you miss one or two, sometimes they can bite your beardy when he's sleeping. You may want to try putting your beardy in a Rubbermaid container to feed instead.

Yes, definitely separate them! If all you can do for now is divide your tank with something so they are not together. You'll find they will probably eat more and be much happier!

 

[Spike1etta]

If the leg was bleeding and they are that young, then he will probably loose it. Keep an eye on it and if it turns black, watch it and make sure it does not creep up the body.

Check out http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html for a list of safe plants.

Are you feeding live hoppers from outside? They harbor pests and diseases that will kill a BD fast.

Part of the reason why they fought is that they are very hungry, please feed them each 50-60 crickets a day.
How are you advertising them for sale?

 

[AHBD]

A bitten limb that is bleeding can actually recover and heal very well, it depends on the severity. Hopefully yours is not a very serious bite. If you want, you can get some Betadine [ povidone iodine ] and mix some up to look like weak tea and dab it on his arm several times a day.And yes, one reason that babies that are housed together bite one another is because they are voracious and decide that a little foot or tail looks like something to eat.