About a month ago my GF expressed interest in getting a lizard for a large aquarium (72") that we own. So I went to the pet store and asked a lot of questions. I opted to get her a bearded dragon, I got two. I purchased the lighting, vitamins, calcium, rocks, a 20 gallon tank for now, a nice rock, feed bowls, the food pellets they suggested, and a green mat for substrate. The lady told us that they didn't need to eat anything else but the pellets and possibly some greens dusted with the vitamins and calcium.
We setup the temp tank with the stuff that I had purchased. Got the two beardies and put them in their new home. They both were a little standoffish for the first few days and we didn't try and force them to let us hold them. Like I said they were small maybe 4-6 inches. Very tiny, very cute. After the initial first few days they warmed right up and would even come on your hand without much coaxing. We would hold them for maybe 5 minutes at a time in the beginning to get them used to us.
A couple of weeks go by and the beardie we thought of as the boy (Zeke) started turning black, getting very lethargic, and not really eating. This new behavior obviously had us worried. So we went back to that pet shop, and talked to someone else there and that person explained how they were fed crickets every day. We were both in shock. Here we had been not feeding them anything but the pellets. We bought some crickets.
The Zeke took off after them immediately and ate like 12 in no time. The one we thought of as the girl (Lizzy) ate quite a few also.
Now a week goes by and Lizzy seems to be eating less and less of the crickets while Zeke continues to stuff his face. Zeke has shed and now looks at least twice the size of Lizzy. Lizzy continues to be more lethargic.
So basically what I am saying is while we thought we did the right research it is obvious we didn't do enough of it and I am hoping some of our information here will help other people.
Now on to my need for some opinions. We have been able to determine for sure that Zeke is a boy and are pretty sure Lizzy is a girl now. What I want to know is should they be separated at this stage? Could Lizzy being dominated? They sleep next to each other often with Lizzy draping one arm over Zeke or sleeping right on top of him. What are signs of domination? If Lizzy is not being dominated and she has another problem any ideas what that could be? I plan to take her to a vet if the situation doesn't improve within the next couple of days.
Thanks in advance for any help.
We setup the temp tank with the stuff that I had purchased. Got the two beardies and put them in their new home. They both were a little standoffish for the first few days and we didn't try and force them to let us hold them. Like I said they were small maybe 4-6 inches. Very tiny, very cute. After the initial first few days they warmed right up and would even come on your hand without much coaxing. We would hold them for maybe 5 minutes at a time in the beginning to get them used to us.
A couple of weeks go by and the beardie we thought of as the boy (Zeke) started turning black, getting very lethargic, and not really eating. This new behavior obviously had us worried. So we went back to that pet shop, and talked to someone else there and that person explained how they were fed crickets every day. We were both in shock. Here we had been not feeding them anything but the pellets. We bought some crickets.
The Zeke took off after them immediately and ate like 12 in no time. The one we thought of as the girl (Lizzy) ate quite a few also.
Now a week goes by and Lizzy seems to be eating less and less of the crickets while Zeke continues to stuff his face. Zeke has shed and now looks at least twice the size of Lizzy. Lizzy continues to be more lethargic.
So basically what I am saying is while we thought we did the right research it is obvious we didn't do enough of it and I am hoping some of our information here will help other people.
Now on to my need for some opinions. We have been able to determine for sure that Zeke is a boy and are pretty sure Lizzy is a girl now. What I want to know is should they be separated at this stage? Could Lizzy being dominated? They sleep next to each other often with Lizzy draping one arm over Zeke or sleeping right on top of him. What are signs of domination? If Lizzy is not being dominated and she has another problem any ideas what that could be? I plan to take her to a vet if the situation doesn't improve within the next couple of days.
Thanks in advance for any help.
