Help - Bearded Dragons Fighting

[thatLizardGuy]

I am very worried because the other day I saw a Bearded Dragon try to eat another Bearded Dragon and it crushed the smaller Dragon's Skull!

I have 2 (1 male and 1 female) and they have always gotten along.

They are about the same age but the Male is much Bigger than the Female.

Anyways, I saw them do the Push Up / Head Bob.

The Larger (Male) was on the Floor of the Habitat and started doing push ups as I walked into the room.

Then the Smaller (Female) started doing push ups where she was at on the background at the top of the Habitat.

Then the larger one charged up at her.

I started yelling before he could attack her and he stopped dead in his tracks.

After seeing the one dragon kill the other I am now very worried about leaving them alone.

This happened yesterday and they were fine today (from what I saw when I was around).

What should I do?

 

[esn]

Separate them immediately. You shouldn't keep them together unless you'd like dead or injured dragons. Don't think yelling is going to stop them -- there is a reason why our base instincts and nature come from what is nicknamed the reptilian brain. Even if they weren't exhibiting aggression you shouldn't have them together, for this reason. Reptiles are only predictable in that they're unpredictable to us.

 

[sontron]

Here is a link to a topic that Germ made.
http://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=154908
You can see here the dangers of attempting to keep beardies together. It is like a saying with scorpions: they are communal until they are not. In the case of beardies, though, I think it is more along the lines of tolerating each other.
Try not to feel too bad about it. You didn't know. As esn said, separate them immediately. I know that this can be hard for some people since not many people have a spare 55 g. tank lying around, but just improvise. Something like a large storage container would work for a few days while you get a new habitat set up. If a new habitat is not in any way possible, however (such as if you live in a small apartment and don't have the room, or funding is all together impossible), than i would heavily recommend giving it away to somebody who will be able to take care of it. If you look around, you should be able to find somebody from the forums who lives nearby who may be willing to take it. I am not saying you have to give it away of course. I'm just saying it is always an option if nothing else would work, like a plan Z.

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Behavior

 

[thatLizardGuy]

Someone mentioned to me that they could be Mating?

Is this True?

That would put me at ease.

 

[Esther19]

Mating happens very quickly. Then they should be seperated. You are seeing agressive behavior, and should take action quickly to protect the health of both dragons.

 

[sontron]

I don't know much about bearded dragon mating, but this does NOT sound like any sort of courtship ritual.I did a small dit of research and found that biting does occur, but only to hold onto the female. You say that the female did the biting, so I would have to say that it was nothing but aggression, not mating.