how long can I keep my baby beardies together???????????????

[markyboy81]

Hi, I recently purchased 11 (yes 11) baby beardies from a local breeder. my plan is to wait until they are big enough to sex and then keep one male and three females and try to breed them ( i already have four 4 foot vivs ready to go). I intend to sell the rest and have buyers waiting but want to be able to choose the biggest and brightest ones for breeding for myself. all my beardies are approx 2 -4 inches in size excluding the tail. my question is how long can i keep all these babies together before they start to show signs of dominance or aggression etc. so far they are eating well and there seems to be no signs of aggression. however some do not seem to be growing as fast as the others, I think four are quite bigger than the rest. am i wrong to keep so many babies together or is this okay??? any advice please would be greatly appreciated!!

 

[LJean]

It is difficult to say how long you can keep them together. You should be able to tell when you see signs of dominance. I know once the males start showing signs of being ready to breed (the females wouldn't be old enough yet) then they would surely have to be seperated.

Can you keep the smallest ones together by themselves? (away from those that are growing bigger)

 

[markyboy81]

Thanks, i am in the process of moving the smaller ones now as that seemed like the logical thing to do!!!

Anyone else??

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Remove the larger from the smaller. These larger ones are already dominate dragons. They will eat more and first. they will just muscle out the smaller ones. Other than that I dont really start to seperate until about a month and a half. But each clutch is different.

 

[Jiffy]

They are all different, but my beardie Foster lost a leg to a clutchmate at 4 weeks old, so problems can happen at any time.

 

[DistDrag]

I just have to ask the obvious question her but are the 11 babies you bought clutch mates? I'm a small breeder so it would be very rare for me to have 11 unrelated babies at one time. Although they will mate it's not recommend to inbreed as it results in weak bloodlines.

Kevin

 

[markyboy81]

Yes, they are all clutch mates. Seperating them has seemed to help but there is one who is probably the second smallest who just doesn't seem to want to eat even though i keep trying a variety of foods. i take all the beardies out when i feed them and put them into a small tank so that they can find their food. Now i feed the large ones first, take them out and them put the smaller ones in to feed, still having the same problem with the one baby though!!! I feed them regularly as well so they don't get tempted to take bites out of each other which seems to be working but I just don't want to see one die due to malnutrition!!!!

 

[markyboy81]

P.S Thanks to everyone for such speedy responses!!!

 

[Freeie]

Are you going to breed the cluchmates together?

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Nice catch Kevin, I was just thinking of fighting and dominance.

 

[markyboy81]

I was planning on breeding the clutch mates but I now realise that it's not a good idea so no I won't be doing that due to what i've learnt through this site. my only concern now is the little baby that won't eat, i've tried hand feeding, feeding alone in his separate viv but he just doesn't seem to have an appetite. My girlfriend is very emotional and I know she will cry her heart out if he dies so my only concern is bringing him back to full health.What can i do, before it's too late?????

 

[lacy_black]

At 2 to 4 inches long the breeder sold them darn near right out of the egg which was highly irresponsible. The tiny one may be too small to save, unfortunately I don't have any tips for you. All my dragons were at least 6 inches long when I received them which is what most responsible breeders wait for before selling.

 

[Ethelia]

I think you may need to brace your girlfriend for the loss, but there can still be hope!

If he is refusing all food you need to get some protien into such a young baby or Im afraid he just wont have the strength.
If you go out and get yourself some organic babyfood (chicken and squash is perfect, but turkey and any veg will do too), put it in a bowl with a drop or two of water and mix in some calcium powder and vitamin powder.
You can then try administering this by putting a blob on his nose. Hopefully after he gets over the fright he will take a quisitive lick. Most dragons enjoy the taste and he may continue to lick off any food you pop on his nose. My only dragon who refused this treatment was Dex.
If this wont work I would consider dilluting the mixture more with water and syringe feeding the poor guy.


I certainly would not do any more dealings with the breeder who sold you those guys so small.
With respect I was wondering if you have fully considered the cost of breeding? Incubation costs. Multiple tanks for babies growing at different rates? Vet visits for pregnant females. Calcium shots. Electricity to power numerous tanks. It is a hugely expensive enterprise.

Im not trying to be alarmist but I feel I need to share with you the dangers of housing clutchmates together.

This is Ruben. Rescued at two months old.
Ruben had his leg and arms ripped off at the joints by his clutchmates.

This is Miso. Rescued at only 3 weeks old
Little Miso, already has a tail nip and is missing most of her back toes from her siblings.

To try to avoid this you need to make sure they have AMPLE room and a large basking spot where many of them can bask at one time. Competition breeds aggression for dragons.
What size vivs do you have your babies in at the moment and how many per viv?

Holly

 

[markyboy81]

Hi again, I have the six smallest guys in a five foot viv and the five slightly larger ones in the same size viv, both vivs are two foot high and two foot wide so they are pretty big. (bare in mind I will be selling the majority once I am able to sex them and pick out the two or three which I intend to keep as my own pets.). I have decided not to breed clutch mates so I may just keep two healthy females and buy a male of the same age!!! As far as money goes it really isn't an issue, I have a good job and earn very good money!! On a positive note the young baby who i was concerned about ate two crickets this morning and appears to be perking up, I think he just needed to be separated from the bigger dominating beardies and time to adapt to his new surroundings. I've bought book called "The Bearded Dragon Manual" which i have learned a lot from. I am not irresponsible and I intend to learn and know what i'm doing before jumping into it. I had no idea that purchasing them from the breeder at that size was a bad move but then probably explains how I got them for £20 each.......... Well thanks everyone for your advice and support, I will continue to keep you updated and hopefully in a couple of months have some nice pictures to post for you all to see!!!!

 

[Ethelia]

Im glad to hear the little one is doing better.
We would all love to see pictures ^_^

I didnt mean, by any means, to insinuate this is something that you had rushed into. Unfortunatly 90% of pet stores and a worrying amount of breeders have no real understanding of specific care for bearded dragons, and so many new members come to this web site believing they have the right information, but unfortunatly do not.
I myself was one of these people when I first came her with my first dragon Dex. I had, like most people, been "assured" I was getting top of the line equipment and advice, then came here and found that everything other than the vivarium itself was completely wrong.
Because of the ignorant store workers out there we do tend to presume that new members may be missguided until proven otherwise ^_^

All the best
Holly