How powerful are pheremones?

[carlisv]

This summer I babysat a female beardie that belongs to a school. Over the course of the summer my fellas (who are on opposite sides of the room and can't even see each other) saw her briefly maybe half a dozen times. They may have seen her out of the corner of their eye as I carried her to the tub, outside to be in the sun, etc. Although she was two rooms away, she and Dubs ate almost identically. If she didn't want dandelions, neither did he. If he ate dandelions like they were going out of style, so did she. They were hungry at the same time of day and picked the same items out of their dishes to eat. I thought that was strange, but could possibly be chalked up to coincidence.

I took her back to her school yesterday, and the difference in the boys' behavior is ridiculous. It's as if they're blaming each other for her absence. Dubs has fussed constantly and torn up his viv, and although he's eating okay he never stops glass dancing. Richard, who is a branch potato, started bobbing vigorously last night for no reason. He literally hasn't done that in years, and did it again tonight even though I was feeding him baby food at the time (he's the poster child for spoiled beardies). He's started pacing along the back of his viv, and when he's not pacing he's turning around on his perch like he can't get comfortable.

Are pheremones really powerful enough to effect the behavior of beardies who never actually came into contact with each other? And if the boys got used to her "vibe" in the house, would it be upsetting them that she's gone?

 

[nursejones813]

My dog can smell if I've been around other dogs. And, I used to have a cockatoo that even when she was on the 2nd floor of the house, if I came into the house with French fries (her favorite) she would start screaming for them! So, I imagine they smell she is gone and are mourning the loss of their girlfriend! Lol! Just a thought.