Is Bearded Dragon Cohabitation A Good Plan?

[Germ]

i think just the one is boring, just my opinion.

This is a prime example of reasoning that is only for the benefit of the keeper, for his\her viewing pleasure, over the best interests of the animals.

seen the benefit of mine with their companion ship is that when one or two are separated i can tell the other gets upset and will stair you down until the others are returned, so in that either like eachother or just want to have the other s in their to size them up to fight, at this point i am going for the first, they eat, sleep and play together, they all get moody when one is sheding if one is mad then they all are, so i have clearly seen the benefit.

When you separate them, you are changing the environment, they will soon get over that. The play you talk about is them vying for dominance & will quite possibly go sour on you, likely sooner than later.

So you think it is a good thing, when one is Moody, stressed, mad, in dominance mode, that the rest should all be stressed, moody, on guard with no avenue of escape because of it ... I fail to see your reasoning that it is a benefit of any kind & really feel that the majority of your statements only strengthen the need for separation.

The majority of us fail to see the need to stress, put our BDs in jeopardy, just so that we can see some activity in the enclosure. To me, it appears that you are interpreting their activity so it suits your end needs, not theirs. BDs are not an overly active creature, other than when hunting for their food. The majority of their time, they should be basking peacefully, to absorb the heat to digest their food properly. If you wanted an active reptile, BDs should not have been your choice, they basically ARE a boring creature as far as activity goes, because of their need to bask.

Possibly you should go back & read the original first post of this thread again.

Good Luck

Welp, there goes my interest in owning multiple dragons.

Happy to hear that you have understood the dangers of cohabitation, when considering the best interests for them.

 

[troyncindy]

"When you separate them, you are changing the environment, they will soon get over that. The play you talk about is them vying for dominance & will quite possibly go sour on you, likely sooner than later." now we have a beardie whisperer

 

[troyncindy]

I guess we all have learned something from this post, Anybody can house a dragon in solitary confinement. it takes a special person/research to house multiple dragons with out problems, again, nobody here is trying to change your ways of housing, stop trying to change everybody elses, you asked a question, it was answered. I was told they didn't want it debated onhere, i guess its only the one side that can't debate

 

[Claudiusx]

"When you separate them, you are changing the environment, they will soon get over that. The play you talk about is them vying for dominance & will quite possibly go sour on you, likely sooner than later." now we have a beardie whisperer

Seriously, why do you even post on this thread?

All your posts are sarcastic, name calling, childish remarks.

The debating is fine, it's when someone turns it into a circus of childish remarks that it becomes unwelcome.

-Brandon

 

[ShannyBeard]

"When you separate them, you are changing the environment, they will soon get over that. The play you talk about is them vying for dominance & will quite possibly go sour on you, likely sooner than later." now we have a beardie whisperer

Seriously, why do you even post on this thread?

All your posts are sarcastic, name calling, childish remarks.

And I sincerely hope when you are saying it seems like one side can't debate, you are referring to yourself. Enough people saw that circus.

-Brandon

PM sent

 

[sweetiepie9]

I think all has been said about co-habitation vs beardies being separated. Any further comments that are said just to start an argument will be removed. Let's all agree to disagree and leave it at that. The point of this thread was to point out the negatives about beardies being together. Not to change anyone's mind. So enough said. Added by moderator

 

[smergy]

so sorry and the last thing and only thing i will say in defence because what i said was taken out of context completly, yes i get the whole changing environment thing and in fact we when cleaning because talking with others said we should sometimes move a few of the rocks around in their viv, they love it but as what i was saying is they dont like to be seperated, when i take them all out at the same time they like being out together, and the other thing i was saying was that if you are one person alone, to me that gets boring, so you get a roommate or even go out dating, having one kind of animal to me makes that one animal seem like he wants more, someone to play with such as for example, dog, cat and bird owners even fish if you have one you eventually get more, that was my point on the boring comment. anyhow thats all i wanted to say.

 

[thedragonkeeper]

Well, thanks for posting this great info!

I must be extremely lucky, because nobody (even the breeder) has ever told me that one should not house BDs together. However, Spike and Ruby (both males) have been doing great for 2.5 years, ever since they were hatch-lings. Ruby has some bite marks, but fights are rare, and with 2 basking locations and a divided meal, they almost never act hostile to each other.

-Peter

 

[vampy]

Well, thanks for posting this great info!

I must be extremely lucky, because nobody (even the breeder) has ever told me that one should not house BDs together. However, Spike and Ruby (both males) have been doing great for 2.5 years, ever since they were hatch-lings. Ruby has some bite marks, but fights are rare, and with 2 basking locations and a divided meal, they almost never act hostile to each other.

-Peter

Honestly, your experience is probably typical....though maybe a bit better than normal for 2 males. 'some bite marks' and 'almost never' acting hostile is what people are trying to avoid, just in case one time the fight is worse than normal, or the bite gets infected, or something else worse happens. The majority of beardies housed together will not have the sort of damage shown in the pics in the first post if they have a big enough tank and aren't fighting for basking space or food, and they are the same size, but for most people here, even one bite mark is one too many. People just want to avoid any bites, or any unnecessary stress, and mimic natural conditions as much as possible to keep their beardies as happy and healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Noone is saying every dragon housed with another will end up dying or losing a limb, just that there's a risk, and it's a risk they are not willing to take.

 

[smergy]

Well, thanks for posting this great info!

I must be extremely lucky, because nobody (even the breeder) has ever told me that one should not house BDs together. However, Spike and Ruby (both males) have been doing great for 2.5 years, ever since they were hatch-lings. Ruby has some bite marks, but fights are rare, and with 2 basking locations and a divided meal, they almost never act hostile to each other.

-Peter

Honestly, your experience is probably typical....though maybe a bit better than normal for 2 males. 'some bite marks' and 'almost never' acting hostile is what people are trying to avoid, just in case one time the fight is worse than normal, or the bite gets infected, or something else worse happens. The majority of beardies housed together will not have the sort of damage shown in the pics in the first post if they have a big enough tank and aren't fighting for basking space or food, and they are the same size, but for most people here, even one bite mark is one too many. People just want to avoid any bites, or any unnecessary stress, and mimic natural conditions as much as possible to keep their beardies as happy and healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Noone is saying every dragon housed with another will end up dying or losing a limb, just that there's a risk, and it's a risk they are not willing to take.

now that is one post i can fully agree on, there is a risk and i will admit i was always sceptical so when we first brought them home we watched them like a hawk but as time goes by we have found that nothing has happened so maybe everything will always be fine, as i said i actually have more of a basking area, we got this vine thing from the show, its hanging in a curcular shape under the lamp plus the are climbing rocks so if they choose and most of the time they do all will just sit on the vine, not on top of eachother but in like a line and sometimes away from the spot.

 

[Germ]

Honestly, your experience is probably typical....though maybe a bit better than normal for 2 males. 'some bite marks' and 'almost never' acting hostile is what people are trying to avoid, just in case one time the fight is worse than normal, or the bite gets infected, or something else worse happens. The majority of beardies housed together will not have the sort of damage shown in the pics in the first post if they have a big enough tank and aren't fighting for basking space or food, and they are the same size, but for most people here, even one bite mark is one too many. People just want to avoid any bites, or any unnecessary stress, and mimic natural conditions as much as possible to keep their beardies as happy and healthy as possible for as long as possible.

Noone is saying every dragon housed with another will end up dying or losing a limb, just that there's a risk, and it's a risk they are not willing to take.

Very WELL put ...

 

[RelentlessChaos]

I wish I could have a million little guys like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXmoupGXNsM

but out of the millions of minutes together, it does happen, or can. Who knows when it's just 1 on 1 though huh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qUHFA4lbDM

In this last video below, skip to 1:16 to watch some weird behavior.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqU_lqCjKXs

 

[vampy]

Gah, those videos make me sad. Even in the first one he just matter of factly says 'oh yeah, look, this one has a scar on its head from when it was eating a roach and a bigger one went for the roach and bit his head instead'. And going through the ones that have like 20 babies in a viv looking for all the tail nips, he doesn't even seem that concerned.

I mean, I currently have my 6.5 week old babies housed in groups of 4, but I'm looking to separate them asap...2 are going on wednesday, I'm hoping to sell/give away 4, and then the last 2 will be separated as soon as I finish my new viv....or when the others are all gone, whichever is sooner. So far none have any tail or toe nips, and i've seen no aggressiveness or fighting for food, and they don't even seem to sit on top of each other any more, but even so, I'd never want to have as many as he does all in one place, and if any of these end up with any bite marks I'll feel really guilty.

 

[troyncindy]

I have never seen anybody house a single dragon in person, other than a hospital tank. i'm not saying they wont ever bite eachother or try to dominate. a very small number actually loses fingers and tail tips. we feed our baby dragons hundreds of roaches a day, they don't need to eat eachother. none of our babies or adults have missing parts. and rescuers can only go on what they're told, which is hear say, and who's going to say they're not feeding them?, all i can say is our experiences, we feed a lot, and we have no biting

 

[Claudiusx]

a very small number actually loses fingers and tail tips

I want to see your source for this statement.


-Brandon