My dragon is eating its 2 companions.

[dantethelizardsmum]

I have had my Vitkin Dragon (a cross between a bearded and a rankin dragon) Dante for a few months now, and it lives with 2 other lizards in which he/she has gotten along with famously up until now.

The other day when i came home, i discovered that he/she had bitten the other 2 dragons, causing their tails to bend. I thought this as one off aggression, but i went up to hold him/her yesterday, and had found that he/she was slowly eating (from the tail up) the smallest of the dragons. I managed to get them apart, but the injury to the other dragon was horrific, almost all of its tail had been eaten. He/she is not at all aggressive towards humans, it only attacks the other dragons.

I've had to separate Dante from the other two incase next time i find that we have one less dragon.

I was just wondering if anyone knows why this has happened, whether its a gender thing, or how to prevent it from happening?

Please reply with information as i am very worried about my dragon.

Thank you
x

 

[Jasper's Mom]

The only way to prevent this from happening is to separate them permanently. Bearded dragons will attack and eat smaller lizards - it's just the way they are. I hope you took the other two to the vet to have their injuries treated - the last thing you want is an infection.

 

[Poisoned1]

What kind of lizards were they?
And once again dragons should not be housed with any companions not even other beraded dragons.

 

[neecie]

Folks, we read here OVER AND OVER..............BD should be solitary. Yet, others ask about "togetherness" and needing to get a friend to play, etc. Maybe some get along - but why risk it???? I won't preach any more.

 

[dantethelizardsmum]

the thing is, the other 2 lizards vary hugely in size, and yet, they get along very well, no conflict at all

and the owner of the mother of the 3 vitkin dragons keeps the mother with another bearded dragon and a rankin dragon, and they are also very friendly towards each other.

its not that they should live on their own, its that some just dont fit with others.

 

[Mistyck]

I was just wondering if anyone knows why this has happened, whether its a gender thing, or how to prevent it from happening?

They gave you the answer, yet you don't want to listen.

its not that they should live on their own, its that some just dont fit with others.

Is not a valid statement because it is actually quite the opposite. Bearded dragons are solitary creatures. Some get along with others, while most do not.

The reason that your dragon is eating the others is because they are solitary creatures. They should be separated or he is going to continue snacking on the other lizards.

 

[boxers]

I can of course only agree with what the other, more experienced owners have already said- one reptile per enclosure.
Just because some can be housed as little babies, does not mean that they "are used to" or "like" having company. Their nature won't change based on how they were housed in the first month or two.

I work at a pet store, and I hear constantly about people wanting to buy their pet a "friend". I explain from five to twenty times a day, that the animals are fine by themselves, be it beardies, fish, hamsters- ANYTHING. (Except of course for schooling fish, which need to be in groups. :silent

Anyway...
My boyfriend and I have our two beardies housed right next door to each other, where they communicate frequently. Yet, at only two months, when introduced to each other in one cage, the smaller dragon (mine.) charged angrily at the larger (his, whose tank it was).

 

[adamhargreaves]

What kind of lizards were they?
And once again dragons should not be housed with any companions not even other beraded dragons.

There's nothing wrong with housing beardy dragons with other beardys as long as two males aren't put together. A few people round my town have had male beardies together sinse babies and they've had no problems so far but that might be a one of

 

[hannicharlophi]

There's nothing wrong with housing beardy dragons with other beardys as long as two males aren't put together. A few people round my town have had male beardies together sinse babies and they've had no problems so far but that might be a one of.

I completely disagree with this statement. Under no circumstances, other than for strict breeding purposes (or babies that just hatched) should beardies be kept in the same enclosure. It does not matter if it is two males/two females or a combination of both. As everyone has said, they are solitary creatures. Meaning, no duplicates in a cage. The few people around your town are going to wake up one day with only one dragon left.

Sorry for being blunt but dragons do not need companions. You get a bearded dragon to be its companion....

I have three beardies, all in separate cages. I refuse to even let them get near each other for the fear of one chomping down on the other. NO NO NO.

 

[MissT]

There's nothing wrong with housing beardy dragons with other beardys as long as two males aren't put together. A few people round my town have had male beardies together sinse babies and they've had no problems so far but that might be a one of

This statement completely contradicts the situation of the OP!!

 

[valcash]

That is very very sad Dragons should not be mixed with other lizards ever. Most Dragons should live alone in captivity, not even being housed with other Dragons. A little late in your situation, I wish you had researched sooner or the source you got him from would have told you this.

 

[namaste]

I work at a pet store, and I hear constantly about people wanting to buy their pet a "friend". I explain from five to twenty times a day, that the animals are fine by themselves, be it beardies, fish, hamsters- ANYTHING. (Except of course for schooling fish, which need to be in groups. :silent
quote]
Actually, rats and gerbils NEED companionship and should be kept in same sex pairs....so I'd have to disagree with your statement and hope you haven't been telling customers they are fine on their own, because they are social creatures. Gerbils especially form very tight bonds with each other, especially if they are a mating pair (in which they will mate for life usually). Dwarf hamsters and mice should also be kept in pairs or groups, although with dwarf hamsters, it's not as vital.


Ok back on topic...IMO, most reptiles cannot be cohabitated unless for mating purposes, even then, injuries and competing for hot/basking spots and stress occur. I know many people try to give their reptiles mammalian attributes, and it's hard not to do so especially with lizards (since they have the most personality as some would argue), but please remember that's not how they work. i think that is why many people end up cohabitatng beardies and lizards (besides the misinformation), especially because Lizards tend to be peoples' first reptile.
Lizards may "socialize" in the wild, but please also remember they have a whole lot of acres of land to socialize on in the wild! They aren't confined to a tank and can escape, so while people may see them congregate occasionally in the wild, just remember, they can get away. Even in the wild, cannibalism inuries, stress, and death occur between species members, but we're just not there to see everything all the time. There are plenty of example of cannibalism and aggression with each reptilian species, all you have to do is google it. If you wish to continue cohabitating, all the power to you. I just wanted to share my opnion of it all. I just hate to see people being told not to cohabitate reptiles and then have them post agagin saying "oh so and so reptile is injured/eaten/stressed/bitten by its tank mate".

 

[boxers]

I work at a pet store, and I hear constantly about people wanting to buy their pet a "friend". I explain from five to twenty times a day, that the animals are fine by themselves, be it beardies, fish, hamsters- ANYTHING. (Except of course for schooling fish, which need to be in groups. :silent
quote]
Actually, rats and gerbils NEED companionship and should be kept in same sex pairs....so I'd have to disagree with your statement and hope you haven't been telling customers they are fine on their own, because they are social creatures. Gerbils especially form very tight bonds with each other, especially if they are a mating pair (in which they will mate for life usually). Dwarf hamsters and mice should also be kept in pairs or groups, although with dwarf hamsters, it's not as vital.

I wouldn't know about gerbils, we don't sell them. But you are right about the rats, my mistake for not including them when I mentioned the schooling fish.
We only sell males in our store- each Petsmart sticks to one gender.
I believe I am completely in the right to tell the customers not to house the hamsters and mice together, as they beat the hell out of each other on a regular basis, and I have found some that had gotten killed. The guinea pigs even battle each other unless they have been in the same cage since arriving at our store (in which case, they would have probably been born together and housed since even then).

The animals I was thinking of when I posted, most specifically, are things like beardies, hamsters, BETTAS, cichlids mixed with goldfish, goldfish with buddies in a tank that is too small for even one goldfish. Etc.

 

[namaste]

That's great you tell people not to keep syrian hamsters bettas, reptiles. an aggressive fish together since I believe those are the species that suffer the most misinofrmation sometimes when people want to buy two of them to keep in the same cage. You will prevent a lot of deaths, so kudos to you.
Anyway, to respond to the rest of the stuff, male rats (bucks) can be kept together in pairs, anything more than that can lead to scuffles. I have known never any mice to kick the crap out of eachother other than occasional argue (yes there is a differenc). I should know, I've bred them as well as gerbils, rats and guinea pigs. Pet stores sell at least one sick animal with every batch, and they also constantly add new members to the already establish group and include over-crowding in their tanks. So, that is probably the fighting you are seeing in your store. Also, have you personally watched them fight to the death? If not, when members of the gerbils and mice die in a colony or pair or are sick enough, they WILL eat it to get it out of the nest so as not to attract predators. Maybe that is what you're seeing? The petsmart here sells gerbils, so I assumed they were there as well.
Rats will fight, gerbils will fight to the death, dwarf hamsters, mice and guinea pigs will fight if you just randomly add a new member to their group (what pet stores do everytime they get a new shipment) unless you take the proper introduction methods (cleaning the cage so no one animal's scent dominates, using the split cage method, and introducing them outside the cage). That doesn't mean they are not social, and I beleive all of those speices, especially, rats gerbils and mice, should be kept in pairs at least as they are very social creatures. But I will agree with you that dwarf hamsters are a bit more picky if you buy them or adopt them as single pair adults and then wish to buy another adult later. Syrian hamsters particularly will kill eachother and you are right, they should never be kept together, same thing with betta fish adn reptiles. Go to a reputable breeder website for each species and they will tell you the same thing. I will still disagree with your stance on mice for the reasons stated above, but it's undertanable for you to have that stance since you work in a pet store and seem to have only witnessed the act of fighting to the death there, as oppossed to owning and breeding them where you get to see the social behavior all the time. That's not meant to be taken as a jab or anything, I have the same stance when it comes to chinhillas, degus, and birds. I see how they act in stores, and I read about them, but to own them and actually see their social behavior is a completly different ball game. You learn a lot through experience with each species. This is an important discussion and I am glad I got the opportunity to particpate in it wth you and anyone else that may choose to contribute. Thank you.

 

[boxers]

The rats have had tiny scuffles. The worst I have seen was a scratch on one's manly parts. Everyone felt really bad for him. But he was fine with some antibiotics, and a family with two other rats purchased him.
The hamsters battle very frequently, I hear them squeaking every time I walk by. By the time I pull open the door/drawer, they have stopped because I startled them. It freaks me out. And we get dead returns all the time, with the prior companion also being returned for being "a bully". They then try to buy a new pair. I swear, the customers here never learn.
The mice are somewhere in between. I will definitely take your word for their social behaviors, as the fights that I have seen are not common, but when they occur they are more serious than the rats, with whole backs ripped and bloody.

For the record, we do not put new batches with old batches. Especially being as how we don't sell too many hamsters/rats/mice/guinea pigs, and the size differences are pretty huge. Our manager is always afraid for the littles ones being picked on.
However, yes, they are definitely overcrowded. It is a constant complaint of mine.