New Beardie owner...need a little help.

[nsciria]

I recently got 2 Bearded Dragons, approximately 5 months old. One is about 2 inches longer, and quite noticeably larger in body and head width. They are in a 55 gal tank, with a heat lamp and florencet light. They have perches. In the tank i have regular play sand, a branch for perching, and some smooth river rocks. Ok, with that said, I've had them about a week, and neither seems to be eating very much. I've noticed "poo" for the past couple days (yes I clean it out when I see it). I've offered them chopped collard greens, mango, some banana, and Crickets daily. The large one will eat a few pieces of collards from my hand, but I haven't seen him eat anything else. The little one I've only seen eat collards once. I dont know the sex, although I just figured out what I was doing wrong when i was looking....tail not belly (lol). I'm not sure if they are from the same clutch or whether or not they are the same sex. I was wondering if anyone had any feeding advice or general advice for a new owner.

*male I think*

*female I think*

 

[nsciria]

Also I haven't named them yet, been wanting to figure out what sex they were first. They do tend to lay onto of each other, neither one more than the other. I have a Y shaped branch for basking, not sure if it matters. I haven't been feeding a lot of crickets, should I be feeding more? They dont seem highly interested in them. As for Black Bellies, what does this mean, mine have what appear to be spots, moreso on the smaller one. The larger one lets me hold him and pet him, likes his chin being rubbed. Their beards aren't black, do the spots on the bellies mean the same thing?

 

[Phoenix17June2009]

ok my first question for you is are you housing them together? if so they need to be seperated, quickly, b.d are solitary animals and need thier own space. you may not see signs of aggression right now but it wont be long before they begin to show them... there are many horror stories on here about beardies being housed together... they will often fight until one is badly hurt or killed...

What brands are the lights you are using?
What are the wattages?
How close can they get to the lights?
As far as the play sand, i would probably remove it and use papertowels or tiles. Sand increases the chances that they could injest it and that will cause impaction

as for the spots, this means stress, if they are in the same tank this is the reason.
they lay on eachother usually to show dominance.. also one dragon can send warning signals to the other dragon warning him not to eat

food: you are supposed to feed as many crickets as they can eat in a 15 minute time frame

I hope i have helped you!!