New Names (Romeo and Juliet)

[Norenester]

Hello Beardie Community,

I have been reading this forum for awhile now. I haven't posted much cause I have usually found my questions already answered somewhere in this forum. I just recently started up my username.

I have two dragons who my kids named (w/ the help of my Wife). I do not care for there names myself (Might change in future) but for know it is Romeo and Juliet :roll:. Right now we think we have a male and female, but it is still questionable. If they turn out to be same sex in future, the name change is defiantly going to happen.

I have learned alot from this forum. I of course started out like many other members in this forum and learned that pet store employees do not know everything. We started out with that colored sand and worthless light bulb that they sell. Now I have Reptile carpet (Grass kind) and a MEGARAY™ SB 100 WATT 120 VOLT FLOOD LAMP (Love this light https://www.shop.reptileuv.com/) . I bought the felt kind of carpet first then found out that there nails were always getting stuck. So I read up on the Reptile Carpet and found out that the grass kind is the best. I bought it at Home Depot in the carpet area for .5? cents per sq. foot. It comes in a 12ft roll, so you have to buy 12 ft by whatever length you want. I got a 1X12 piece cut. he cut more like 18in for me. So I had to trim it for my cage. It all cost about $7ish.

Below are some pics of my Dragons and there setup. Other than the small cage, does everything else seem good? Also below is a dresser I found and gutted that is going to be there future new residents.

I am going to strip and refinish this

 

[NintendoVixen79]

Very pretty dragons
Do you know how old they are? If they happen to be opposite genders or both males, they'll each need a seperate tank when they reach maturity. Possibly if theyre both female they'll need their own enclosures too, but sometimes 2 females do ok together. I mention this only b/c it seems that the new enclosure you wanna make out of the dresser will be for both dragons together.
That dresser looks like it'll be a great enclosure though

 

[lauraslizzard]

Great Find on the dresser!! I think In the enclosure section somewhere ( :dontknow: ) their is a thread with a link on a how to Build using a gutted dresser! You may have to search aorund. The only thing I see missing from your tank is what you are measuring the temps with?? I use an accurite temp probe kind that also measures humidity. Yu can get theese at wal-mart or go witha temp gun. I think their is a link on one of the care sheets! Other than that Lovely BD's and Welcome to the site!!

 

[Norenester]

Thanks for your posts!

lauraslizzard: I just got my tempgun last week. Its http://www.tempgun.com It works very well. I got the idea of gutting a dresser from this forum.

NintendoVixen79: Thanks for your advice. I have read that before, but haven't gone into great depth on it yet. I figured I had some time yet. Plus I mentioned it to someone before who is very knowledgeable about reptiles in general, and he said that a male and female should be OK together. He mentioned that if you don't want baby's just put the eggs in the freezer before throwing em in the garbage. Some of you might know this person. (I ain't going to drop any names) What are the reasons for separating M and F's? I understand why a M and M shouldn't be together, a M & a F shouldn't have dominant issues I would think.
I don't know there exact age. My Wife bought em for me when I was overseas. She was told they were 3 months and the other was 4 months about 2 months ago. They are just barely under 12in now.

Thanks again for your input.
P.S. Before anyone else point out no water bowl and veggies, I had just taken em out before I took the pictures.

 

[Auntieemmy789]

I would also suggest a hiding place if they want to get out of the heat and or light. I have a log arch type thing. I would look into it.

 

[NintendoVixen79]

Hi. Yep the eggs can be frozen to prevent them from developing and hatching.
But another big problem with a male & female together is that the female can actually die from the male mating with her too much. Even beardie breeders keep their males and females seperate and only put them together for an occasional mating when they want babies. And matings are carefully planned with the well-being of the lizards in mind.

They will start breeding way too young, and way too often for the female's body to handle it too well. She will likely be very unhealthy (undersized, stressed, etc.) and possibly die extremely young.
While pregnant the female also needs special care- even if you plan on freezing the eggs, while the eggs are in her she is gonna be extremely low on calcium, and will need alot of extra to replace what she is losing on the eggs.

 

[Catalyst]

Just to echo what Nintendovixen was saying, the female stands to lose a lot if she's kept in with the male. He'll hit sexual maturity and start mating long before she is old enough or large enough to safely carry and lay eggs. Basically she stands to end up with a high level of stress, physical injuries from the actual repeated process of mating, as well as the dangers of laying eggs too often and too young. Why put her through the mental and physical stress of those types of things if it can be avoided? For her welfare it would be best if you separate them before your male hits sexual maturity.

-- Catalyst

 

[Norenester]

WOW!! :shock:

So there serious horn dogs. Well I will plan on finding another cage now. How long before he hits sexual maturity? This isn't going to happen like next month or anything is it? :?:

 

[Catalyst]

Technically I beleive they hit sexual maturity (or ability at least) at six months of age. That doesn't necessarily mean that at that point a switch will flip in his head and he'll become a walking hormone right away, but from that point on he is able to mate so if you want to avoid even the possibility of problems you'd want to separate them as soon as you can. Some males aren't as "interested" in their female counterparts as others, but in my opinion, it's better to be safe than sorry.
-- Catalyst

 

[Norenester]

Well I just started making a whole new enclosure from scratch tonight. I am using birch plywood. The nice stuff!! :!: :!: Its going to be double stacked enclosures that are 6 ft long by 2 ft deep and 2 1/2 ft tall each. I will post pics as soon as I have em. This is going to be a long project. I'll keep you all posted as to the progress of it. They'll be in the enclosure before it is completely finished. By that I mean all the fun toys for 2 enclosures. But it'll get there with time.

 

[NintendoVixen79]

Glad to hear you are getting started right away on seperating them
Sounds like they are gonna have lotsa space to enjoy too! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Norenester]

Well Here are some pics of the enclosure. It is far from done, but it'll get there.

What do you think? :?:

 

[Norenester]

OK the new names for now are "Cleo" for the Female and "Zeus" for the Male. Hopefully they stick! We will see. Let me know what you think.

 

[CallmeGeorge]

Definite thumbs up on the new names! Romeo and Juliet are cool names also, but we all know how that story ended! As for the enclosure, KICK A$$!! That will be awesome when finished.