Okay so I just bought two 5 month old beardies...

[ZoieAnne]

So they're about 5 months old, I just bought them and I am kind of scared.. I think there's a health problem with Spidey.
He/she is about 10 inches from nose to tail but Tupac is 13
The size of the enclosure, not sure but I did research and it's too small for 2.. buying another one tomorrow.
Temp in basking is about 95 degrees, and the cool side is about 85 or so.
Paper towels... since i was told they're too young to have sand
Diet... here's the thing, Spidey only eats when i put it infront of his/her face..But today she ate a few mealworms and 2 crickets and some lettuce.

Tupac is much larger than Spidey, they are caged together and I'm not sure if it's a dominance issue. They seem to get along well... But I think Spidey might be a little frightened... Because he/she's considerably smaller than Tupac in many ways, his/her belly is very small, she/he's 3 inches shorter than Tupac... I'm not sure if it's because they're caged together but Spidey will hardly ever eat, Tupac pretty much eats all the crickets and mealworms and veggies I put in. Is this a normal size for a beardie? Am I freaking out for nothing? I'm new to the species and need a bit of health... Thanks in advance And another question, are they too small for sand?

 

[Jess]

This sounds like a dominance issue to me, for sure. Poor little Spidey sounds like she is the "submissive" dragon, and she is too intimidated by the dominant Tupac to eat- Thus the size difference. They are both on the small side for 5 months.

How big is your enclosure? These dominance issues that they are having will only get worse as they get older, so you really need to separate them ASAP. You can keep one beardie in the viv you have now, and put the second one in the new viv that you are getting tomorrow.
Beardies should NEVER be kept on sand no matter how old they are, there are so many health risks that it just isn't worth it. Stick with paper towels, tile, non-adhesive shelf liner, or reptile carpet.
Oh, your basking spot should be a little hotter too. Most young beardies like it around 105-110*F.

 

[boxerLvr]

Mealworms should not be fed as their hard to digest. Lettuce has no nutritional value for beardies. Heres a care sheet on the foods to feed http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html Just to add to the info from the previous poster.

 

[ZoieAnne]

Thank you I bought them off someone so I guess she didn't really look into caring for them that much, that helps a lot. I'm going to go to the pet store tomorrow and get some stuff for another tank, should I just go ahead and get a 50 gallon tank?

 

[Jess]

A 40 gallon breeder (36" x 18") will work great for one, even as an adult.

 

[boxerLvr]

Theres an article on here under enclosures where a member tells how to make your own enclosure out of a book shelf or dresser (which you can pretty much always pick up for free on craigslist) thats pretty cheap and looks nice. I have 4 of my dragons in custom enclosures that are stacked and each is 4 feet long by 4 feet deep. They LOVE all the added space. Guess it depends on the amount of room and your building knowledge on what kind, but I found it cheaper to build the ones for the 4 then buying the tanks and then finding where to put them.

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

Yes, that definitely sounds like a dominance problem to me. They should be separated ASAP. I think each should be alright in a 55 gallon tank, as long as it is wide enough (the fish tanks are not usually wide enough for an adult to turn around without contorting its body) and the basking light is close enough to a basking area.

I was just at a friend's house for the first time and she has 3 beardies in one tank (she's new to the species too) and 2 are male, 1's female. She said she has not had an issue yet between the males, and 20 minutes later the bigger one bit the small one in the face. The entire time I was there, the smaller one (who is OLDER than the bigger one) was waving submissively and had stress marks because of the mental stress from living with the dominant dragon. He was significantly smaller even though he was older.

 

[ZoieAnne]

Yes, that definitely sounds like a dominance problem to me. They should be separated ASAP. I think each should be alright in a 55 gallon tank, as long as it is wide enough (the fish tanks are not usually wide enough for an adult to turn around without contorting its body) and the basking light is close enough to a basking area.

I was just at a friend's house for the first time and she has 3 beardies in one tank (she's new to the species too) and 2 are male, 1's female. She said she has not had an issue yet between the males, and 20 minutes later the bigger one bit the small one in the face. The entire time I was there, the smaller one (who is OLDER than the bigger one) was waving submissively and had stress marks because of the mental stress from living with the dominant dragon. He was significantly smaller even though he was older.

I thought so... lol I just bought a huge tank for when theyre bigger... Would a mommy and her baby girl be okay in a tank? Cause it's about 180 gallons lol 4x3x2 is that good? I dont have a mommy, I was just wondering. And thank goodness noone has bobbed their head or waved yet... but tupac always seems to jump ontop of spidey when he's done eating and he also sleeps ontop of him

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

Jumping on another dragon and sleeping on top of him are also signs of dominance. This prevents the dragon on the bottom from hunting, getting UVB light, and getting adequate heat. If it continues, Spidey will likely get ill and die because he is not getting the nutrients, heat, and UVB light he needs since Tupac is intimidating him and sitting on him!!

No, a mommy and her baby girl probably would not do well in the same tank either. The baby would probably end up being submissive since she would be a tiny dragon housed with an adult. Girl dragons fight also, but not as much as males. There is mental stress when two females are housed together though, unless they are an unusual case. There will almost always be a dominant dragon and a smaller, sicker submissive dragon whose life is shortened significantly.

Spidey and Tupac will both lead better, healthier, happier, and longer lives alone!!

 

[ZoieAnne]

Jumping on another dragon and sleeping on top of him are also signs of dominance. This prevents the dragon on the bottom from hunting, getting UVB light, and getting adequate heat. If it continues, Spidey will likely get ill and die because he is not getting the nutrients, heat, and UVB light he needs since Tupac is intimidating him and sitting on him!!

No, a mommy and her baby girl probably would not do well in the same tank either. The baby would probably end up being submissive since she would be a tiny dragon housed with an adult. Girl dragons fight also, but not as much as males. There is mental stress when two females are housed together though, unless they are an unusual case. There will almost always be a dominant dragon and a smaller, sicker submissive dragon whose life is shortened significantly.

Spidey and Tupac will both lead better, healthier, happier, and longer lives alone!!

Yes they will which is why i just purchased a 180 gal tank, would this be too big for tupac right now? Or could i just fix that by putting a divider in? And yeah, today i actually had to take tupac out of the tank so spidey would eat... poor spidey... i also sometimes have to distract tupac with crickets and put food infront of spidey while tupac is running after crickets... but as soon as tupac sees spidey with food, hes up there in a split second eating it on spidey >.< But back to the question, would the 4x3x2 tank work for tupac?

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

That would be fine for Tupac. The only big reason for putting young dragons in a smaller tank is to make sure the feeder insects can't escape. You can solve this by feeding him in a smaller tank or a big plastic tub with something on the bottom for traction.

What are you going to do with Spidey? He will need a bigger tank too eventually.

 

[ZoieAnne]

That would be fine for Tupac. The only big reason for putting young dragons in a smaller tank is to make sure the feeder insects can't escape. You can solve this by feeding him in a smaller tank or a big plastic tub with something on the bottom for traction.

What are you going to do with Spidey? He will need a bigger tank too eventually.

well right now I have him/her in a decent size tank..30x12.5x25 a 40 gallon... It doesn't have much floor space which I'll be able to give him/her more floor space once i clear some stuff out, I was thinking of putting some custom stuff in both once i get more money together

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

Sounds like you've got it all figured out and you'll have two solitary, happy beardies for a long time without any problems with dominance again!

I'm currently working on putting together the insides of a new 5x3x2 viv for my new girl. Her floor is done and a couple of ramps and a basking spot, but I want her to have a huge pool and maybe a dig box also. Mod Podge and I are great friends by now.

 

[ZoieAnne]

Yep, I just gotta figure out how to get them to grow I guess a 10 inch and a 13 inch are a bit small but hopefully when i get them in seperate tanks spidey will be able to eat more and grow

 

[DragonsNDoodles]

13 inches is not bad for 5 months old, but 10 inches is a little too small. That should fix itself as soon as you separate them (NOW!!) and he can't see Tupac at all anymore. If the tanks are glass, make sure the dragons can't see each other through their tanks. If you need to, tape paper or cloth to one or both tanks to block their views of each other.