question

[damien6210]

one of my males (buttercups) has started bobbing his head and my female (flower) does her hand thing but my other male (blaze) doesn't do anything at all and buttercups is cool wit him when i put him in the tank wit him they chill one on top of the other or eat together. i have 4 of them 1 crawleyred and 3 citrus 2 of them bor and sis. once i had all of them together and butter cups did head his thing and he didn't chase blaze or try to hurt him in anyway. cool huh
Can males form a bond wit other males or are they always wanting to be dominant? :?:

 

[diamc]

Actually, males do not form a bond, there will always be one that is the dominant one. When the 2 males "chilled top of the other", that was a dominance issue which would only get worse leading to injuries and possibly even death. Switching them from tank to tank can cause stress which can contribute to all sorts of health issues. Do you have any housed together now? How old are your beardies?

 

[SunshineLollipop]

I had my males & females all in together. 2 dominant males & 1 I bought as a female but which is actually a male. The 2 big males had dominance issues & the one became very ill because of it, so I removed them both to seperate enclosures. They never bothered about the smaller one. Once I'd removed the 2 big males, the male came in to his own (that's when I realised she was a he). When I returned one of the dominant males to the enclosure, he was chasing the smaller fellow around and biting him, so the smaller fellow had to be removed or be injured. So where they appeared to get on just fine before, it is usually just shortlived, & I'm so pleased I was able to prevent any serious injuries due to my assumption that they were all getting along just fine. As said, dominance issues are at the root of them climbing on each other (to get the highest & most dominant point). If you have a brother & sister in together this will also cause inbreeding, so they shouldn't be housed together either. Their wild instincts are very strong & no amount of wanting to change them will. It's not cute anymore when they suffer . Hope it helps & makes sense.

 

[diamc]

I totally agree, some very important points. I'm glad you realized there were problems and caught them in time. Some other owners might not be so lucky.

 

[damien6210]

no i dont have them housed together. i only put them together when they play or in my backyard or in the house before i had hose them together for about 4 months now they all live in their own tanks

 

[SunshineLollipop]

Pleased to hear u have them seperate. It's hard, as it's absolutely fascinating to watch the headbobbing & waving, & also to think they're not lonely. Just try & remember the stress u put them thru putting them in to 'play' together rather than thinking they need company, especially the males. Once they reach the 1 to 1&1/2 yr mark, unless u want little beardies everywhere they will mate. Hope all goes well!