sweetiepie9":1olypf5y said:
So do I, you can see the difference between the two species right away. Cato is so small in comparison, but I know they're small anyway. I'm glad you got him, he sure looks healthy & happy.
Shannon, do your little guys live together? They are all 3 so cute!
Deb
Cato is so cute and he came with a wonderful story. You also got a lucky chance to get something that is so much like a beardie, yet so interesting and different.
They have similar mannerisms but very different behaviors. For one thing, they don't bask with the same intensity as a bearded dragon does, and they will lounge around the basking area most of the day, with short breaks to bask. We have multiple basking levels and many times throughout the day they will all be scattered around the area, sleeping. They enjoy laying on low, flat rocks in the basking area, too.
They also have a water dish, because unlike beardies, they will drink from standing water. The Rankins all drink in their
bath and they enjoy being in the water. So far we are not having any humidity issues with the water dish.
Deb, we do house them together. They seem to respect each other's personal space and never display dominant or breeding behaviors such as head-bobbing,
black bearding, arm waving, stacking, etc., and that appears to be the norm with Rankins. If you search information on Rankins dragons, there isn't as much out there as there is for bearded dragons, so there are things that aren't really known about their husbandry, or just assumed that they are the same for beardeds, but in our experience, they are completely different. We are really watching them and learning as they grow. They have almost doubled in size since we got them! :shock: They are sweet tempered and curious, but not very brave. They watch everything that happens in their room with intense scrutiny and they will get close to each other if they see something that alarms them. Sometimes they make me laugh because they look like meerkats on high alert. They are all terrified of our blue tongue.
I have seen them appear to band together, and even when outside of their viv I have seen them go to the same dark spot to sleep, as if they had already planned where they were going to meet up to sleep.