Two kids, two dragons new owner

[walkngdude]

Greetings!
I have two kids (Luke & Sam)

and my wife (Michelle)

We have a small house

One day Michelle says her friend is selling baby Dragons. I love it, kids love it too so we go to the reptile shop and get the recommended set up for two baby dragons. Cool!

I think it cost about $400 for a 40 gallon tank, 160w powersun mercury vapor, light stand, repti sand (I know, I'm going tile soon) and the rest.

So all has been well and good, I had an iguana a long time ago and read the provided Dragon book so I’ve been giving them kale, mustard greens and such dusted with vitamins and calcium along with some mixed frozen vegies daily. They have been eating about 500 crickets (dusted) a week (until recently), I think the tank temps are good but lately it gets below 60 degrees at night so I bought a Zilla Day/night timer to turn off the lamp and start an under tank pad at night.

I think these guys (Sidney and Star) are 7 and 6 months old and from the same breeders (Sidney is a month older, bigger than Star and might be female). Star has big male bumps.

I have been reading these forums and decided to build a bigger tank myself like some I have seen in the enclosure forum. I’m thinking like 5 ft. x 2 ft. deep and 3 ft. high but I have two lizards so I’ll need two big new tanks, my house is on the small side and I see little likelihood of getting either of my fine children of giving up his lizard for adoption.

So I would ask those of you that keep two or more adult dragons; how do you do it? What size are your tanks? Do you keep your dragons outside of your tanks? My iguana eventually was kept on a basking spot in a sunlit window without a tank or any enclosure and was happy there. I had a cat and she left the iguana alone will my cats leave my dragons alone when they are big?

Sid and Star aren’t eating much any more though I think that might be normal but they do spend a great deal of time scratching the glass and sometimes jumping into it and that makes me feel like they need a bigger tank pronto or just to let them run loose with a sweet basking spot.

Maybe I could get Luke to trade up to a hooded chameleon?

Thanks
Confused in Santa Cruz

 

[hannicharlophi]

Hi,
I think even with a small house, you could easily manage two tanks. I personally have three adult beardies, which I keep in my bedroom. Now, you could buy a type of shelving unit which has two tanks on top of each other. Not only would that save you floor space, but the beardies wouldnt see each other or get stressed out. I have tanks which vary from 67G to 100G but the best tank size would be 4 ft x 2ft x2ft per beardie. When my beardies come out of their tank, they are supervised. I let them out on my bed for about 30mins-1hr per day for each beardie.

Unlike the iguana, bearded dragons should never be left out of their cage unattended AND especially with cats hanging around. I can not tell you that your cats will or wont leave the beardies alone. They could love them or hate them and end up fatally wounding one or both. Beardies do best in their tank when no one is around and should stay in the tank the majority of the day.

If room is an issue, I would not suggest a chameleon either as their tanks require lots of room and in my opinion, are much more picky (temperament, husbandry) to take care of.

 

[peera]

It's good that you realize you need to seperate them, especially since one may be female and they are right on the edge of sexual maturity, so you're going to end up with a lot more than just 2 on your hands if you don't, and an injured, oversexed, calcium deprived girl as well since she won't be ready to mate until she's at least 18 months, preferably 2 years.

The stacked cage idea is really the best if space is an issue. I have all 3 of mine in min 40 gal tanks distributed through the house, but space isn't really a huge issue for me. And no, I'm afraid letting them run around just isn't a viable option... for one thing, they'll never be as large as your iguana, so while your cat may have felt the iguana was too big to mess with, there may be no such reservations about attacking your dragons. Plus, since they are smaller and you have children, and even thoughtful, aware children tend to come with thoughtless friends with clumsy feet... Accidents happen, and you don't want them happening to your dragon when it's so easily preventable.