YAY!!!

[chucksaurus]

my bearded dragons were never sick it turns out, it was a dominance issue (resolved...the one that was doing the wierd thing was being picked on and now i made sure that they think that she is the dominant one ) and now they are finaly eating their salad! :mrgreen:

 

[diamc]

That's good, could you fill us in on how you handled it?

 

[chucksaurus]

pretty much i just fed her first while he was watching

if he was laying on her i took her out from under him and put her on top

after feeding them i would put her in the better basking spot...

also, i armwaved at both of them(so they thought i was the least dominant in case i was the problem)



i did this for a week and since then there havent been any problems

 

[diamc]

Only thing is that it is impossible for you to watch them all the time so something terrible could happen when you aren't there. Dominance issues don't just disappear, please think about separating them.

 

[Elora]

PLEASE think about separating them! Its not going to go away. Bearded dragons cant be trained like dogs or cats. I had this same problem when I had two bearded dragons together. I thought that I had solved the problem until one day I came home and Stompy had part of his tail and his toe missing. Eventually one of them started to give up and would not eat. She almost died until i Separated them. The problem may have subsided for now but it will not end. Do you know what sex they are? If ones a male and ones a female are you prepared to take care of eggs? They will mate and laying eggs/being pregnant can be a very hard strain on the female. Please separate them for the sake of your beardies! It wasnt easy finding a new tank and getting more lights/fixtures but in the long run both of your beardies will be healthy,safe and happy.

 

[Ethelia]

Unforuntaly I must agree.
Beardies are solitary and territorial creatures and so should always be housed alone.

Are you certain as to the sex of your dragons? Males + females especially shouldnt be housed together because they can overbreed or breed too young. Both these can cause serious health issue for your female let alone stress. Mating can also be violent.

When beardies are housed together one usually becomes dominant causing the other beardie to not grow properly due to stress, although sometimes stress does not manifest itself physically.

Futhermore beardies can and do attack eachother, and unfortunatly dragons are not like dogs, who can be taught about naughty aggressive behaviour. They can live in apparent harmony for months and then one day snap. One story that comes to mind is a girl on these forums named Ambulance. She housed two dragons together happily for months and came home one day to find the female had ripped the other dragons tail completely off.
Once it has happened once, it will happen again and again.
Dragons will think nothing of nipping off a chunk or tail/toe in order to defend their basking spot, its just in their nature.

I dont mean to scare or scold you, but I want you to appriciate what can happen:
In my time keeping dragons I have rescued three dragons who were living in a viv with other dragons.
Dexter was small for her age and was missing a bit of her tail, most of her right arm, most of her right foot and alot of her toes.

Ruben had his leg and arms ripped off at the joints by his clutchmates.

Little Miso, rescued at only 4 weeks old already has a tail nip and is missing most of her back toes.


There are rare cases where dragons show no signs of agression towards eachother, and there isnt too much bullying but it is a risk that is simply not worth taking.
You simply cannot watch them 24/7.
Furthermore, and I appologise if this sounds rude, but I think your actions to interupt the natural territorial order may actually push them to violence.
It is their nature to dominate eachother in close quatres. If you are interupting the minor displays of dominace such as sitting and food hogging I would think they would begin to nip eachother in order to some how display their dominance.

Your dragons will lead much happier healthier lives apart.
Please consider seperating them. So many members here have had to learn this the hard way.

Holly

 

[diamc]

We're wondering how your beardies are doing? Did you end up separating them?

 

[chucksaurus]

no i didnt separate them as i have only came back to this site and seen the replys today.

they are doing perfectly fine together and have never fought. ever. they have also been together since birth (so says the old owner) .

you said that they would show their dominance in some way. they do. dust (the smaller female) always lays on top of dune (the larger male) when they are both on the basking rock. they are both perfectly fine with this .
as far as i can tell, she thinks " :twisted: im dominant so im going to get evry privlage i can think of better... hmmm basking is all i can think of :? "

he thinks "whatever :| " and deals with it by basking more often than her

 

[diamc]

All we can do is warn you, so it's your call. It really doesn't matter that they've been together since birth, they could still turn on each other in a split second. How old are they and what length? Are they brother and sister?

 

[fresnowitte]

I really must agree with Diane.

As someone that use to house their beardies together I can tell you that it is causing stress even if you can't see it. Mine were housed together they did perfectly fine I thought until I seperated everyone. Their appetite, behavoir and overall personallity completely changed once they were seperated. They truely are solitary creatures and thrive when housed alone. Even though mine never fought persay they still were not at their happiest.

I know a couple of people that haven't been as lucky as I was and lost one of their beardies an ended up with just one wounded beardie and these 2 had been house together their entire life with no signs of fighting.

If you ask me it's just not worth taking the chance. But like Diane said it's your call all we can do is warn you.

 

[Ethelia]

I also urge you to reconsider.
We desperately do not want you to learn the hard way.

Holly