Tomato

[Shannidah]

Is it ok to feed dragons tomato?

What are others opinions on housing dragons together? I have two and seem happy sharing the space. They certainly don't fight and all their toes and tail ends are present.

[Aslan]

Shannidah - Many Dragons can be housed together without issue - many can't...

My previous animals were housed together, in large numbers, in outdoor pits, without issue...

My current pair are not housed together - there is no fighting amongst them, both have all tips - the problem is an issue of dominance...

Dominance in dragons is often not a matter of fighting or overtly intimidating one another - so is often difficult to pick up on external signs. I will give you my most recent experience...

Upon picking up two stunning young Beardies from the airport they were immediately placed within an enclosure together, nothing really odd with their behaviour...over the next couple of days the female was regularly seen basking under the heat lamp, feeding, cruising around...the male, would sit on a rock in the cool end and eat significantly less food in a sitting - certainly not eating while the female was eating...

I seperated the two into seperate rooms where they could not see each other - within a day the male was behaving like a 'normal' Beardie, eating better and using the entire enclosure...

He was intimidated by the female who - even now - is noticably larger due to the headstart she got and her huge appetite...

[Shannidah]

Thanks Aslan you are a wealth of knowledge. I am going to split my babies and see what happens, they are from the same clutch and one would think that they wouldn't mind each other. There is so much to learn about dragons and they are educating me everyday. They used to share the basking spot now the quieter one is down a bit lower, would that be a sign of dominance? Or could there be something a bit more sinister going on? The quieter one hasn't been eating or moving that much.

[Aslan]

Shan - May be nothing, may be a a dominance issue...

...baby Beardies can go downhill quickly though, so I wouldn't take the risk...

My Beardies are also from the same clutch - it is individual personality that seems to affect it...

Where a large number are housed together as babies it seems that they don't seem to feel the stress so much (perhaps the stress of the dominant animals is shared around - perhaps animals are unable to become so dominant) - when they are then paired off, if one is a significantly more dominant animal the affects tend to show...

...the issue then snowballs, as the animal that is eating well and growing well then becomes larger and MORE intimidating...

What you are describing does sound to me like a dominance issue - remember, when you seperate them make sure they cannot see each other (a seperate room or divider works well) as the stress will continue if they can see each other...

[Shannidah]

I've just separated them and the sick one is rolling around like it is broken, head back rolling in circles and rolling over. His colour was almost black but has changed back to a sandy colour now. His head is up to one side and his tail is up and his limbs are a limp and he can't stay on his log, keeps sliding off. He just did a poo and when I dropped some water on his nose he licked it up.

I wish they could talk verbally!