Bearded Dragon Behaviour Advice

[Dryle]

I am trying to get some understanding of the behaviour of my dragons.

I bought a 18 month old (what I thought was) Female Western Bearded Dragon about two months ago and she seemed to be fine, on monday I picked up a 12 month old (what I thought was) a Male. Now I thought they were getting along ok, last night they slept curled up together, but this morning they were acting strangly they were waving at each other and the female? was chasing the male? around and attempting to jump on its back. From what I have read this may be courting behaviour and I may have the genders the wrong way around, or they could both be males and fighting.

I was hoping for some advice on their behaviour.

 

[Emzie]

post pictures of there bum bums and im sure someone will be able to tell you the sexes

 

[LadySnake]

The male will generally bob a lot, females tend to wave their arms more when courting. However they are very territorial and it may take a couple of days to determine which ones the boss. They should settle down pretty quickly, but if you post pictures we can help you out with sexing.

 

[coz666]

they are still young and i have witnessed both sexs wave when young i'd say its time for them to see who is boss , so keep an eye on them you dont want a tail or a few toes gettin the chop

 

[JasonL]

Both males and females can arm wave, as they can both head bob and females can even try to "mate" with other individuals (though I have never witnessed a female "mating" with a male, only other females), as it's all got to do with dominance and the pecking order of the group / pair. Saying that, I would get them correctly sexed by someone who is good at doing so, so you will have a better understanding of what happening.

 

[Dryle]

I have some pictures of the two lizards, not the best but I hope they are good enough.


Here is Lizzy (Female?)






And here is Spike (Male?)





Hope these help.

 

[falconboy]

Sexing bearded dragons: http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/

Yours aren't the best pics, its better done with the tails pulled up at the back like in the link (don't snap it off though!) but if I had to choose going by those pics I would think Lizzy is male and Spike is female, which would make sense considering how you said they were behaving! Keep a closer eye out for head bobbing too - I've seen males and females waving, but I can't say I've ever noticed any of my females head bobbing, thats not to say they wouldn't.

I think you might need to change their names!!!