Bearded Dragon Killing Spree

[biancanbobby]

I had what I thought was a Male and Female Bearded Dragon pair.
I bought them both at 8 weeks old within a week of eachother and from 2 different locations so I didnt end up with brother and sister. They are now about 2 years old, and the male is a fair bit larger then the female but I never had any problems.
About a month and a half ago I went out for the day and when I got home my female was dead. :cry: Her head seemed to be squashed at the top. :shock:
Well immediately I blamed my cat, which had a few weeks earlier jumped on top of the tank and broke one of the lid pieces, so I figured that he had gone in the tank and played with the lizard while we were out, so I punished him. :evil:
A week later I purchased another female bearded dragon that was a little bit bigger then my previous female, so she was closer to the size of the male. Well everything was going well.... Then about 2 weeks ago I was off work sick (thankfully) and I heard this strange noise, so I went to investigate, and I saw my male had the female by the head and was dragging her thru the tank :shock: So I quickly released her from his grip, only to find that her jaw is now slightly out of place, and one of her eyes had been popped from the extreme force of his bite. :cry: Well I have been keeping her seperate since and for the 1st few days I was giving her food and water thru a syringe so it gave her head a chance to heal a bit.

Well my question is.... Why is he trying to kill the other dragons? It isnt because of a lack of food as on both occasions I had crickets running around the tank and had just fed him vegies. I just dont know what to do anymore about my boy. I really want to keep both dragons but I dont want to have to have 2 seperate tanks. Help please!!

 

[Dave]

They ARE solitary.. Dragons SHOULDN'T be kept with eachover.. male/female will over breed, two males will fight, and two females MAY get along but its not 100% positive.. Even if there brother/sister it doesn't matter..

 

[Chris1]

dragons are very territorial animals, males should be kept seperate to avoid these kind of situations.

if youre happy to keep replacing females for him to kill, keep them together,..otherwise its a good idea to keep them seperate. even if it means setting up another tank.

my boy isnt even in the same room as my females, hes so agressive he'll damage himself on teh glass.

 

[Rocky]

Well my question is.... Why is he trying to kill the other dragons? It isnt because of a lack of food as on both occasions I had crickets running around the tank and had just fed him vegies. I just dont know what to do anymore about my boy. I really want to keep both dragons but I dont want to have to have 2 seperate tanks. Help please!!

Terrible to hear, but you should know that a male and female should not be kept together all year round, some cases it will work, but in others the damage can be fatal, as it was in your situation. There really is no way to keep them both in one tank, you either should sell one, or buy a 2nd enclosure.

 

[biancanbobby]

I always thought that they could be kept together all year round as I read about it on the internet and thru books before purchasing my dragons and from all I read it advised me that they are one of the very few lizards that can be kept together all year round... I will just have to get a second tank. :x

 

[Dave]

I always thought that they could be kept together all year round as I read about it on the internet and thru books before purchasing my dragons and from all I read it advised me that they are one of the very few lizards that can be kept together all year round... I will just have to get a second tank. :x

The sources you found are rubbish.. They are one of the lizards you shouldn't keep together... It seems monitors and blueys are a better choice if you want to house lizards together..

 

[biancanbobby]

Well I know now, shame I didnt know that before he killed the first female.

 

[Chris1]

i keep 4 females together,..well i use that term loosely, tehy share a loungeroom with no problems, even the girls fight which is why i dont lock them in a tank together,....

dont worry, heaps of people KNOW they shouldnt house their dragons together and do it anyway then get upset when things go bad, @ least u were just misinformed.

 

[biancanbobby]

dont worry, heaps of people KNOW they shouldnt house their dragons together and do it anyway then get upset when things go bad, @ least u were just misinformed.

They just shouldnt have pets then :x Kinda reminds me of my next door neighbours that houses 3 dogs together that constantly fight, then the dogs ended up killing 1 of the others.... Complete morons!

I will sort my tank out tonight... I wont buy another tank, I will just devide the current one which is large enough to do so.

Thank you all so much for your help!

 

[Chris1]

yeah, heaps of people shouldnt have pets,..

i'm really happy to hear you arent one of those people though, your dragons will be so happy with you for seperating them! (especially ur girl)

 

[biancanbobby]

Yeah she will be happy to be out of the other tank I think.
Poor thing though, she will never look as cute as she used to, although she still has the personality that she had before he tried killing her.

 

[Chris1]

so is she blind in one eye?
is her jaw back in place?

shame shes not as pretty, but at least her owner is kind enough to still love and care for her.

 

[biancanbobby]

so is she blind in one eye?
is her jaw back in place?

shame shes not as pretty, but at least her owner is kind enough to still love and care for her.

Yeah she is blind in one eye, at the moment anyway. It seems pussy under her eyelid, but has gone down alot since the attack, so she may come good. She had both eyes shut for about 4 days when he attacked her as she is missing her 2nd eyelids on her good eye, so it must have been sore. But that eye is fine now and he can see really well, and when I put my hand in the tank she comes running up and onto it.

Her jaw is very slightly out of place still but it gets better every day as she knocks it on the bottom of the tank (like a snake sometimes does) so I think by the time the weekend is over she will be looking normal again besides that eye.

But she is still very good looking.... That picture is her maybe 1 day before she was attacked.

 

[hornet]

The sources you found are rubbish.. They are one of the lizards you shouldn't keep together... It seems monitors and blueys are a better choice if you want to house lizards together..

sounds like your sources are rubbish, beardies are normally fine to keep together, i have been keeping beardies together for a good 7 years now, not the same animals but my current trio have been together for 3 years wqith no probs and i know many others on this forum that keep beardies together with no probs.

@biancanbobby: sorry to hear bout your probs, not 100% sure why he would be doing what he is since i have never had that prob but possibly just an overly agressive individual who in the case should be kept separate. Also sure its a boy? Sexing at 8 weeks isnt really reliable.

 

[Chyka]

We bought two dragons that we thought were male and female, til one of our mates informed us they both may be males, we have had them together in a 4ft tank for 2 years, and never once had a blue. They sleep on top, or next to each other no probs, and feed from the same bowl.
Whether the 2nd is male or female still remains to be confirmed though, dont suppose anyone can tell from the look of it?

 

[biancanbobby]

@biancanbobby: sorry to hear bout your probs, not 100% sure why he would be doing what he is since i have never had that prob but possibly just an overly agressive individual who in the case should be kept separate. Also sure its a boy? Sexing at 8 weeks isnt really reliable.

Yeah I am sure its a boy as I had him sexed when he was about a year old. As well as when he was just a baby.

 

[biancanbobby]

We bought two dragons that we thought were male and female, til one of our mates informed us they both may be males, we have had them together in a 4ft tank for 2 years, and never once had a blue. They sleep on top, or next to each other no probs, and feed from the same bowl.
Whether the 2nd is male or female still remains to be confirmed though, dont suppose anyone can tell from the look of it?

Both my females were the same with my male, sleeping together, sitting on eachother and eating from the same bowl. I never had a single problem with them even nipping at eachother until he killed the 1st one. :cry:

 

[gregcranston]

beardies are normally fine to keep together, i have been keeping beardies together for a good 7 years now, not the same animals but my current trio have been together for 3 years wqith no probs and i know many others on this forum that keep beardies together with no probs.

I'd have to agree here, but it depends on the individual dragons, some can be more aggresive than others. I've kept beardies together all year round for years now with no problems. I love their little social interactions, and they seem so mopey and miserable when I seperate them.
Having said that, I have heard many horror stories (like biancanbobby's) of dragons that have been together for years suddenly one day go mad and 1 ends up dead or badly injured, but it is with great apprehension that I say "I guess that is a risk I'm wiling to take", as my beardies are just such good friends!

 

[Dave]

sounds like your sources are rubbish, beardies are normally fine to keep together, i have been keeping beardies together for a good 7 years now, not the same animals but my current trio have been together for 3 years wqith no probs and i know many others on this forum that keep beardies together with no probs.

@biancanbobby: sorry to hear bout your probs, not 100% sure why he would be doing what he is since i have never had that prob but possibly just an overly agressive individual who in the case should be kept separate. Also sure its a boy? Sexing at 8 weeks isnt really reliable.

Sure they might be fine together, one day something might happen? It seems that most aussies say they house them together... I and many others do not recommend it. No 'probs' doesn't mean its ok either. Why risk it? Just because you and a few hundred do it doesn't mean its the right way.. more dragons die from being together then there are good cases of housing together. My sources aren't rubbish as mine have came from experienced people and many bearded dragon sites that just specialize in vitticeps.

 

[JasonL]

It doesn't matter what your keeping together, if you have two of them, you'll increase your chances of one harming the other one, be it dragons, snakes, dogs or birds, It would be rare for Bearded Dragons to harm each other in such a way, sure it does happen from time to time, and usually from a single bad tempered animal, but it's certainly not common. The biggest problems from keeping multiple BDs together is from stress, stress effects each animal in different ways, usually going un-noticed by the keeper, but it will be there. Still saying all that, I have kept multiple dragons together for many years, breeding thousands of them in the process, and have never had a adult do any physical damage to another adult, except from the usual breeding wounds (very very minor), I have multiple enclosures, and animals get rotated between them depending on what happening within the group. I'd advise you to replace that particular male and start from scratch if you plan on breeding.