Introducing Enemies

[Whaa]

A while ago I noticed that one of my bearded dragons was biting the other ones foot. I put a temporary divider in the cage but I found the dominant dragon trying to get around the divider to the other dragon. I have now separated them into two completely separate enclosures and now I am left with one dragon who has a stumpy foot. I would very much like to keep them together in the long run so I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to how to reintroduce them to each other.
I was at the reptile park a few days ago and notices that in one enclosure there were 2 short tailed monitors and one of them had all the toes on his front legs missing and in the next enclosure alone were 2 pygmy bearded dragons with one of then missing some of their tail.
Is this a common thing for lizards to bite each others feet and tail?
Will this ‘hate’ continue if I put them in together again?
Will they remember each other?
thanks

 

[gbskda]

Hi Whaa,
I dont knnow much about Lizards
But I guess they are both males and they are ready to breed so the dominate one is claiming his territory, maybe an outdoor enclosure will solve it as they have room to run around.
If this option isnt possible then it might best wise to separate them permately

 

[sobrien]

This is a very common problem with lizards especialy dragons. They are not social(many my argue). As young ones, they will do it a lot when hungry or the dominent one may bully the others. I belive they are best kept singly but you may keep them together. Mine is alone after seeing and hearing about not just toes and tail tips being bitten off, but arms and legs and most of the tail. If two or more dragons are to be kept together, they need plenty of food and lots of room. Hope This helps
Simon

 

[NoOne]

If they are young dragons they will do this almost no matter what you do.
If they are adults you can only keep one adult male per cage.
I'm stunned that you think beardies are not social animals, adults have a obvisous social order and i'm not even going to start no body language.
I've been keeping adult trios of beardies for years up until recently and during that time never had an injury.

 

[saikrett]

i have had to seperate my bluetongues because they kept fighting
once thay are sub-adults i reintroduced them into lizard land and now there fine

 

[Gregory]

I had to learn this lesson the hard way recently. I had 4 Vitticeps, all this seasons hatchlings. They were roughly all the same age but one grew a lot quicker than the other 3. I separated it and the second largest into a different enclosure to the smaller two because the big one was showing aggression to the smaller 2. Well a need arose for me to have to put all 4 back together into the same enclosure for a day while repairs to another enclosure were carried out. They had been in together over night without any drama but by mid morning I found the largest one quietly chewing the head of the smallest one. I rescued it but the damage had been done. It survived for probably another hour before dieing. It was very upsetting. So that's just my experience with keeping a few together.

 

[Whaa]

Thanks for the replies
I dont think the problem at this stage is related to breading because they were only 4months old when I separed them.
As for a lack of space I do not think that was an issue either because theya re piygmy bearded dragons so they were 5cm lizards in a 4ft tank however they only has one basking spot.
Perhaps if I try to re-introduce them I will install a second heat lamp on the opposite side of the cage to give them their own space.
Its reassuring to know this happens to other people aswell, I always read herp classified section and they all say perfect feet and toes and my dragon just has a stump on the end of his front leg. :cry: but that doesn't worry me too much because it has not effected his agility or stability in any way.
again thanks for the replies

gregory - I love your avitar 8)

 

[NoOne]

I'd keep them seperate until they are a year or so old, They will keep fighting. Once you know their sex you'll know weather to reintroduce them.

 

[wattso]

Hi, Just curious, does anyone here keep turtles aswell?? ~Danno aka omo p.s. carpets rule!