Housing beardies together?

[andyjs]

I went to a reptile show in Cincy yesterday and picked up a baby beardie pair as I'd like to try my hand at breeding them. Right now, they are temporarily housed together, but I'd like to separate them before they reach sexual maturity so they don't try to breed before the female is to a good breeding size. I'd also like to pick up another female or three. Right now, I have a Chris Allen blood red male and the female is just a normal, but she has really nice orange color to her. For some reason photobucket isn't letting me upload right now or I'd show them off.

I've been reading conflicting info on how social beardies are. Some things say to house them solitarily, some say keep a male with several females, some things have even said they can be kept in groups with a dominant male and multiple subordinates and females.

I have a 4'x2'x2' cage for them when they are adults. Would it be ok to house 3 or 4 adult females in something like that and add the male at times for breeding? If he had a few females, would it be ok for him to be housed with them all the time? I'd like some opinions from real people as opposed to a bunch of random articles.

 

[TaratronVaeVictus]

When we had our beardies, they were in a large enclosure that used to house a green iguana. I think, measurement wise, well, the cage was too heavy for four men to carry. It's about five feet tall and the same width and height, and we kept one male and four female adults in the cage, lots of hideboxes and basking spots. I would hesitate to keep two beardies together, even if they are male and female; one will dominate the other. Three (two females and one male) is better, but you still run the risk of a dominant lizard. Your best bet is to always keep an eye on behaviors and be ready to separate if need be.

 

[andyjs]

I definitely plan to separate these guys soon. I am planning on picking up 3 20 longs in a couple days from a guy on craigslist, so I'll have a place to separate them.

 

[foto69man]

Usually you will get a dominant beardie that bullies and tail bites the rest. While it doesn't always happen(I am acknowledging there are cases people have seen where it works), it is always safer to house all of them separately so they all grow up with equal amounts of food, UVB, and space. If your intent is to breed them, I would definitely house them separately then.

Also............PICS PLEASE!!! I love seeing pics of other peoples beardies...

 

[andyjs]

Here they are. Photobucket finally let me upload them. These are from my iPhone, so they aren't that great, but I'll get some better ones soon.
Chris Allen blood red male

And the female (she has a really nice orange color to her, but the lighting in this pic sucks)

 

[Lester55]

i use breed these guys before and if you know some buyers and pet stores that would take them, then your about to lose and make some money.. cause raising baby dragons needs a lot of care for their development.. Incubator-Thousands of baby crickets-lots of green veggies and make sure you stay away from spinach. Also calcium uva uvb light, Sun light is the best though mostly if you want to enhance their color .. I had about 3 males and 6 females.. i had the translucent, blood red, leucistic, and leather backs.. got most of them from josh phantom.. I have desame dimension 4,2,2 reptile enclosure, i have 4 females in there with not problem. i had one male in a 40 breeder and the 2 male in a 4 by 2 by 2... and the other 2 female was in my 100 gallon tank. Generally they want you to separate the beaded for aggression and to prevent weaker dragons from getting bullied. But from my experience females tend to be more passive regarding territories and some males just dont care much about other dragons. Its always better to raise them together as young dragon insted of mixing them when they get older. Just make sure to watch out for aggression and be ready to separate them. But dont hesitate to try to house them together cause i know just like cichlids dragons have different personality and mixing them takes some skill. Which is how you design their house.