Aggressive male

[Daisy Ferret]

Hi, I'm new here. I came looking for a good place to ask for advice about my darlings. A little backstory: my hubby and I researched bearded dragons before bringing any home. We ended up having to get one for each of us, so there were enough cuddles to go around (we're both kinda greedy with the cuddles). We ended up with a male, Tesla, and a female, Hermione. We don't want to breed them because they came from the same clutch.

So far, so good. They are 8 months old now, and seriously spoiled. We talk to and pet them pretty much all day, hand feed them, and have nightly snuggle-the-dragons-to-sleep sessions. Snuggling Hermione before bed relaxes me and helps with my insomnia. Tesla would spend all day and night on our shoulders if we let him, but we have to get things done once in a while.

Now on to the problem, lately when we have them both out (generally on opposite sides of the room) Tesla will beard and bob, Hermione arm waves, and Tesla comes running, bites the back of her head and shakes her. We gently pry him off her and put him back in his cage to chill out. I know a lot of this is typical mating behavior and I wouldn't be upset about it if he wasn't shaking her like he's trying to hurt her. We've been keeping them separate as much as we can, but we love letting them have freedom to roam too. Is there anything I can do to get him to not be so rough with her? Is he trying to hurt or kill her, or do all males shake females during an attempt to mate?

 

[Candybugs]

They can inflict serious damage to eachother and wounds can turn into a big problem . I'd separate them from here on. I did the same thing and got 2 chameleons not knowing they can't live with other ones once matured. I had to separate them emergency status because she was attaking him and wouldn't let him eat. And biting him . I had to get another whole set up. Not worth the risk of injury in my opinion. I know nothing about mating others will have more knowledge about this.

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[Jack Reeman]

Hi,

In short it sounds like a sign of dominance. Sadly I would separate them from now on. You will probably be able to continue handling them together, just long term isn't a good idea.

I certainly wouldn't mate them, they are related and obviously you would be inbreeding them. Plus the mating period is extremely rough, often resulting in the female being injured.

Hope this helps.

 

[Daisy Ferret]

Thank you for the replies. I was really hoping this was an aberration and changing their diet or checking for illness would help. I do have another full setup except I don't think the light is as good so I'll have to replace it. Tesla does also head bob at me, stuffed animals and ceramic figures. I just head bob back or tickle his beard and laugh at him. I'm not the least bit worried he'll bite me, I just scoop him up in both hands and give him nose kisses. Honestly he's far more careful of our fingers during hand feeding than Hermione is. If its something she really likes but doesn't get often like a bit of banana or strawberry, she gets in such a hurry that she might get the finger too.

Mating was never an idea, partly because they're related, but also because I don't want the extra work of trying to raise babies. We were told that if Hermione lays eggs we could just throw them away. She and Tesla are our babies. I'll get pics up eventually, I'm just technologically challenged and take a while to get it figured out. They're just ordinary full spiky and no fancy color, but Hermione has a lovely pattern.

 

[Kathryn Kinney]

That is normal mating behavior and he will ALWAYS want to breed. From now on they have to be taken out at separate times. The male will bite the back of their necks and shake a little making sure he has a good grip until she stops moving and submits.

 

[Hdrydr31]

Yep I agree with all of the above... He will continue to try and get to her.. If she does lay clutches please freeze them first before disposing of them..

 

[PatsyB]

This happened when my male turned 9 months old. My female is a year older than he is and I would let them out at the same time with no issues. Once he hit 9 months I was sitting on the floor between them and he charged her and bit her on the neck. That was the last time they were on the floor together. We managed to be able to have them both out at the same time with him on the floor and her on the couch and that worked for awhile. Then one day I had her on my lap and he was all the way in another room behind a corner. He saw her charged us, climbed up the side of my chair and I JUMPED up, he jumped on to my side table (on my lunch) and leapt towards me falling on the floor. That was the last time they have been out of their tanks at the same time even with one being held.

He head bobs when he sees me take her out of her tank. Sometimes he can see the reflection of our other girl that lives below him and he will head bob at her reflection! It's a very scary and violent thing to see

 

[Candybugs]

It's a sad day when you have to change how you thought it would be. I went through it with my chameleons.

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[Daisy Ferret]

*Update*

I completely separated Tesla and Hermione for a while but they both went down to barely eating. So I went back to having them both out at the same time, me with one and hubby with the other. When they would start with the bobbing and waving we'd put our hands over the head/arms, no pressure, just giving them an obstacle to continued movement. This would discourage the flirting, then we'd pet and cuddle them. After maybe half a dozen times of this, it has become rare. We can have them in the same cage with no problems, and they eat better. Now I'm wondering if the 'window of breeding opportunity' has passed, or if we've managed to actually discourage it?

The pic is of them cuddled up together on my laptop keyboard with cardboard underneath to keep them from typing trollish comments while I'm surfing. They really do seem happier together, and will often sleep cuddled up. Do I have weird babies?

 

[Hdrydr31]

Successful co-habbing is kinda rare...breeding can happen at anytime so I don't think you're in the clear as long as they are living together.. and I would be very cautious with them living together as they can turn in a blink of an eye.. you just can't control hormones.. I hope that nothing bad happens.

 

[PatsyB]

I agree, they can turn on a dime and you can't be with them 24/7. Things can happen when we aren't looking. I do hope that nothing bad happens. When males are in the mood they are very violent and someone could get hurt.

 

[JUNGLE JIM]

This can happen at an early age as well. My dragons are just over a couple months old and Archer who is a full inch smaller than Spike became aggressive toward Spike the bigger one, which I couldn't understand. I split them up but they can still see each other across the room so they are always waving at each other. Since my daughter came over yesterday I thought she could help sex them since I had difficulty handling both dragon and flashlight at the same time. Archer, the aggressive one is definitely a boy, could see the two bulges even without a flashlight. I'm about 95% sure Spike is a girl, just one slight bulge in the middle. This explains a lot although I didn't think the aggressive behavior would happen this soon. Once I'm 100% sure then a name change for Spike may be in order, name doesn't fit a girl.

 

[Candybugs]

If they do injure eachother the infection factor is real too.

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