Two females from France

[sgt. amoth]

I'm a newcomer in this forum, i bought two 5 months old females in December in a local exotic petstore. I'm a newbie with reptiles, they are my first ones and all i can say is that i'm having a lot of fun.

Their diet:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ao20UgeGfTBxdFc3ZENHbndSTU5vY0p1OGRUQ1c0ZVE&hl=en
(sometimes i also give them some treats like some flower mix by Zoo med)

Weight evolution
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Ao20UgeGfTBxdEVCeFlqQkRldDdOOUlVY2k4MXBEMHc&hl=en
(The measures are not always taken in the same conditions, some unwanted and strange variations may occur)


12/21/2009 (two days after i bought them):


12/28/2009:


01/08/2010:
Everything is going well, they are pretty active, they eat well, and are as tame as a bearded dragon can be.


01/15/2010:
A bad quality picture of the enclosure:



A small video someday i gave them carrots and kiwis:

http://img258.imageshack.us/i/11012010033.mp4/

01/27/2010:
They reached the 200gr step


02/11/2010
Today's morning lunch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toce9w2lNB0

2/12/2010
Doing what they do best: to spy everything around the room


2/27/2010
[/quote]

3/5/2010


3/12/2010
Some feeding:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsIWBZTtUyY

3/15/2010
Some feeding again, this one is a little bit lazy sometimes so I have to feed her that way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIUgPrK69s4



More to come.

 

[ladyknite]

I really like your method of record keeping. Don't skimp on that, you'll find it resourceful later on.

When housing dragons together, you take the chance that one or both will exhibit dominance or aggression, leading to injury, sickness, or even death. I realize that multiple caging is expensive, but if you'ld like we have some ideas to help you thru that.

Can you tell me if they're under a red light or a white light for heat?

All in all, those are some cute babies.

 

[Red Ink AUS]

G'day mate and welcome,

First, well done on the deligent record keeping ;D

Second (minor criticism and question), the heat set up you have may not allow for a natural thermal gradient. Having a heat/basking lamp at either end would keep a constant steady temp throughout the enclosure.

I would record behavioural observations as well when keeping two dragons together to record signs of dominance and aggressions and correlate them to other data that you may already keep to see if they are behavioural dependant or part of the husbandry that elicit the reactions.

 

[sgt. amoth]

I really like your method of record keeping. Don't skimp on that, you'll find it resourceful later on.

When housing dragons together, you take the chance that one or both will exhibit dominance or aggression, leading to injury, sickness, or even death. I realize that multiple caging is expensive, but if you'ld like we have some ideas to help you thru that.

Can you tell me if they're under a red light or a white light for heat?

All in all, those are some cute babies.

My main idea about keeping bearded dragons was the fact it is a "social" animal with a group interaction a lot stronger than other reptiles i've seen. I made a lot of research and i contacted many Beardies keepers about their group behavior in captivity and i ended up with the conclusion that females were one of the best choice to keep beardies together. I was a little worried when i first got them, because of the dominant behavior of one of them but after this stressful period, everything went well, no more aggressions, some head bobbing from the dominant but it's not really towards the other one, sometimes she tries to climb the glass where she sees her reflection and this in when the head bobbing starts. Now they sleep, eat their veggies, bask and lay around together.

I use Zoo med IR red lights (150 and 100w) and a 70cm Exoterra 10% Uvb neon. The main basking spot is under the big 150w light, there is a rock from the nevada desert i bought in a exotic fishes shop to keep the heat, and a little plateform where they can go too (this is where they like to go when they wake up). The 100w is not really a basking point, it's some kind of relay to allow to the main 150w to cool down sometimes.

 

[ladyknite]

I'm not really familiar with all your lights. I understand that you currently use a repti glo 10.0 (exo terra) and 2 red lights.
The reptiglo 10 was showing problems with conjunctivitis and sight in dragons. It didn't effect all of them, but it's worth watching out for. If you notice them having bad aim when hunting, or continuously shutting their eyes, you may want to switch bulbs.
The red lights aren't something i really recommend. Dragons do very well under bright white light. It stimulates activity and hunting instinct.

Two females will cohabitate on occasion with no problems. Just keep your eyes open. Also a record of their growth and weights would be a good idea to have also. This will help ensure that one isn't getting the better of the other.

I also agree with Red Ink Aus's recommendations.

Keep the pics of the babies coming!!!!

 

[sgt. amoth]

I'm not really familiar with all your lights. I understand that you currently use a repti glo 10.0 (exo terra) and 2 red lights.
The reptiglo 10 was showing problems with conjunctivitis and sight in dragons. It didn't effect all of them, but it's worth watching out for. If you notice them having bad aim when hunting, or continuously shutting their eyes, you may want to switch bulbs.
The red lights aren't something i really recommend. Dragons do very well under bright white light. It stimulates activity and hunting instinct.

Two females will cohabitate on occasion with no problems. Just keep your eyes open. Also a record of their growth and weights would be a good idea to have also. This will help ensure that one isn't getting the better of the other.

I also agree with Red Ink Aus's recommendations.

Keep the pics of the babies coming!!!!

Do you have any links to the products you're talking about? I might be interested, no symptoms for the moment but I would prefer to avoid the problem.

About the red light, i've been told that it allows to do not break the sleep cycle of the reptile when the heat sometimes turns on at night, because they simply can't see the infrared light. As far as I know they are very sensitive to light when they sleep, sometimes when I come back home very late and switch on a light near their enclosure, they open their eyes.

I try to feed them the same amount of food, i don't feed the two dragons in the same place, I put one in a faunabox and one stays in the terrarium.

 

[ladyknite]

http://www.mybeardie.com/bearded-dragon-reptile-supplies.php?itemdetail=500002

that bulb may do you well, but I'm not sure I'm familiar with retailers or online stores in your area. I'll assume you're in France right? lol Forgive me, I'm a bit of a blonde.

The repti sun 10 http://www.petmountain.com/product/...bs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html or arcadia http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...-lamps-562/arcadia-d3-reptile-lamp-57099.html will work in a flourescent fixture.

Also a ceramic heat emitter may serve you well for night time heat. Dragons can see red light, but the glow from the CHE is not the same.
http://www.reptiles.swelluk.com/rep...aters-561/exo-terra-heat-wave-lamp-26236.html

Sorry for not knowing which vendor to use. Maybe someone else will have more links.

 

[egg 80]

can tell you have been around snakes with your record keepin lol, we keep records with our dragons sounds like your doin a great job love the pics 2 great lookin beardies you got there.

 

[Boogiesmom]

Love all the things in your VIV. Looks like lots for them to climb on. Great pictues.

 

[sgt. amoth]

Yes, it's incredible how much they seem to enjoy climbing, they always go on the higher spot to sleep (vertically), during their "active hour" they go up and down like crazy.

 

[sgt. amoth]

Beardies are like kids, when there is new stuff in their vivarium, they have to test it: