Expert: Joe Zarnick - 2/21/2011

Question
Hi Joe,

I recently got two Bearded Dragons on Saturday 19th February.

I may just be being a paranoid owner and if so I'm sorry for wasting your time but I'm worried about one of my beardies.

They are both females and one seems to be acting strange.

Recently i have seen her just lying down motionless on the floor in the middle of the viv as if she had no energy.

I fed the dragons on sunday after i purchased them to let them settle in abit and she was the one who seemed most eger to start eating. It is only since this day i have noticed that she tends to try and hide under the log i have in the viv and where the other female shows interest when i approach the viv the lethargic one doesnt seem to bother.

I have read that when you feed your beardies you should remove what they havent eaten. Initially i fed them both about 12-16 crickets and they both had a few each but then stopped eating, i left them for the remainder of the day and have attempted to move whats left today (monday).

The point of this is that the beardies run away as if scared but i put this down to being new to me. Anyway, i picked up the one resting in the middle of the viv earlier and she was cold so i put her back on the basking rock where the more active beardie was stood, She lay there, head down and body pressed to the rock for 2 minutes before getting off the rock and going onto the bottom of the viv and laying low down again.

Sorry about the long question I'm just really worried about the health and care of all my pets.

For your information i have a 48 inch viv with a 100W heat bulb at one end resulting in around 95F and the other around 75F. i have fed them crickets with vitamin and calcium powder which by my count they only ate about 3/4 each most i have attempted to remove from the viv. I also put some green veg in there which they havent touched.

Both beardies are around 4-6 months and about 6inches + in length

Hope you can help,

Thanks in advance,

Jim

Answer
Hello Jim, first of all they both need their own enclosures. They should not live together, this can result in fighting or they may bite each others limbs off. Also make sure that they are both getting a sufficient amount of calcium through their food. They also need bulbs that will supply both UVB and UVA. One for a sufficient heat source and the other to help them breakdown D3 and digest. Let me know how it all goes,

Joe