Cohabitating

My computer guy has a male and female beardie. He got them a few years ago from a girl who use to work at Petco and bought them and wasn't caring for them correctly. They didn't have proper lighting and food. Both have MBD. The male worse than the female. His back legs don't move as well. She has a more mild case. They have been housed together since she bought them. And she gave them away to him. They are about 8 years old now. He said they never bred, nor was he attempting to have them breed. He didn't separate them because he didn't know they should be. They have never fought or mated. He decided against separating them because he said they "cuddle". They don't leave eachother's sides. He seperates them for feeding mealworms, because she tends to get more than he does. But feed fine together on salad. I know its a whole "matter of time" before they hurt one another thing. Have any of you ever heard of a successful cohabitation for life?

As far as fighting, there probably wouldn't be a problem. The issue is that they will breed, even if they haven't yet. Beardies lay 30-40 eggs at a time, and it's stressful under the best of conditions. If she has MBD, it could kill her. I had a single female that had to be put down at age 10 due to excessive egg laying, and she was the only beardie in the house. If you take her to a good herp vet and have her spayed, then it shouldn't be a problem as long as they are both getting appropriate amounts of a healthy diet. Every meal needs to be supplemented until you get them on the right track. Mealworms are not great. I would go for dubia. You can put them in a glass dish and they won't escape. Best of luck to you!!


Noelle

Oh they aren't mine! They belong to the guy who fixes my PCs. I stopped by his place for the first time a bit back and he showed them to me.

I had a pair, Quincy and Cali, that lived together for around the last 6 years until the female, Cali, recently passed away. Cali had successfully produced clutches of eggs for me in the past, but didn't produce anything for the last few years, nor did I ever see her and Quincy breed. They got along famously and never "fought". Keep in mind, both of these guys had really laid-back personalities, and were housed in a very large enclosure (I believe it's a 225 gallon tank). I also made sure when feeding their live food that both got plenty and no one was "hogging" the goods. It was never an issue with their greens. Some will scoff at this...but Quincy even seemed to go through a period of "mourning" after Cali passed...stopped eating, paced around the tank, then just kind of got lethargic and blah. He seems to be coming around now, but I honestly believe that he "missed" her.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend cohabitation for every Beardie, by any means...but it worked for one pair of mine.