Soon to be Bearded Dragon Owner in TX

Hey guys I need help! I am thinking about getting 2 bearded dragons and have questions. I have a 55 gallon reptile tank and was thinking about getting 2 and putting a glass to seperate the 2 sides in case I get 2 males or 1 of each and dont want them breeding early. The cage has two sliders on the each side so I would have no trouble getting to each. Is this okay or will they nose rub with clear glass? Also I have read that I should start out with newspaper and then washed playsand. Is this correct. I ordered a book today on care so any help before it gets here would be appreciated!

Well for one thing a 55 is to big for babies. You will have to divide the tank. If you get larger ones you will need to seperate them if they are not the same size. Glass will not work as they will still be able to see each other.

Thanks for that info, do you know of anything I can seperate the tank with to house 2 of them. I was thinking of getting an older female and a younger male. That way we could keep them both but not have the risk of early mating. Any ideas would be helpful on housing too. I have read about self adhesive liner, where would I find that?

I use playsand... A piece of wood would keep them apart or put a picture or aquarium backing on the sides of the glass you use to seperate the dragons. I like your plan. Yes the female should be older.. Good luck

I found your webiste and was wondering if you have a store here in the DFW area? Right after christmas I will be investing in a beardie (my present) and was wondering if you sold local. I didnt see any listings on your website. Email me (webidmichelle@yahoo.com) if you can. Thanks for all your help!

If you're getting the dragons from different people, you need two setups, so you can quarantine them. A gallon tank is not big enough for two adults, so you may want to plan for the long term. You may want to consider getting one dragon (female) first and be 100% sure you have the time to care for two, and before you decide to breed them, please, please research a ton on how to raise the babies. Also, have an outlet for selling the baby dragons.

Thanks for that heads up, but if they were to ever breed, it would only be once. Most offices have fish tanks, well my office allows anything. We have dogs in here sometimes, my iguana, my fence lizard...etc. So after a breeding I would bring one of the adults up here, raise the hatchlings, keep another female to house with the mother and donate the rest to a local pet store and any friends I might have that would take care of them. Well that is what I am thinking. I am not doing this to make money in breeding, just the experience. And on the time, I have my lizards at work I see during the day and them my husband gets home at 3:30 and spends the afternoons doing the stuff at home. I think it will work out.
If I was to get 2 from the same breeder out of different clutchs, would I still need to quarantine them?

Just to warn you, it will cost you several hundred dollars to breed and raise on clutch...they need to be to a certain size before they go to anyone, even a petshop, and that many crix adds up fast. Not to mention all of the seperate setups for that many babies. Some people house them 3-4/cage as babies, but even that gets expensive. I'm not trying to discourage you from breeding, just pointing out a few things that a lot of people don't think about beforehand.

If you buy from the same breeder, from diff. clutches, chances are they will ship together, and cancel the purpose of quarantine. If you buy from someone local, see how they keep their cages, if the two clutches are in diff. parts of the house, I would quarantine.

I really dont want to breed, not that the money would be a huge problem because what I buy to house them I am sure I can donate or sell when I am done. I just want to have 2 that I raise, but since you cant sex them until they are older I either have to buy them older or buy 2 and hope I get both females. I am just trying to make sure that I dont put 2 together that will get hurt. I also have a 29ga reptile tank to seperate them if needed. Any suggestions on what I should do? I love the babies and bringing them up. My iggy was a handful the first 6 months and through the training so far and I enjoyed it.

Keep in mind that dragons don't really NEED company, they are actually solitary animals in the wild. Also, two females aren't guarenteed to get along. Some females can't stand other females....

From my own experiences, males are actually 'friendlier' with humans. My male was a lot more cuddly than the female every was, and seemed to enjoy being out far more than she did.

My advise would be to get one dragon, be sure you like them, and dealing with them. If you want another one later on, buy a second one. If they can go in together, great, if not, then you have 2 cages...