Our new adopted Beardies!

Wow....A few months ago, I fell for and brought home a small mountain horned dragon (Ziggy), and today we find ourselves the owners of three lizards. This past weekend we adopted two full grown adults Beardies, one male and one female and they seem to be acclimating just great!

I REALLY love this enclosure that is set up for them. Am open to/would love suggestions and comments from you long time Beardie devotees. Their enclosure is 3x4, open top, with two different heat lights/basking spots (95-105 degrees or so) that have logs underneath to climb up close and keep warm. They are eating superworms, greens (collard sprinkled w/shredded carrots/zucchini) and crickets so far, he more than she, I think she is still settling in a bit.

I was told they are just over a year old. He is about 20 inches long, she is a tiny bit less but seems a bit wider/fat. Gravid maybe? Hmmmm. Will have to watch. They are quite funny. Had him out and running all over the room last night exploring things. She is more laid-back and seemed to enjoy her head being rubbed along w/her throat. Oh, they came with names 'Roscoe & Daisy', but not really loving those...Trying to think of new ones. 'Sid & Nancy'? 'Ricky & Lucy'? 'Fred & Ethel'? We don't know yet...Open to ideas!

Update: Had them out again, handling them and letting them run around the floor of a closed room. We have decided to call him "Thor"...he was hilarious! Is showing all of the mating behavior, turned beautiful BRIGHT orange and started the head bob, then he full out *tackled* her and nipped her neck, she waved her lil hand and it stopped there. They did this three times. He must have wore himself out, cuz then he had 5 more supers for a snack. We are loving these guys already. SO much fun.

Oh,and her name is "Cera"...she's quieter and much more calmer than Thor.

bump.

They, and their set-up, are really beautiful Donna. Someone took good care of them. Did the set-up come with them? One thing to watch for....males will overbreed females, very stressful for a girl so it's good to have a separate enclosure to put the male in at least to give her a break. You will want to watch to see if she is not basking as much, it looks like the male is in the basking spot in the pics. Other than that, they both seem to be in great shape.

Hey thanks Angie!

Yes, the enclosure came with them, and I was really psyched about it, because setting up a nice environment can be so much work and $$$. Only thing we did was seal off where the glass meets the platform so the substrate stopped seeping out, and then we added the desert wall paper etc, as the glass seemed to be really driving Thor crazy. Still does a little bit. When we found them, we really felt like they had been taken great care of too. Previous owner was quite nice and knowledgeable. I felt like if somebody goes to the trouble to make an enclosure like that for their pet, they more than likely have been giving great care in other areas too.

I was just reading more info today about the overbreeding in lizards and how hard it can be on the females. The prior owner/builder told us that he designed the enclosure so that it can be cut down to two separate areas fairly easily, gave is extra panes/partitions for it etc. but I haven't looked at how that is set up yet. Now that I've read more and heard from you that he might harass her to death, I better look into this!

Anyways, I am glad to hear your opinion on them, I was thinking that they were a little chunky and they do eat a LOT! I will definitely watch for the basking issue w/her. I have had them out on the floor, and they are definitely engaging in the behaviors. Darting at her, nipping her neck, the arm wave etc. He gets BRIGHT orange. He is an active dude, she is much more docile and quiet. I am kinda wondering if she is gravid right now she seems so big and pretty wide.

May be a dumb question, but if I do not want to become a breeder, is it considered bad form to just not incubate the eggs etc? I just don't feel like I have nearly enough experience at this point to even attempt that, and wasn't sure how to go about handling the eggs should they appear.

Yes, just throw them away. Some people think you have to put them in the freezer to kill them and keep them from hatching somewhere in a garbage dump, but that's not necessary at all.

Okay, thanks again Angie....I will do that. Just was starting to feel some wierd kind of obligation to try and get them to hatch etc. Your input has been invaluable. So glad I found this site!

-Donna B.