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Female beardie behavior...Normal?

maggiemay1969

maggiemay1969

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Hi guys (and gals!)

Okay, so I have my two beardies, one female/one male, both adults.
They are housed together. Had been together when I adopted them and they seem to get along great.

When we got them home, the male did all the typical behaviors I've read about. (head bob/black beard/tackling her) and she did the typical response, (arm wave and slow head bob etc.) She seemed very quiet, kinda slow moving, submissive...and he was opposite, quite active physically and just very rambunctious.

Recently though, I'd say the past 7-10 days, it's like they have TOTALLY reversed roles....He is still pretty physically active when I have them out on the floor, but she is being CRAZY aggressive now towards him. She is head bobbing him like mad and trying to get his attention. At most, he will come up to her, but then kind of turns away. It seems to make her nuts. Would almost think she is the male (but I know she isn't per prior owner)...

She has started lying on top of him in their enclosure an awful lot and he seems very accepting of this. And she has started to kind of take over his normal basking spot, on the highest piece of wood in their enclosure. She just seems to be acting more aggressive (dare I say--kinda snotty) as of late.

Are her actions typical of females at times? And is this indicative of something? I have read that both sexes can display behaviors, but this has been really drastic. He is in no way being 'submissive', but she has become a bit of a tyrant and he just lets her be and kinda moves on...

Any input on this would be great!...They aren't 'fighting' by any means, just reversing roles in dominance and not sure why...

Thanks all!:shrug01:
 
Any chance that she's gravid and wants to be alone? My first thought would be that you need to separate them. I had a pair housed together for many months, but once the male started becoming sexually mature, I had to house them separately. They are both doing much better now.
 
She is rejecting him. She could be gravid and she is say no more lol. Did you ever see them mate? She can also be becoming the dominate one. I have had it happen were if the male shows any like submisive behavior she will chase him off and show him whose boss. Just my experience.
 
No, have never seen them actually in the act of mating. I don't *think* she is gravid, have seen none of the digging behaviors etc. yet. And Matt, it's really wierd though, when they are in their enclosure (3x4 feet) they rarely bother each other, but when we have one out, they really get agitated at times, when both are on the floor is when she goes apes*it. And he just seems to blow her off. It's just really wierd.

Oh, on another note, just picked up a small dubia colony at an expo, have heard that roaches are so much better for them...They are so huge, was afraid to feed them to my beardies. but WOW. they scarf em up. Such a violent dinner. ;) but cool. Like knowing they are eating something better for them.
 
That does seem strange, but my little guys (not all are really so "little" anymore) never get on the floor because I have dogs. Well, one of them did the other day, but only because he jumped out of my hands! I was kneeling to do something and my pit-boxer got too close for his comfort. Clyde (my only male dragon) dove a couple of feet to the floor and took off. He only made it about 15 feet or so when he FROZE, looking at my overweight Beagle mix. He didn't realize that rolling over just enough to see what the commotion was about, was ALL the energy that dog could muster!!! :rofl:

As far as the roaches, I made the switch just over a month ago and I couldn't be happier. The fact that the dragons will get more benefit from it makes it one of the best decisions I've made this year!
 
That is so funny....at first we didn't allow our dogs (2 big yellow labs) in the room w/the beardies...We have started allowing them limited time/proximity w/each other now.

My male beardie Thor, is not the LEAST bit afraid of these two labs, (one is 70lbs other is 90lbs). Comes right up to our big lab 'Hoss' and licks his nose. Hoss is great, just sits/lies there, and when we tell him how good he is, then he gets up and backs away from the dragons. Doesn't want to hurt them at all. So sweet and gentle w/them. My girl lab though, wants to play w/them sooooooooo bad. She has actually been doing the play bow w/them, as if they are small dogs! so I have to keep her a few feet away at least. Silly girl....

About the roaches, I couldn't agree more. Can you tell me how many roaches is okay? When we first got them, Thor ate THREE of them and they are huge! He wasn't very hungry Sunday or this a.m....hasn't touched his greens and didn't want another roach. I'm guessing these roaches keep them full much longer? Cera ate two of them the other day and has seemed content since then too....Since they are so much bigger, should I be feeding them live insects less often?
 
From what I've seen of how much more they're chewing the roaches, I think they can handle roaches bigger than the crickets I was feeding them, but you still don't want to feed them too large. Impaction can be fatal.

I'm not sure how many mine each eat, but I'll feed them 2 or 3 times per day, throwing several in until they don't seem so eager to chase them down. More, smaller meals will be better for them.
 
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