New beardies

[Dark_Angel_x322]

My little sister just got 2 beardie babies about a week ago and the one just shed and now has red highlights along it's body and on its head. Is this a type of morph? Do beardies have morphs? And my sister has the 2 in a 55 gal and was told by a breeder that that would be fine for their whole lives, Is that true?

I have to say they are the cutest little things and have such great personalities. I was thinking of getting more leos at the Chicago reptile show but now I am thinking maybe I want a beardie. :D Any info would be great... She has care sheets and I think the book... or she is getting the book this week or something... all i know is she does have info on them but nothing beats first hand accounts.

Thanks!

[Big Mike]

I think the more widely used term for bearded dragons is phase. They have color phases rather than morphs. People will argue that to no end though.

They do tend to gain more color with each shed so maybe your sister's will be quite red when it gets older.

As far as two of them in a 55 gal...maybe or maybe not. Once they reach sexual maturity there will be some issues. A male will try to breed with a female weather she is big enough of not. Males may get territorial and fight. Females have even been known to get aggressive toward each other. There might even be some trouble if one intimidates the other for food. All that being said...quite a lot of people do keep them together in groups of two or more with no problems at all. Also a 55 gal tank is not very big for full grown adults. Consider getting something bigger...

Thinking of getting some of your own? They are great. They are very easy to take care of, once you get them set up properly. They have great "personality" and are tons of fun.

[Kappa]

Hey, I have 2 beardies also. I keep my guys together and havent had any problems yet. If shes starting them off in a 55 make sure they have a lot of hiding spots so they feel safe from predators. A 55 will NOT fit 2 full grown beardies because they will probably reach over 20' in size. If possible custom tanks are the best. Since standard is 18' wide it really does them no good, 24' wide is ideal. Check out your local specialty fish store they usually do custom tanks and fit it to your exact requirements and if you tell them its for a reptile and wont have water in it they use thinner glass and save yourself alot of $$$.
Kasper

[cssm03]

Im Dark_Angel_x322 little sister. How big of a tank do you suggest? long? tall? High? and when reading online i read that they dont get bigger than 16'... your telling me they get to be 20'!

[ohh_kristina]

If you have two females, I wouldn't worry about anything except a larger enclosure when they're grown. A 55g won't do.
If you have a male and a female, I would seperate them until the female is at least 18 months of age. If she breeds before this age, that may cut a few years off of her life span. It's a risk that I personally would not take.
If you have two males, you need to seperate them also. Most of the time, two males will fight.

[Big Mike]

Rather than a custom fish tank...how about a custom enclosure that would be better for a BD. Tanks don't provide much ventilation nor do they hold moisture when you want them too.

[drewlowe]

ccsm yes they get bigger than 16". My male is a bit over 19" and my female is a tad bit shorter than him. I house my male and female in a 75 gallon tank (for now). i got them a huge display case that i'm going to make into a nice enclosure, eventually.

[eyespy]

Wooden enclosures save a lot of money in the long run as they hold in heat much better. I feel a bare minimum cage size is 4x2x2, and that is good for either one or two. It's tough for a beardie to have large enough temperature zones for proper thermoregulation in smaller cages, plus a cage should be longer than the animal in every direction so that s/he's not constantly brushing up against cage walls. Average beardie size is roughly 18-22 inches although there's a pretty wide variety in sizes and shapes. Some exceed 24 inches, in which case even a 4x2x2 is too small.

[cssm03]

my tank is 48in. long, 18in. wide, and 30in. tall.

[jay76]

Are you feeding them crickets in the tank? A 55 might actually be too big for babies... if crix get hide long enough they get to be adult sized and they are SERIOUSLY annoying. I wound up totally ripping an enclosure apart to find the one little ******* that was ruining my sleep. A separate feeding box would cure that, plus, you can keep an eye on who's eating how many as well.

[eyespy]

If a beardie gets longer than 17 inches, that 18 inch width will be a bit of a problem. Fishtanks in general don't have a very good floor plan for reptiles. The square footage is fine but the dimensions are all off. More height than needed, not enough width.

I always use separate feeding stations for beardies so there's no risk of loose crickets chewing on beardies when they are asleep. If you do that, the cage is a fine size for the babies. They'll have plenty of room to exercise and get nice strong muscles. I use plastic shoeboxes to hold in the crickets at mealtimes and just put the whole box in the cage. The beardies can climb out when they are finished eating but the sides are too high and slippery for the crickets to escape.

[cssm03]

i was wrong on the size its 4ft 1ft 2ft

[cssm03]

picture of Nile

[cssm03]

Picture of Sandstorm