I had gotten a second beardie recently, bout half the size of my first, introduced him/her and kept a close eye on them for about a week. the both ate fine, bout 50 crickets a week a piece. Got up two days ago, went to work came home and got ready to feed them and I noticed my larger was fat as hell and a bit lumpy........ and Kevin ( my new one) was gone. Zero chance he escaped as well, top is secure and both my room mates ride with me to work. he crapped a lot today and he smaller again and ate a few crickets, sucks but survival of the fittest i guess. Anything like this ever happen to any of you?
my beardie ate my...... beardie
- Thread starter Gath
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It was enough of a risk already just introducing two possibly territorial animals (you didn't even know if both were male?) in the same enclosure, but this? Good lord, this is basic herp knowledge here: you NEVER house wildly different sizes in the same tank!
This was completely avoidable and there is no excuse for it.
eh i dont really feel bad, they were both pretty small ( larger maybe 6 in) plus not only were both that i got from the same pet store, but they housed their beardies together and they told me it would be fine. So, while lesson learned, I don't necessarily feel at fault.
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Pet stores are notorious for handing out crap advice.
Honestly, their motive is to push the product at any given expense.
Anyone on the boards will tell you this, particularly involving tarantula care.
That said, I'm glad you 'learned your lesson' (But did you really? I question this) and as everyone else said, this was completely avoidable and quite frankly a rather sense lacking action. Survival of the fittest doesn't apply in a domesticated 40 gallon tank.
Honestly, their motive is to push the product at any given expense.
Anyone on the boards will tell you this, particularly involving tarantula care.
That said, I'm glad you 'learned your lesson' (But did you really? I question this) and as everyone else said, this was completely avoidable and quite frankly a rather sense lacking action. Survival of the fittest doesn't apply in a domesticated 40 gallon tank.
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Blaming your unfortunate situation on the care methods and advice given to you at a pet store is no excuse for a lack of research. Its not as though reputable bearded dragon care sheets are in short supply. This could have been avoided if you had used Google.
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You are absolutely at fault. Research is YOUR responsibility; you cannot simply blame the pet store for giving bad advice when you're the one who accepted this single source of information at face value.
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If you don't feel at fault for the death of an innocent animal due to your carelessness, perhaps you're not ready to own one.
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If you had been feeding them properly, maybe he wouldn't have eaten his tank mate. Did you do any reserch before you got a dragon? They need 50 crickets or more a DAY, not a week. You should be turned in for animal neglect.
ive found a couple care sheets that say you should feed them as much as they eat in 15 mins twice a day, and i did. as for not reading, ive seen and been told that babies (and yes, they were both small as hell, larger MAYBE 6 in, not even as large as my hand) can be housed together. as for being condescending, its not really necessary, I screwed up, i should have read more... ok. And just because i dont feel like im at fault, doesnt mean i dont feel like crap it happened and i didnt learn from it. Hopefully someone else new will see this and learn from i too. now can we please end this
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I have never had a dragon come close to eating that much. My current dragon is perfectly healthy as well according to my vet. Young dragons are housed together all the time by pet stores, breeders, etc... However, they really should be the same size. One dragon that is significantly larger than the other would have a hard time resisting that temptation. Instinctively they will try and survive through any means necessary I guess... it really is a shame though.
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way to research basic reptile husbandry before getting a reptile or two
D-bag
D-bag
eh, mistakes happen. research would have prevented that mistake though.
when housing two animals in one cage you need to make sure five requirements are met.
1. are they the same size?
2. do they fight? and if so do you have to males or two females or one of each?
3. is your cage big enough?
4. is it advisable to house two together in the first place.
5. can you make sure they are fed equally? one shouldnt eat more then the other.
i make sure i can watch my cage for 24 hours when i introduce another animal to a enclosure, and if any sign of aggression occurs the new animal is removed.
and Gath, i would ignore those replies saying no excuse for what you did and that crap, we all make mistakes, and i'll admit i made this same mistake with my first anoles, only difference was they killed each other and no one got eaten. its just that some people dont wanna admit there foolish mistakes while criticizing others, making them hypocrites.
when housing two animals in one cage you need to make sure five requirements are met.
1. are they the same size?
2. do they fight? and if so do you have to males or two females or one of each?
3. is your cage big enough?
4. is it advisable to house two together in the first place.
5. can you make sure they are fed equally? one shouldnt eat more then the other.
i make sure i can watch my cage for 24 hours when i introduce another animal to a enclosure, and if any sign of aggression occurs the new animal is removed.
and Gath, i would ignore those replies saying no excuse for what you did and that crap, we all make mistakes, and i'll admit i made this same mistake with my first anoles, only difference was they killed each other and no one got eaten. its just that some people dont wanna admit there foolish mistakes while criticizing others, making them hypocrites.
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Actually, no, most of us did some research. And I for one have never had any pet mutilate or kill any other pet, especially not for easily preventable reasons that ten seconds on Google would have warned me about. So no, not a hypocrite here, but nice try.
Accidents happen. I've made a few in my time and I'm sure I wont think to google every decision I make regarding my pets so they'll continue to happen as well. While it was a pretty stupid mistake to make....like I said, mistakes happen! Live and learn. Dont need to try and force someone out of the hobby.
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I'm not doing anything of the sort, it's just that "oh well, I don't consider myself responsible" for doing something that careless and clearly doing zero research beforehand REALLY rubs some of us the wrong way.
Either way, eh, I've made my point and I'll back out of the thread.That wasn't entirely directed at you....more a general statement. The "oops, oh well" attitude isn't the greatest, I'll 100% agree. I'll also agree that proper research should be done when taking the life of another animal into your responsibility. Do it right or dont do it at all, but there's a way to doing it right and sadly that way sometimes involves learning from mistakes.
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