# Water Dragon Cannibalism.



## baker (Jan 11, 2017)

Certainly not the greatest of photos but a rather interesting behavioural observation none the less. 
While performing water dragon surveys today I came across this adult male that had killed and was beginning to consume one of the resident females within his territory. While cannibalism is nothing new in water dragons, it is typically adults and sub-adults feeding on hatchlings and young dragons. To my knowledge and that of the people in the lab I am assisting, cannibalism of another adult has not been recorded. Would be interesting to hear if anyone else has observed this sort of behaviour before in Australian agamids.

Also before people ask, I am 98% sure he killed her. I wasn't fortunate to see it, but I had someone come up and tell me one dragon had another by the head while I was recording a separate dragon. Thinking it was mating I quickly finished up recording the dragon I was examining and went over. By the time I got there he had crushed her head and it was over. When I collected her body for dissection it was still warm along with exhibiting damage to the tail further suggesting predation (or at the least mating gone horribly wrong). 
I observed him for approximately 15 minutes afterwards were he then began to consume the head. During this period he also prevented another female from coming near the body along with pulling it further into the bushes.





Cheers, Cameron


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## Nero Egernia (Jan 13, 2017)

This seems to show that there's always a chance, however small or large, of reptiles cannibalizing each other, regardless of an individual's size. Did he manage to consume all of her?


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## Aussie_monitors (Jan 13, 2017)

Not exactly to do with the original post, but I recently witness a water dragon having a feed on some roadkill. Very interesting.


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## princessparrot (Jan 13, 2017)

Ok, this makes me really scared to house my baby's together...
obviously I'm going to wait till the little one is abit bigger but anyway...


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## pinefamily (Jan 13, 2017)

Not so much to worry about at that age, Princessparrot. Only the usual dominance issues, as with most dragons.


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## princessparrot (Jan 13, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> Not so much to worry about at that age, Princessparrot. Only the usual dominance issues, as with most dragons.


How about when they're bigger and I move them outside?


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## pinefamily (Jan 13, 2017)

I'd be cautious keeping all three together, unless you build a large enough enclosure.


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## princessparrot (Jan 13, 2017)

pinefamily said:


> I'd be cautious keeping all three together, unless you build a large enough enclosure.


I was planning on using one about2.5-1.5-2m... Whether that's big enough for all three I'm not sure... Might need to look into making an extra on...


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## dragonlover1 (Jan 13, 2017)

my son and I were planning on using an old aviary about 8' square for water dragons _when_ we get them


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## princessparrot (Jan 13, 2017)

dragonlover1 said:


> my son and I were planning on using an old aviary about 8' square for water dragons _when_ we get them


Yeah that's what I'm doing.
just waiting for them to get big enough!


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## baker (Jan 13, 2017)

Certainly is a good reminder for people that no matter how long two or more reptiles have lived together it doesn't mean everything will always be fine. Nah he didn't. I ended up collecting the body off him after about 15 minutes so that it could be dissected later on to see if she was gravid or ovulating at all. 

Hahaha I've seen that as well Aussie_monitors. I was doing a survey and came across a male feeding on a roadkill possum, was an interesting day. 

Big enough pit princessparrot and you shouldn't have a problem. Water dragons are a much more tolerant species to living in groups, just have to watch for dominance issues but you shouldn't have a problem. This is the first time anyone in the lab had heard of an adult cannibalising another adult. Cannibalism in general doesn't seem that common with only another four times I know of it being observed while surveying. Of course we could just be missing it. All but this one event have been adults and sub-adults predating on hatchlings and individuals less than a year old. 

Cheers, Cameron.


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## princessparrot (Apr 1, 2017)

What are the chances of a water dragon eating a bearded dragon? Just I housed to small/young ones together and they seemed like best a friends but the water dragon suddenly took off in growth and is now more than twice the beardies size!

this was them before


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## Wally (Apr 1, 2017)

^^ Better than average.


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## Aussie_monitors (Apr 1, 2017)

Wild Jacky dragons


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## princessparrot (Apr 1, 2017)

Wally said:


> ^^ Better than average.


so is it likely to happen? If so is it more likely to happen as adults than young ones or about even


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## pinefamily (Apr 1, 2017)

In your case PP it is likely because of the size difference you mentioned.


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## princessparrot (Apr 1, 2017)

Ok. Might have to separate them then


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## Wally (Apr 2, 2017)

I'd hate for someone to say it's OK to go ahead and do it and something were to happen. Prevention is the best cure.


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