Female Bearded Dragon Weird Behaviour

[Bella_White]

My 5 1/2 month old bearded dragon is acting weird.
She is constantly hiding (in the dark thus getting cold), barely eating leading to no bowl movements. I have her in an enclosure with her two brothers. Last night one of the boys bit onto her ear area (the spikes), i had to grab him off. He has been displaying himself as though she is on 'heat'. Now these are the first dragons i have had so i do not know much about their sexual maturity thus i am not sure why they are doing this. I took her out and the boys continued to head bob and she was sitting on my knee waving at them.....
I think she is hiding because of the boys and i have therefore moved her to another tank where she is a bit more active but still not eating real well.
What do you guys think is happening here?

She weighs 92g and is 31.5 cm long. She is also not spreading herself out flat but instead is staying very oval and puffed out at times.

 

[DA_GRIZ]

chances are the male was trying to dominate and possible try mate with her, and its winter so she has prob started brumating

 

[Bella_White]

. So what should i be doing?
I have separated them. But her whole hiding till she gets really cold and the not eating has me worried. Is this normal. How much or how often should i be feeding her? Should i let her hide and get really cold or should i try to keep her tank warmish so she doesn't get too cold. I live up in the Blue Mountains so it gets pretty cold up here. Max daytime temp is about 12-14degrees, with the night low of 4-5degrees.

 

[DA_GRIZ]

if you don't want her to brumate put the temperature up abit but chances are she has gone down and wont come back up often.

she wont eat for a few months and keep them seperated cause if there big enough to mate , it can be very dangerous for her.

 

[jimbomma]

very common for them not to eat during brumation. couple of my beardies are doing it at the moment. especially the females. i keep the temps up and they do it anyway. still offer her greens every now and then and keep the water up. be sure to feed her as much as she'll eat when she 'wakes up' in a couple of months. may be best to keep her away from the boys to. my males don't seem to brumate like the females. much more active.

good luck

 

[Bella_White]

Should i keep her in a darkish place? keep the UVB lights still on her.....

 

[jimbomma]

i give mine hide holes or thick fake plants for mine to hide in. they can come out if they wish. definately keep the lights on.

 

[Bella_White]

yeah she has been hiding behind a plant.

 

[Lollypop]

Hi. For the first winter, at 5 1/2 mths old, u hope they don't brumate, but u can't stop them!, & it doesn't hurt them.
It might be worthwhile to keep the temps & lighting up as normal for a wk or so, just in case she was hiding from the males - how old are the males by the way? The grabbing on the neck is a sign of mating, which u definitely don't want at her age & not with her brothers, so good u moved her. Just remember, if she can still see the males from her viv, she'll still hide, so if that's the case & u have nowhere else to put her, place something up - blanket, stuff u cover books with (can't think of the name of it) etc - to block the view.
Be aware that if the males have already become sexually active to be super vigilant about their behaviour towards each other - I'd be seperating them too at this point.

 

[Bella_White]

The boys are the same age as her 5 1/2 months. The enclosure she is in is below the males so they can not see each other.
How do i know when the males have become sexually active?

 

[Lollypop]

From what you've described they already are, but it's awful young for them - usually notice more around the 1yr age. The headbobbing & jumping on & holding her down by biting her neck are pretty good signs though!
I would really be seperating your males too, as whereas the male will intimidate & keep trying to mate with a female, not only can one male dominate over the other, but the 2 males can end up fighting aggressively, & if you're not home to stop it........

How's your female? Give her a day or 2 more to get over relocation stress, & in the mean time study up on brumation re lights/heating etc., or pop back on & I'm sure we can all talk u thru it a bit more in depth.