Are Bearded Dragons Territorial? Can They Live Together?

When it comes to housing bearded dragons, there are a lot of things to consider. Do they have enough room? Are they getting enough warmth and heat?

Should they live on their own, or do they need another beardie for the company?

These are all important, and it comes without surprise that many bearded dragons are often seen alone in their enclosures, with no other beardies in sight.

Many bearded dragon owners will know that these creatures truly are one of a kind and will leave these dragon parents wanting more of the little guys once they experience how unique and wholesome they are.

However, many often wonder if you can have more than one of these reptiles at once and whether you can have two of them living in the same enclosure.

Follow our guide to find out if bearded dragons need their own space, the reasons for this, and whether you can have more than one bearded dragon in the same home.

After all, your beardie’s health and well-being are the most important thing!

How Much Space Do Bearded Dragons Need?

When it comes to housing bearded dragon babies, there is always going to be some degree of concern over what size enclosure you should provide to ensure sufficient space for these lizards to thrive.

Many people worry about how big an enclosure they need to keep their animals healthy and happy, but not everyone has a large enough area available to house their reptiles sufficiently and comfortably.

If this is the case, then you need to ensure that you make room because your dragon deserves a good quality of life.

The first thing to consider when thinking about adding a bearded dragon into your home is where each individual will be housed.

For example, do you have a tank already set up and ready to go? This is always the easiest thing.

Alternatively, you could build a new enclosure specifically designed for bearded dragons. Either way, you’ll need to make sure that you don’t run out of space.

The next step would be to think about how much space you need to offer your bearded dragon.

It would be best to take into consideration the size of the cage you currently have as well as how much space you want to allocate to the bearded lizard.

This will help you determine the right amount of space you need to give each lizard.

Why Shouldn’t Bearded Dragons Live Together?

Bearded dragons don’t usually get along very well together, and this can lead to serious problems.

If you have more than one bearded lizard, then you may notice that they tend to fight against one another and even bite each other.

This isn’t something you want to see happen in your household.

You wouldn’t want to risk any harm coming to your baby dragons, and you certainly don’t want to see them hurt one another.

However, there are rare cases where bearded dragons have been known to get along with each other and thrive together in the same enclosed space.

This can be a huge risk, though, and will mean that there is a big chance that these creatures might not get along and will show signs of aggression or stress.

Do Bearded Dragons Live Together In The Wild?

No, they don’t live together in the wild.

Male bearded dragons and female bearded dragons generally prefer to stay apart from each other and avoid mating with members of the opposite sex.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that male bearded dragons won’t seek out females, but they don’t actively try to mate with females as much as you’d think.

However, this doesn’t mean that two males cannot form a bond with each other and become friends.

For instance, you may meet a couple of male bearded dragons, and after observing them closely, you realize that they seem like they’re getting on quite well together.

This is likely to happen because males will sometimes choose to associate with other males if they feel that they aren’t a threat because of females or food sources.

Will My Beardie Feel Lonely On Its Own?

Bearded dragons, like other creatures on our planet, have evolved over many years to thrive and survive on their own.

Naturally, they will run into other bearded dragons and animals whilst on their travels. However, these reptiles will rarely feel stressed or anxious when on their own.

The fact of the matter is that these creatures are quite good on their own and will thrive in solidarity.

On top of this, they will relish the time to do what they want and not have to worry about other entities invading their space, taking their food, and potentially putting them on edge.

Cons Of Having Two Beardies In One Space

If you decide to keep both of your bearded lizards in the same enclosure, then you should know that there could be several cons to doing so.

Here we look at some of the most common ones:

They Might End Up Fighting

Having two bearded dragons living together in an enclosure means that you’ll be giving them access to each other, and you can expect to see fighting between the two of them.

This can cause injury and death for your pets.

Also, you shouldn’t leave the enclosure open for too long, as this allows the bearded dragons to escape, especially if they’re trying to get away from the other beardie.

Unwanted Interactions

Another issue is that the bearded dragons will interact with each other, and this can result in unwanted behavior.

For example, they might start rubbing against each other, and this can lead to biting.

They Could Get Sick From Each Other

Another thing to consider is that bearded dragons can catch diseases from one another. This will make them sick, and they can end up dying.

It’s important to monitor how they’re interacting with each other and make sure that they’re not behaving differently, as this can be a sign of sickness or disease.

You May Have To Clean Their Enclosures More Frequently

When you have more than one animal in your enclosure, you will need to clean it regularly.

If you have two bearded dragons, then you will need to clean twice as often as if you had just one lizard.

The reason why is that you will have two mouths eating food, which will need cleaning.

There Will Be Less Room For Your Lizards

You will find that having two bearded dragons in your enclosure will limit the amount of room that you have available for your pet.

If you have only enough room for one lizard, then you will have less space to thrive and move around in.

However, this can be solved by having a larger enclosure. However, this is more expensive and is often a luxury not all people can afford.

Having A Male And A Female Together

Although this method does tend to work better than having two males together in the same enclosure, you need to be prepared that when a male and a female share the same space, they’re most likely going to end up mating.

It’s an instinct for these animals to breed, and it will be more than common for them to end up doing this when sharing the same small space.

However, when a male starts to get into the mind-frame of wanting to mate, they can become fairly aggressive and will often become intimidating to their female counterpart, which you don’t want to happen.

This will likely mean that the female beardie ends up getting hurt, which no reptile owner wants to happen to their pet.

Male bearded dragons have been known to bite females to show dominance and will often target the female’s mouth or neck to stop them from escaping.

This is behavior that we recommend you discourage by either separating them or, if you haven’t done it yet, avoiding putting these creatures together.

How Many Eggs Will A Bearded Dragon Produce?

We all know that some species of reptile will produce a lot of eggs when in heat, with bearded dragons being no exception to this.

It’s believed that a female bearded dragon will lay approximately 20 eggs for every clutch, with 3 or 4 clutches occurring over a mating process.

The result of this is anywhere between 40 and 80 eggs being present in a bearded dragon enclosure, which we don’t need to tell you, is a lot.

Pairing a female beardie with a male if they’re too young can cause a lot of health problems and complications if the male tries to mate with the female before they’re mature enough.

We recommend allowing your female bearded dragon to be around 2 years of age before attempting to pair them up with a male beardie.

Always get your reptile checked out at a vet if you’re unsure about the age of your beardie and whether they’re sexually mature yet.

Aggression In Mating Season

We don’t need to tell you that bearded dragons can become territorial, much like any other creature in the animal kingdom.

However, much like with other living things, male specimens will tend to get aggressive and territorial when a female is introduced between multiple males at once.

They will most likely fight to be the more dominant out of the group to win the female over.

Asserting dominance is a classic technique for reptiles to be the more ‘perfect’ mate.

For this reason, we recommend having a long think before introducing multiple bearded dragons together.

Whether they be male or female, there are often a lot of complications that can arise and put their health at risk.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, you can have more than one bearded dragon in the same space, but there are lots of different things to consider, like the gender of the inhabitants and the amount of space that they have throughout their home.

We recommend only having one beardie at a time because of how territorial some of them can get. However, we want you to ensure that the health of your bearded dragon, or dragons, is of paramount importance.

At the end of the day, the health of our pets is at the top of the priority list, which is the main thing, after all.

Hopefully, our guide has provided you with enough information to answer your question or any problems you may have been having with your reptile friends.

Frequently Asked Questions