Bearded Dragon to Bearded Dragon Aggression

Hi i am doing a college investigative project on why bearded dragons are aggressive towards one another if they are kept in a group.
I am wondering if anybody has experienced this with their Bearded Dragons and what you have done about it. Anything will help.

many thanks.

Simple answer,...you seperate them.

While there can be female to female aggression, the agression is more prevelant in males housed together. There is battle for dominance, territory, and breeding rights to any females.
Reptiles as a whole are not social animals, they gather to mate and then go on their way.
In the wild the subordinate animal would just leave the area.
In an enclosure that is not possible.
Is that what you are needing?

I think a big part of the aggression is competion, fight for the best food, fight for the best hides, fight for the best place to bask and fight for the best mate. Babies housed together often nip tails and toes, I think it's because they are little eating machines and wil eat anything that moves. People like to humanize animals, and that is where a lot of the trouble starts. We have to remeber these are animals that have insticts.

Originally Posted by Wyldrose

I think a big part of the aggression is competion, fight for the best food, fight for the best hides, fight for the best place to bask and fight for the best mate. Babies housed together often nip tails and toes, I think it's because they are little eating machines and wil eat anything that moves. People like to humanize animals, and that is where a lot of the trouble starts. We have to remeber these are animals that have insticts.

Hi, WE are also animals which behave in many ways according to instinct; survival of the fittest.... People like to separate themselves from "animals", but it cannot be done!

Thank you everybody your answers have been a big help. unfortunatley when i got my Bearded Dragons i was told they were all female and like you have said they aren't as aggressive as males, so i thought i could house them together. that was a bit of a mistake, i came home from college one day and one of the bearies had no tail, just a bloody stump. straight away i seperated them. i then checked again to see the sex of the Bearded Dragons and it turned out there are two males and a female. just goes to show many people are only interested in reptiles for the money instead of the education, interest and love for reptiles.
But what confused me more is that it was the female that had been attacked.

Again thank you for your help, and anymore advice would be most welcome.

Another thing is that the female Bearded Dragon has not grown .
the attack happened 6-7 months ago and since then she has hardly grown. the other two are three times the size. i feed her meal worms, crickets, hoppers and fruit and veggies, i just don't understand why she isn't growing.

That would be a very stressful situation for a female to be in! She was obviously the lowest on the totem pole, The males are probably getting the best basking spots, eating more than her. Survival of the fittest, poor girl doesn't have a chance. Hopefully you have separated them!

yes i have seperated them and she is making progress. she is still a fiesty little girl, with lots of spirit. she is going to do fine. she has grown a little but not as much as i would like.
she is very active and will always give her food a good chase. i just feel guilty for allowing it to happen.

Dont let it get you down. We all make mistakes and you learn from them. Luckly you figured it out before she was killed. Im sure they.will give them great care from now on