My male Beardie keeps attacking his reflection! What do I do?

[Ellen]

Hello Everyone,
I am having trouble with my male Beardie and the enclosure he is in. He is in a 65 gallon glass tank with a screen top. I have females that are also in a glass tank like this with out any problems. It is just my male because he can see his reflection in the glass on all 4 sides and thinks he is looking at another Dragon. Then he gets a black beard and starts trying to attack himself by running into the glass constantly hitting his head against the glass. The blacker he gets of course the worse he gets because he then thinks this other dragon is threatening him. It sound almost humorous but it gets old real fast.It has become a real problem this year. In the winter I don't have any problems because his lack of energy and wanting to brumate and such but in spring and summer when he has more energy he just goes crazy. He runs back and forth and bobbs at himself. And since he is in my living room he causes a commotion and frankly its driving me nuts. And it can't be fun for him thinking there is another male Beardie starring at him. Does anyone know what I can do? I don't have any money right now to buy any kind of other enclosure. I put paper like posters up with cool pics for him to look at on all sides but he still can see his reflection through them. I did the same thing with putting up hand towels trying to block his reflection. But that doesn't work either. He can still see himself. What do you all do when your male Beardie acts like this? I let him out of the cage a lot but he just get's cold quick and then goes and sleeps somewhere and I can't be doing that all the time because he needs to digest his food with heat. So I am at a lost. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[Kpontius]

My Bud is in a 75 gal tank and I experienced the same thing. I went to Petsmart and bought (sorry don’t know what it’s called) but it’s like you see in a aquarium but it’s a desert scene. It took 2 of them but wraped them around his tank (except front) on the outside. He doesn’t do it anymore. For me it was the cheapest way of fixing the problem. Hope this helps.


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[BeardedHippy]

by putting the aquarium backing on the inside you would eliminate the reflection altogether. I dont see why it would cause any problems on the inside, just make sure it is well fixed on.

 

[Ellen]

My Bud is in a 75 gal tank and I experienced the same thing. I went to Petsmart and bought (sorry don’t know what it’s called) but it’s like you see in a aquarium but it’s a desert scene. It took 2 of them but wraped them around his tank (except front) on the outside. He doesn’t do it anymore. For me it was the cheapest way of fixing the problem. Hope this helps.


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Hi, yeah that is what I was trying to achieve by printing out all these desert scenes and putting them all around his cage. But he could see still see his reflection even though they were and are still there. Maybe what you have would be different I don't know. I will have to go look. But I remember them being expensive and I don't have any money. :-( thanks!

 

[Ellen]

by putting the aquarium backing on the inside you would eliminate the reflection altogether. I dont see why it would cause any problems on the inside, just make sure it is well fixed on.

Now this is something I didn't think about. Probably because Imagine he would ruin it by stepping and hopping all over it. But maybe if I can get a sturdy one. I will have to go look. But like I was telling Kpontius I remember those things being pretty expensive and I dont have any money. And because my cage is so big I would have to buy more than one. :-( I have just enough money to feed my 3 Beadries and that can sometimes be difficult. My first Beardie was suppose to go to my son who was living with his dad at the time. but I soon realized that he was too young to be handling heat lamps and such and I knew his father wouldn't help him. My second one was me outside a baby Beadie tank ohhing and awwing over how cute they were and one was so pale and cool looking I just had to have him. He almost looked like a antique white you would paint your wall with or something. I have not seen one before or since in the pet stores quite like him. And of course back then I had a bit more money than I do now. This is the male I am talking about that has the reflection problem. LOL And then my third walked right into my garage one day and nearly into my kitty door when I found her. This wasn't too long ago. She is only like 6 months old or so, so I am back to buying more crickets and such too. I tried to find her home but no one came forward. And she was dying of thirst and her bones in the back pelvic area were sticking out and her lip was scared up from something so I ended up keeping her. What else could I do? And she is so sweet and precious! I already had a 10 gallon tank and all the accessories to put her in.. But now I have to find the money to get her a bigger cage. I think I am going to make her one like I did when I made an outside enclosure for my others in the spring time. Thanks for sharing. It's given me an idea.

 

[Kpontius]

Mine was large size 16 x 36 and it’s $12.00. But you are right and probably printing pictures do the same exact thing. The only think else was like a fake rock that people . They come in sheets but they are expensive. If things don’t get better maybe that can be last resort. Maybe (just thinking out loud) felt could be taped to the outside of tank. I use to use that for my liner before going to shelf paper. And maybe that would even work. They are both inexpensive.
Again, I keep putting ideas out but know when there is no money it doesn’t help.


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[Ellen]

Mine was large size 16 x 36 and it’s $12.00. But you are right and probably printing pictures do the same exact thing. The only think else was like a fake rock that people . They come in sheets but they are expensive. If things don’t get better maybe that can be last resort. Maybe (just thinking out loud) felt could be taped to the outside of tank. I use to use that for my liner before going to shelf paper. And maybe that would even work. They are both inexpensive.
Again, I keep putting ideas out but know when there is no money it doesn’t help.


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Yes, please do so. These are all ideas for me to check out. Thanks. If you keep thinking about things add it. That rock paper stuff that you put on the inside I never thought about and that would most likely work for sure. Now I just have to look at the price. Thanks

 

[BeardedHippy]

I think you should just get creative, its amazing what can be done on a budget. You dont have to use paper or plastic, it could be almost anything. Some straw mat (you know those things you lie on the beach on) for a natural look maybe, or some fabric if you have some. If you are artistic at all I m sure you can come up with some great ideas if you give it enough thought. Ask yourself ,what you have in your house that can maybe be repurposed, you can always change it when times are better. Id say how it looks for now is less important than how it affects behaviour.

 

[BeardedHippy]

Oooh! or some plywood! or make your own rocky background from paper mache' and grout....

 

[Hdrydr31]

Males do alot of surfing and head bobbing so what I have done is I have a room that is all safe for him to run off his energy..but some will surf and bob like crazy thankfully for most they grow out of it, some only go crazy (like mine) during Spring time as they look for mates.