Can Bearded Dragons Live Together?

By
Lianne McLeod, DVM
Lianne McLeod DVM, small animal expert for The Spruce Pets
Lianne McLeod, DVM
Lianne McLeod, DVM, is a small animal and exotic pet expert with over a decade of experience writing about veterinary care. After caring for animals in her veterinarian practice, Lianne went on to study biology and research water quality and chronic disease at the University of Saskatchewan.
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Updated on 07/06/21
Fact checked by
Cherisse Harris
Cherisse Harris
Fact checked by Cherisse Harris

A meticulous researcher and editor with 17 years of fact-checking experience, Cherisse Harris reviews articles at The Spruce Pets for factual accuracy and consistency. She has fact-checked articles for multiple publications, including InStyle Magazine, Refinery29, The New York Times, Seventeen, and Details.

Learn more about The Spruce Pets' Editorial Process
Three bearded dragons sitting on top of each other

Multi-bits / The Image Bank / Getty Images

Have you wondered whether or not bearded dragons can live together? Keeping bearded dragons together is commonly mentioned but highly debated on some forums. There is no set answer to this question: it can work in some situations, but sometimes bearded dragons need to be kept separately.

Bearded Dragons Live Together

The Spruce / Elnora Turner

Answer

That is actually a tough question to answer because it depends on the individuals and the set-up. There are things that can increase the chances of this working:

  • A large enclosure. Bearded dragons need a fairly large enclosure to start with, and if you are keeping more than one in a tank then the larger the better so they can have some space to "call their own." We'd recommend at least a 125-gallon tank for housing more than one bearded dragon together.
  • Bearded dragons that are kept together should be roughly the same size as this will avoid the situation of larger beardies dominating smaller ones.
  • Never put more than one male in a tank.
  • A female should not be housed with males until she is about two years old (old enough to breed), and make sure she is healthy and in good condition. Younger, smaller, or unhealthy dragons are likely to run into problems including egg binding.

Even when all these conditions are met, sometimes they will not get along as it depends on the individuals involved. Also, males may be too aggressive with females, especially during the breeding season, so they may need to be separated. If you choose to house bearded dragons together, just keep in mind that you may need to separate them if it isn't working out.

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