female bearded dragon attacked male bearded dragon

Question
QUESTION: So I was cleaning the bearded dragons terrarium and was putting the carpet back in, and bad my female who is about 8 inches with my male who is about 4-5 inches, for a very short period of time.  She attacked him, I heard 2 popping type sounds and she wouldn't let go.I picked her up and finally got her to release him, he was very puffed up at this time, and his mouth was wide open and tongue sticking out,  he is still not really moving much,  has his eyes (both of them)closed,there is no blood, no swelling, but he goes flat every time I try.and handle him and he gets black.  I am very worried she either popped his eyes, or really broke something in his head and he wont survive can i do something to help him. Please help me.

ANSWER: Hello Stacy,

Oh no, I am sorry to hear that!
The female, is she an adult & the male is a baby?  
Do you have pictures I could see?  Are there any puncture wounds that are noticeable or not?
If you heard a popping or crunching noise, something was most likely broken.  Is he still lethargic?
Is his beard black with him just being in his tank before you try handling him?
He could just be extremely traumatized which is why he flattens out & turns black.  Are both of his eyes still closed?  
If he does not improve quickly, he may need to see the vet for x-rays to see if anything is broken.  
You do need to try & assess if his jaw is broken so if you need to, you can feed him without hurting him.  If it is broken, then you will need to get the tiny feeding tubes (rubber) to get food into him, carefully.

Let me know how he is doing.
Tracie

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------


the baby wilson  

Jill   QUESTION: Tracie,
thanks so much, Wilson the baby is actually doing so much better, I put a tiny bit of neosporin on his eye that looked bad, there was no blood just he wouldn't open it at all, and now he opened it, yay !  I tried him in the feeding tank with crickets and he wouldn't eat, but then I cut up kale, strawberries, and he chowed those right down.  So I think his shock may be over, not sure ?  He does seem to go flat as soon as any noise happens is this a scared thing ?  
Jill the one that went after Wilson is only about 7 months old, and Wilson is only about 2 months.  They were both babies adopted out of a pet store.  Would love more advice.

Answer
Hello Stacy,

That is good news Wilson is doing better.  He is definitely much smaller than Jill is.  
He is eating & is fully able to chew?  He doesn't seem to have any head injuries, his skull doesn't have any dents, etc in it?
He may be traumatized for awhile, poor thing.  
His eyes appear to be ok too?  
It sounds like he narrowly missed an extremely horrendous accident, almost unscathed.  
Be careful not to get the neosporin in his eye, but you can put it around it if needed.  You can use sterile saline solution if you need to in his eyes.

I hope he continues improving & starts to eat soon!
Keep me posted on him.

Tracie