Abstract
This study was conducted to determine the injury type and frequency of bearded dragons during single and group breeding according to stocking density, for 16 weeks. A total of 14 bearded dragons compromising three groups were selected for this study. Six and four bearded dragons bred in a cage of 45 cm × 45 cm × 45 cm were designed as group A and B, respectively. Group C was made of four partitions (20 cm × 20 cm × 20 cm) of equal size in the kennel, and the dragons, four in number, were reared alone. Injury type criteria were given 1 score each in 6 stages. Most of the injury types in group A were primary tail cutting, which was 1 point, depending on the score, except for 4 scores. The injury type of group A varied, that is 1, 2, 3, and 5 scores, and the pattern lasted for 2 to 9 weeks. After 10 weeks, the dragons showed no response to injury type, except 4 scores at 11 weeks and 2 scores at 14 weeks with a frequency of one, respectively. The representative injury types of the group B were primary tail cutting, which was 1 point, and the scores of the injury type from 2 to 11 weeks were the highest; the frequency of occurrence at 1 and 2 scores was 5 times and 3 times, respectively, and the frequency of occurrence at 3 scores was twice. In addition, 5 scores were found to have the lowest frequency of occurrence. Solitary breeding showed no response to the type of injury for 16 weeks. Consequently, single breeding with an appropriate stocking density did not affect stress, and it could be expected a positive aspect for pet welfare.