Hey there everyone, my name is Cody and I just got my bearded dragon a few days ago. I'm really enjoying looking at him and he seems to be doing fine. Eating bugs and some veggies, doesn't seem to like the "kibble" or whatever you would call it that you add some water to though. I keep changing it out daily and adding more just to make sure he has food available even if he doesn't like it. I've never had a beardie before but I wanted one for several years now. My main issue is he DOES NOT like to be held or pet. He gapes at me any time I even just put my hand in his enclosure to add food or change water. I can't hold him without having to hold his mouth closed so he doesn't just sit there biting me. How can I fix this and make him nice and friendly? I got him from a local pet smart and they told me they are pretty positive he is a boy, and I checked as well and would conquer with that. I'm assuming you measure him tail included to estimate age, and I would say he is no more than 7 inches long, so maybe 2 months old? He was in the tank with one other beardie when I got him and they seemed to be fine together so I had no idea he was going to be aggressive until about 2 days after I brought him home. I really just need help to get him to stop trying to bite and lunge/jump at me any time I try to hold him or do anything in his tank...
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New member with an aggressive dragon...
- Thread starter Spyr0
- Start date
I should add this, I have his tank sitting on the island in my house. We added on a few years back and basically added a new house onto it connected with a breezeway for my grandma, she has since passed and we mainly use that side of the house now so he is in the old side of the house. Everyone walks past him all the time and says hi, and his tank isn't crowded and surrounded with tons of things. He is responsive and looks at you most of the time when you walk past or say hi but not always, but I feel this is fairly normal for his temperament.
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Hey Cody! Welcome to the forum! Congrats on the new beardie.
These little guys can tend to be moody when they first go to a new home, so don't be discouraged. Imagine some guy you don't know taking you from your home and putting you in a new place. He might just be a little scared right now. Doesn't mean he will always be aggressive. Its good that he's even eating something.
My recommendation would be to try not to pick him up for a little while. Keep feeding him. Let him get comfortable. Once he realizes he is safe and that hand keeps delivering food, he might calm down.
A common trick that people use is to feed your bearded dragon by hand. Grab a live bug, and hold onto it with your hand in there. He will see it wiggling and want to eat it. Keep trying even if he doesn't come and get it the first few times. It takes time to forge a bond/trust.
If he starts eating from your hand, you could try and slowly pet him on the head or stroke his beard to gently introduce him to your touch.
With some persistence, I think you'll find he warms up to you.
I bet some of our veterans who've taken in rescues or aggressive beardies will come on and give you some pointers. Stay patient and try not to force it.
These little guys can tend to be moody when they first go to a new home, so don't be discouraged. Imagine some guy you don't know taking you from your home and putting you in a new place. He might just be a little scared right now. Doesn't mean he will always be aggressive. Its good that he's even eating something.
My recommendation would be to try not to pick him up for a little while. Keep feeding him. Let him get comfortable. Once he realizes he is safe and that hand keeps delivering food, he might calm down.
A common trick that people use is to feed your bearded dragon by hand. Grab a live bug, and hold onto it with your hand in there. He will see it wiggling and want to eat it. Keep trying even if he doesn't come and get it the first few times. It takes time to forge a bond/trust.
If he starts eating from your hand, you could try and slowly pet him on the head or stroke his beard to gently introduce him to your touch.
With some persistence, I think you'll find he warms up to you.
I bet some of our veterans who've taken in rescues or aggressive beardies will come on and give you some pointers. Stay patient and try not to force it.
I would love to try feeding him by hand but every time I get anywhere near him, sometimes even just waving to him from the outside of the tank, he will gape at me and try to bite me. How long do you think I should give him besides just putting food in the bowl and water? Is it common for him to eat a bunch of crickets one day, and then almost none the next? He will eat greens if I put them in his mouth while he is trying to bite me, but wont really touch them if they are just in the bowl, same goes for dried mealworms/grasshoppers/crickets. Im staying hopeful though because I do really want him to be a nice guy and be able to take him around the house with me and maybe downtown for short visits with friends and what not. I could definitely use some more advice and maybe just a bunch of different things to try in case giving him some time doesn't work. I think i'll give him maybe 2 or 3 days without trying to touch him or pick him up and see if that helps at all. Thank you for the advice BrookeE!
Eavlynn
Bearded Dragon Veteran
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- 978
When I brought little Chance home, he was weak and very unhealthy, but still had the energy to open his mouth and hiss at me when I would pick him up. It's not that he was aggressive, he was absolutely terrified. I worked with him every day, giving him medication, food, and warm baths to try and loosen his impaction. Over time, he began to calm down. Odds are, your boy wasn't handled much up until now, and is frightened. Work with him, take him out, let him sit on your hand, leg or chest. Once he calms down, you can try gently petting him. Be sure to end the handling session on a good note, if possible, before putting him back in his enclosure. It'll take time for him to learn to trust you.
What kind of set up do you have? If you can post a photo and give us your temp readings for the basking spot, hot side, and cool side, and they type of UVB you're using, we can rule out environmental factors as an additional source of stress.
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What kind of set up do you have? If you can post a photo and give us your temp readings for the basking spot, hot side, and cool side, and they type of UVB you're using, we can rule out environmental factors as an additional source of stress.
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I'll post a few pictures when I get home from work, and i know my tank is probably too small at the moment but he will be out of it and into a much larger one that I am building hopefully bt the end of the weekend. The current tank is a 10 gallon fish tank that I borrowed from my sister. It was cleaned very well before I used it. I only have one thermometer at the moment so I put it in the middle of the tank and it usually holds at about 75 degrees. His basking spot is about 10 inches below the light and I believe it is either the 50 or 75 watt uvb bulb. I also have a red night time bulb that keeps the tank at about 68-72 at night time. Humidity stays at around 20%. He always has access to clean water and some of the pelleted food, although I dont think he's eaten any of that. I'm not picking him up for a few days now to see if that helps, but yesterday when I did he squirmed a lot so he definitely has the energy to move around.
@Eavlynn
@Eavlynn
I cleaned out his water bowl and put a smaller food bowl in so it didn't take up so much space right before taking the pictures, and as I was doing it he jumped at me and landed in the water bowl and then just sat there and stayed in it so i just took the pictures as is haha
Eavlynn
Bearded Dragon Veteran
- Messages
- 978
It's hard to make a proper heat gradient with a 10 gallon tank. When you get the chance, I'd pick up a 40 gallon tank. He also needs a fluorescent tube style UVB bulb, the coil type UVB bulbs can be damaging to their eyes. It's possible that improper temps could be putting him on edge. Be patient with him, and try and get him into a bigger, better home with proper lighting and temps.
You're chickens are rather adorable by the way lol
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You're chickens are rather adorable by the way lol
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Welcome to the forum,
This is going to take some time for him to become adjusted... Please take a few min and take a look at the links below several of our comments as we've put together info on care and will help you out alot on what to get..
Yea the 10 gal isn't going to allow the temps you need, he's little right now and scared. They need temps 100-107 basking area to the cool side into the low 70's.
Food: Throw out the pellets they really are no good just alot of colors and preservatives. Live food is always best. In the link there are food links. provide the greens daily, live food NO mealworms as those contain chitlin which is really hard to digest and can lead to impaction. Crickets, dubia, superworms, phoenix worms, silkworms, waxworms, butterworms, hornworms...
Warm baths to help with shed, exercise, and will stimulate pooping.
Take things slowly with him and make sure that when you go into his tank don't come from above his head as you will be like a predator. you can put a cloth that has your scent on it in with him (no cologne, deodorant) so he can get used to you. Start with that then continue positive interactions with him just let your hand be in tank talk softly for a few min then leave, keep doing this. slowly having your hand closer to him for longer periods, don't show any fear at this size it's like a cat scratch if he bites..you may want to increase time around him closer to lights out for the night when he's getting sleepy, have a shirt or towel that you can hold over him while on your chest and let him fall asleep...
hope that helps but please take a read on the links..
This is going to take some time for him to become adjusted... Please take a few min and take a look at the links below several of our comments as we've put together info on care and will help you out alot on what to get..
Yea the 10 gal isn't going to allow the temps you need, he's little right now and scared. They need temps 100-107 basking area to the cool side into the low 70's.
Food: Throw out the pellets they really are no good just alot of colors and preservatives. Live food is always best. In the link there are food links. provide the greens daily, live food NO mealworms as those contain chitlin which is really hard to digest and can lead to impaction. Crickets, dubia, superworms, phoenix worms, silkworms, waxworms, butterworms, hornworms...
Warm baths to help with shed, exercise, and will stimulate pooping.
Take things slowly with him and make sure that when you go into his tank don't come from above his head as you will be like a predator. you can put a cloth that has your scent on it in with him (no cologne, deodorant) so he can get used to you. Start with that then continue positive interactions with him just let your hand be in tank talk softly for a few min then leave, keep doing this. slowly having your hand closer to him for longer periods, don't show any fear at this size it's like a cat scratch if he bites..you may want to increase time around him closer to lights out for the night when he's getting sleepy, have a shirt or towel that you can hold over him while on your chest and let him fall asleep...
hope that helps but please take a read on the links..
Where would you suggest the best place to get a large tank would be? I was going to build my own but I just don't have the time to right now like I thought I would. Trying to stay kind of on the cheap side but I also want to just get one that will house him for his whole life. Does wattage on the bulbs matter a great deal? I'm not exactly sure what the best thing to get would be, and also what height tank to get. Is a 4'x2'x2' what I need or would a 4'x2'x18" be ample?
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I think either size would be okay. Im not sure exactly what mine is. I have my girls tank up on a platform and cleaning it out every day would be a huge pain if my tank was very much taller. Just take into consideration where youre going to put it and what would work best for you. They have ones that open from the front that i imagine would be much more convenient than ones that open from the top. Hopefully other people will respond with what they prefer. The wattage does matter because different wattages will produce different temperatures. And the type of UV bulb matters too. You want to get a tube, not a coil style.
I went out today and looked for a T5 bulb and I found the bulb just fine, but couldn't find any fixtures for them. I'm going to go out to the hardware store tomorrow to find some fixtures and get a bulb finally. I was thinking about just buying a tank instead of building one but the largest I could find was a 36x18x18.. It is a 40 gallon tank but still seems small to me for a fully grown beardie and I want to get something that will last. I checked with all three of the local pet stores and thats all I could find anywhere, and looking at fish tanks they just got ridiculously tall and were too expensive. Anyone have any other suggestions on where to look for a nice tank? I also checked the local craigslist and found nothing for a reasonable price anywhere near me. Went out and got a digital thermometer as well to check his tank temps right now and you are definitely right on that one.. one side is about 70 degrees and the other only reaches about 82 in his basking spot on top of the little hut I got him. I'm going to hopefully fix it tomorrow if I can figure out where to get a bigger decent tank. I'll be trying to handle him again tomorrow as well now that its been a few days without touching him. Any suggestions I should try for method of picking him up/what to do with him would be greatly appreciated as I don't want to start off on the wrong foot again.
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Both of my tanks are 40g breeders and mine are adults I tried to upload but I have to make the pic smaller so until I do sorry.. 40 breeders work really well and are the smallest you should use. Both of mine get time each day outside of their tanks to run around...
The main thing you need to do is get that basking temp up or he can't digest well, and will add to his crankiness..It really could be a slow process like I mentioned above just go slow and don't push it it will happen..
The main thing you need to do is get that basking temp up or he can't digest well, and will add to his crankiness..It really could be a slow process like I mentioned above just go slow and don't push it it will happen..
Alright. Maybe I will just go get a 40 gal breeder with the side face opening doors instead of the top opening. He might feel more comfortable then. And thank all of you guys for all the advice. I thought I did a decent amount of research into this before I got him but now i'm realizing there is a lot more that I didn't know than I did know.
What is your opinion on a 36Wx18Dx12H tank? I found one of those for a decent price but I am not sure if the shallow height of it would be an issue or not for him when he gets bigger. Im guessing it would cause issues but I don't know for sure. Or a 36Wx18Dx16H also, just found one of those but it isn't side opening. I guess it doesn't matter that much to me I suppose.
36x18x12 is too low. You want a tank that is going to be as wide and tall as your dragon can get in length and about 2x the length of an adult beardie. The average size for an adult is 18" I would go with the 36x18x18. I have all my adults in them and they are just fine. Cover 3 sides of the tank while he is adjusting so that he feels more secure and gets used to his new home.
Everyone else gave good advise. One thing I want to add though is please don't hold his mouth closed, you are not going to bond with him if he is feeling you are hurting him. When you reach into his tank to clean and feed and he opens his mouth to bite you, don't flinch. At this age if he does bite you, it's not going to hurt. By not reacting when he acts out at you, it teaches him that what he is doing is not doing anything and he will stop.
Everyone else gave good advise. One thing I want to add though is please don't hold his mouth closed, you are not going to bond with him if he is feeling you are hurting him. When you reach into his tank to clean and feed and he opens his mouth to bite you, don't flinch. At this age if he does bite you, it's not going to hurt. By not reacting when he acts out at you, it teaches him that what he is doing is not doing anything and he will stop.
