please help! (he opens his mouth at me)

[cmarsh155]

please help: i own a bearded dragon and he opens his mouth at me everytime i try to hold him. due to this, i have had him for several months with minimal handling. i am worried that due to this lack to stimulation he has grown lazy and depressed but i am afraid it is too late to start the path towards a bond with my bearded dragon.

he has a big enough tank, basking rock, hammock, a hide, a big branch to climb and gets fed his food every day and calcium and vitamins. from the beginning he never seemed like he would want to be held. he would always run from me and i tried to ease my way in by hand feeding him veggies. but fast foward to now he opens his mouth at me everytime my hand comes close to him and i am worried he will bite me. i try my hardest to take care of him and i dont want to be abusive to my beardie so i just want to know what steps to take. To be honest I haven’t really tried too hard. And that is my regret, I wish I put more time in when he was younger. It was always my dream to own a beardie and I did sooo much research because I was sooo excited. For years I waited. I was never prepared for this and I hate this guilt that I am making him depressed.

 

[Lovethemhappy]

I have had similar issues build with a Tegu in the past. I would omit the hand feeding. With many reptiles this can lead to confusing your hand with food, or confuse handling time with feeding time. My issue arose as my Tegu was an escape artist, and we built a predator/prey type relationship, that coupled with my growing fear. The act of snagging them up seems like the stress point, and I imagine once held safely and securely, this stress would lessen. If you have a friend who is less timid around reptiles, maybe ask for help, but you can do it. The goal is to make this transition from enclosure to being safely supported in your hands fairly quick and smooth. This will be training for pet and owner, as he knows your scared, and it transponds to him. Gloves will prob freak him out more, but a super thin, more natural color, cut resistant glove (like that used in a kitchen) may help your fear and confidence levels. FTR, with help of a more experienced handler, my Tegu came around real quick. Hope this helps, and I'm sure the pro's will be chiming in as well.

 

[Sadie]

please help: i own a bearded dragon and he opens his mouth at me everytime i try to hold him. due to this, i have had him for several months with minimal handling. i am worried that due to this lack to stimulation he has grown lazy and depressed but i am afraid it is too late to start the path towards a bond with my bearded dragon.

he has a big enough tank, basking rock, hammock, a hide, a big branch to climb and gets fed his food every day and calcium and vitamins. from the beginning he never seemed like he would want to be held. he would always run from me and i tried to ease my way in by hand feeding him veggies. but fast foward to now he opens his mouth at me everytime my hand comes close to him and i am worried he will bite me. i try my hardest to take care of him and i dont want to be abusive to my beardie so i just want to know what steps to take. To be honest I haven’t really tried too hard. And that is my regret, I wish I put more time in when he was younger. It was always my dream to own a beardie and I did sooo much research because I was sooo excited. For years I waited. I was never prepared for this and I hate this guilt that I am making him depressed.

You need to start getting him hand tamed most people start w/ putting their hands in the tank so they get used to them being in the tank -- take a piece of cloth or fleece blanket something w/ your smell on it and put it in his hide so he gets used to your smell - hand feed him you want him to get used to you as trusting and the food will help w/ that - if you dont start getting him accustomed to you now its going to be a lot harder later - but you haft to be patient and have the dragon learn to trust you -- do not approach from above they have a eye on top of their heads for predators like birds if he sees you coming from above he will go into defense mode - approach from the side -

 

[Lovethemhappy]

You need to start getting him hand tamed most people start w/ putting their hands in the tank so they get used to them being in the tank -- take a piece of cloth or fleece blanket something w/ your smell on it and put it in his hide so he gets used to your smell - hand feed him you want him to get used to you as trusting and the food will help w/ that - if you dont start getting him accustomed to you now its going to be a lot harder later - but you haft to be patient and have the dragon learn to trust you -- do not approach from above they have a eye on top of their heads for predators like birds if he sees you coming from above he will go into defense mode - approach from the side -

Great advice, I did do the scented clothing item with the Tegu as well. To add to the making them accustomed to your hand presence, super slow and gentle cleaning in his enclosure can help make them view you less as a threat. I do notice huge differences in reaction, with the same animal, with different people's handling approaches. Keep your shoulder distanced from him, so when your hand is approaching him, your arm is not a towering animal over them. Have your hand open and flat, and come in as low as possible from the front. The goal is to get your pointer and middle finger under his chest. Keeping your hand like this will also hugely mitigate any damage a rare bite may cause.