Please help with my beardie :(

[xclaire90x]

I have recently bought a female bearded dragon at 7 month's old ive had her now 2 weeks and shes eating shedding bathing ect fine she was used to been handled by the breeder even by a 2 year old! She was fine with me at first now everytime I open the viv she scurrys to the front and stares like shes about to be aggressive as I notice she does the same thing when feeding what is likely the cause and is anything I can do? Nothing ad changed in last couple of weeks thanks in advance x

 

[PatsyB]

She could just be adjusting. My Luci did that to me, she was fine the day I brought her home. She was calm, sat in my hand and a week later she scurried every time I put my hand near her when I did pick her up she would try to bite me or puff her beard and "hiss" at me. Just be persistent with her. Talk to her all the time. When you go to pick her up and she runs from you, don't flinch or move your hand away. If she opens her mouth to bite you put a piece of lettuce in her mouth. It makes her realize that you are not a threat and she will associate you with feeding which is a good thing.

One thing that worked with me and Luci, right before bed when she's getting sleepy I pick her up. Her resistance is down and she lets me hold her and pet her. We've been doing this for 3 months and are still not at 100% trust but we are close.

 

[xclaire90x]

Thanks every so much for sharing I will try that definitely the other problem I have is I have two babies under 3 and they are just as curious as izzy! So they forever running up to gey a sneaky look but I read that they dont like too much noise is this true? And if so does it cause stress as my two are very firey babies lol I keep trying to get near her but all the stories of biting and strong jaws well make me weary I'm quite the wimp I just want to overcome it as shes so amazing and think all beardies are just awesome

 

[PatsyB]

Mine are in the room we spend the most time in, the office/game room, so there is always noise whether it be video games or music or just talking. I also have a curious cat that likes to paw at the tank that Luci is in. Luci hardly gets stress marks and she actually seems to look for the cat and watch it too. I also have a big frog tank next to their tanks. The frogs are nocturnal and the dragons just sleep through all their noise and lights going on and off.

As far as the biting goes, unless you have a real mean bearded dragon I don't think they purposely look too bite you. The two times Dexter did it were just by accident. I didn't move my hand away fast enough while feeding her. She actually looked like it scared her as much as it did me!

You get over your fears real quick. They are just the most amazing animals I have ever owned!

 

[xclaire90x]

Thats relieving to know that they aren't purposely aggressive I fed her this morning but as soon as I went near viv again she doing same at 7 month's old how many insects would be a good amount to feed her and how often a day? I usually give her fresh cabbage and it's only thing she seems to willing eat and 3-4 medium locusts on a morning do u think that is enough? And sounds like luci is a perfect lil dragon I hope izzy to be like that one day

 

[diegothediggy]

Well its hard to say how much to feed them coz each beardie different. Some day Diego eats like a pig I mean yesterday he had around 20 size 3 locus and a small tub of worms but yet other days he will eat hardly anything so really it just depends. I offer live food twice a day once at dinner n once around tea time and I give him as many as he wants to eat, some days he will eat them as quick as I put them in his viv other days they will crawl all ova him n he wnt touch them. Give it time. I dnt think noise will do it any harm. Diego is in my hall n I have 2 young kids so my house is never quiet apart from bed time the kids constanly run up n dwn the hall and at first I kept tellin them off and stopin them from runnin past but I relised after a couple of days there no point u cbt keep kids quiet n I wanted him to b ok with the kids and he is. Just keep at it try not stress or panic wen ur hands in the viv coz they can sence it. Unless u have a really nasty bd or it been miss treated they very rearly bite. Try just puttin ur hamd in the viv dnt try stroke or grab her just sit ur hand in n do it a few times a day n ahe will soon relise ur not there to hurt her. Hope I helped

 

[xclaire90x]

Excellent advice thank u I will start offering as much live twice a day see how she is with that sometimes I find her looking around her viv and only just bottomed on its normally round her eating area so maybe she isn't getting enough and I do get jumpy around her myself and also tell kids off as mine will just run up and throw their hands in when feeding her lol but like u said kids will be kids haha x

 

[diegothediggy]

Yeh I was the same wen we first got diggy tryin to keep the kids quiet n still near him but wen u think about it its silly he lives with u n ur family. So dnt change ewt just keep at it it will get hetta

 

[PatsyB]

Every beardie is different. Dexter ate 20 small crickets 3 times a day when she was a baby, she's a monster! Luci likes to eat 2 times a day and about 20 crickets the whole day. The rule is feed them as many as they will eat in 15 min. Some days that will be different than others.

 

[xclaire90x]

Thanks patsy I'm going to just give her a few at a time then she can eat what she likes