Problems with our beardie

[Catherine Busby]

We have had our bearded dragon for about 2 years now (since she was a baby). She used to let us pick her up & interact with her & was happy. As she has gotten older she has gotten just plain mean, especially towards myself and our 8 month old. We aren't able to pick her up very often and give her attention because she doesn't allow it, but yet will claw at her glass like she wants out. She turns black and hisses at me and today she lunged at me through her glass and when I tried to clean some poo out of her tank she puffed up, showed her teeth and tried to bite me! When ever our baby gets near her tank she acts this way too, so I won't allow her to be out of her tank because I don't want her to do anything to the baby. My husband is the only one who can handle her, but the past few weeks even he can't pick her up because she is so hostile. I don't understand what went wrong, is it the presence of our baby? If so, will things get better?

 

[Josh]

Hmmm. Behavior problems are often the worst. Don't lose hope though. I doubt the changes have anything to do with the baby. Oftentimes behavioral changes can be attributed to an environmental change or even a seasonal change. What, if anything, is new INSIDE her enclosure? New diet? What state are you in?

 

[Exile Skimmer]

i havent had that with my beardie but she is still little.... but my green iguana was like that.... it would be fine then get mean for a month then be fine. it was like that the whole time i had her... and i did a lot of research on it and i had to find what makes her happy and take it away as long as she could survive.... she loves her food ((i fed her a lot)) and she loved just running on the bottom in circles.... so i cut back on some food and added more braches and empty water bowls so she couldnt run.... she had to climb a lot more and it stressed her out a little but cutting down on the food broke her habbit... when i took her out to hold her i would hand feed her and she new if i was going to hold her i would give her more food until she couldnt eat anymore and that really helped me break her habbit and after a month of doing that to the point where i could just hold her no problems i removed the things i put in her cage so she could run again and added more food back into her bowl like i used to and never had a problem again.....

i dont suggest doing this first b/c it could make things worse but it is somthign to think about like trying to hold her and hand feed her favorite food or even a sweet fruit as a treat and that might help break the habbit but i would ADVISE starting with what Josh said b/c he is right and thats what i start with first... finding out if you added or changed somthing in the cage... anything from lights, tank placement in the house, adding or removing things in the cage, new diet or even feeding times at that matter... the smallest thing can make them act like that.....

 

[Exile Skimmer]

another thing you might want to try i forgot to add is placement in the house.... is it a high traffic area like a kitchen or living room or is it in a bedroom or home office that isnt used as often as a living room.... if it is in a high traffic area you might want to move her cage to a place that isnt used as often or if it already in a closed area move her into a high traffic area so she can get used to y'all moving around her and that might calm her down knowing people are around and not hurting you so she thinks that its ok and she doesnt have defend herself.... that might also helped once again my beardie is only 6 1/2 inches long so idk but thats how it is with iguanas they are very wierd like that hope this helps