Why is my beardie so aggressive?

[KelseyS11]

My bearded dragon is very aggressive with me and my husband. As soon as we open his tank to try and handle him or do anything at all he immediately goes into attack mode. He has bitten me twice. I really dont know what to do. We cant handle him and feeding him is a nightmare because he was being fed by tongs but now he just attacks the tongs and not the food or goes straight for my hand. So we stopped tong feeding and he still just goes right into trying to attack as soon as i open his cage any suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[iris123]

how old is he and what are you feeding him and how much are you feeding him

 

[KelseyS11]

He is around 8 months or so and he gets 8 meal worms a day and veggies whenever we can get him to eat them.

 

[iris123]

He is around 8 months or so and he gets 8 meal worms a day and veggies whenever we can get him to eat them.

mealworms are not very good to feed your beardie and you need you feed him veggies like collard greens and acorn squash

 

[iris123]

mealworms are not very good to feed your beardie and you need you feed him veggies like collard greens and acorn squash

He is around 8 months or so and he gets 8 meal worms a day and veggies whenever we can get him to eat them.

i would feed your beardie crickets or dubia roaches and your beardie is around 8 months right so he should be eating around 15 to 20 every day crickets i think my beardie is almost 11 months and i feed him 20 but should be feeding him anywhere from 20 to 60 of them everyday

 

[KelseyS11]

The only veg we can get him to eat so far is kale and carrots. Anything else and he wont touch it. We are not feeding him live super worms

 

[iris123]

The only veg we can get him to eat so far is kale and carrots. Anything else and he wont touch it. We are not feeding him live super worms[/QU
try mixing collards in with his kale and mix in yellow squash only feed him carrots once a week as it can cause gout which can kill your beardie also superworms and mealworms dead or alive don't hold much Nutrition and are hard for a baby to digest and can cause impaction with that what lights are you using

 

[iris123]

The reason for aggressiveness is usually the lighting in the tank -- what are you using for UVB and what are your basking temps and how are you taking them? Aggressiveness comes from the tank being too hot I have found -- is he black bearding?

well mine is more scared then anything after i get him past eating my finger just trying to run and when cornered he'll try to run up the glass in his cage my basking temp is 110 to 115 degrees and i use a digital themometer

 

[iris123]

You might want to lower your basking temp to 105-110-- 115 might be too hot --- and as far as him running its going to take time -- mine is still doing the same and he is afraid - remember your hand is alot bigger than he is so .................. you can hand feed him so he gets used to your hand and learn that it is friend and not foe also you can take a piece of clothe like clothing or small blanket piece something soft w/ your smell and put it in his hide and he will get use to you as well - approach from side not above he will think your a predator and go slow when approaching --- I pet mine in the tank when hes on his log under his UVB -- and at nite is good when they are tired and ready to go to sleep they will be more calm---

mine is 11 inches and he think my hands are the food and i toke the temp and it's 109 degrees in the basking spot

 

[iris123]

You might want to lower your basking temp to 105-110-- 115 might be too hot --- and as far as him running its going to take time -- mine is still doing the same and he is afraid - remember your hand is alot bigger than he is so .................. you can hand feed him so he gets used to your hand and learn that it is friend and not foe also you can take a piece of clothe like clothing or small blanket piece something soft w/ your smell and put it in his hide and he will get use to you as well - approach from side not above he will think your a predator and go slow when approaching --- I pet mine in the tank when hes on his log under his UVB -- and at nite is good when they are tired and ready to go to sleep they will be more calm---

i feed him 20 crickets almost every day on the weekends i run out cause i only get 100 a week

 

[iris123]

ok good -- you dont want him too hot or not basking because its too hot --

he spends most of his time on his basking spot which is a tree he also sleeps on that tree so putting a blanket where he sleeps would prove diffacult

 

[iris123]

No blanket on the tree -- dont you have a hide in his tank --- being hungry all the time is going to make for an aggressive bearded dragon

i have a hide on his warm side and someone on here only told me to feed him 20 to 60 of them im working on a job but i have to prove to the foster parents i live with that i can have a job they don't support me at all with my lizards and i only get $10 a week for chore money

 

[iris123]

So hes not getting food besides the vegies -- that is not good since his main diet is the crickets-- you need to up your crickets --- they are not that expensive and he is not going to gain weight and grow like he needs to w/ you half starving him -- if you cant feed him please think about re homing him so he gets the proper food that he needs --- you will have a unhealthy bearded dragon on your hands if you dont and more expense down the road---- I just buried a dragon here in the last month because the person that had her fed her improperly and she died from organ failure due to starvation --- she didnt feed her right---

i could prob get him wax worms or something cause i have some money after the crickets

 

[iris123]

You can but I would get enough crickets to get him all 7 days-- the wax worms are for treats and too many in his diet is not good cuz of the fat content-- too fatty and can cause health issues later- invest in the crickets-- he needs to be fed as many crickets as he will eat in 10 minutes and same w/ second feeding

ok ill get him 140 crickets by the way they are large

 

[iris123]

I am afraid large crickets may be a struggle for him to eat-- please get medium-- you dont want those crickets too big or he may not be able to eat them -- that is what happened to the one that I had rescued the girl was feeding her large crickets and she could not eat them --- you dont want that bug bigger than the space between his eyes ---- try some medium and see how those go---

the large do take take up the space between the eyes and he downs them down like nothing they are big enough to lay eggs and even tho my foster parents said no i'm breeding the crickets.

 

[iris123]

I am afraid large crickets may be a struggle for him to eat-- please get medium-- you dont want those crickets too big or he may not be able to eat them -- that is what happened to the one that I had rescued the girl was feeding her large crickets and she could not eat them --- you dont want that bug bigger than the space between his eyes ---- try some medium and see how those go---

i,ve had him snice chistmus when i got him he was like 4 inches he is now 11.5 inches i think he may even be a rankins dragons cause ive never seen him pull out his beard all the way and hes a male alright cause he was those pores on his back legs

 

[iris123]

Ok so hes bigger than I was thinking--- he should be able to eat large--- if you can post a pic of him w/ his butt to camera and tail in the air sitting flat on surface we can tell you if its male or female- they all have femoral pores -

ok i'll try to get a pic by monday ill have to take my chrome book from school to my foster home and take a pic

 

[iris123]

ok i'll try to get a pic by monday ill have to take my chrome book from school to my foster home and take a pic

 

[iris123]

Post a pic of him so we can see what kind he is

how would i upload i pic on here ?
from my album

 

[iris123]