How often should i handle my baby bearded dragon?

This is my first week owning a bearded dragon and it is about 5 inches long, i don't know the exact age because the pet store wasn't sure about the age when i baught it. I am just wondering how much i should handle it to make sure he's comfortable with me but that i don't agitate it too much.

On another note what's the best way to get my young dragon to eat vegetables. I have put finely shopped shredded carrots and collard greens in the tank every morning about an hour before feeding the crickets and he never even thinks about eating them and also never even thinks about eating his baby bearded dragon pellets in his food dish either. I am just curious if this is normal behavior for a young dragon or if i need to do something different.

I don't know if this is right or wrong - I've been a bearded dragon owner for a grand total of a week and a half :wink: - but what I've been doing with Wave is picking her up as little as possible, only when absolutely necessary, because she hates it, but I want her to get used to it. So for the moment, she gets picked up to go into her food container, to have a bath, and to go for walks (because once she's out, she loves the sun - she has a carrier with mesh sides that allow her to soak). Every other day, I've been taking her into the bathroom for 20-30 minutes for some run-around-and-climb-on-me time. This has been put on hold for the moment, because she's shedding, so I'm leaving her alone.

Great advice I've gotten from others is to put her inside my shirt, or put on two shirts and put them between the two, so she's warm and feels safe and gets used to me. There's also the frequent suggestion, for reluctant handlers, to take them out after lights-out, when they're sleepy and malleable and would love a warm arm or shoulder or chest to cuddle up on and go to sleep. (I'm going to try both of these once she's finished her shed. She's terribly irritable and clearly uncomfortable at the moment. Not the time to try new things!)

...And that's mostly just a reiteration of what I've had recommended to me, and I'm sure someone else can do a better job of it. :wink: What I really wanted to say was that the other thing I've been doing - and I'm sure I'm not the first - is stroking Wave whenever possible. Whenever I have to go into her cage for something - mist her greens, take something out, adjust the temp probe when it's fallen off for the 5 billionth time - I seek her out, and rub her back. She doesn't run from that, she seems to actually quite enjoy it, and I figure it's a good way to let her know 1) I'm not a threat, and 2) I'm not chasing her out and forcing her to do something she doesn't want to do every time my hand appears. My hand can be a good thing (something that pets her) as well as a bad thing (something that grabs her). And hopefully the good will eventually outweigh the bad in her mind.

Could yours be eating the greens on the sly? Wave won't eat them when she knows I'm looking, but I've caught her a couple of times. She only goes for a mouthful or two, but she does go for them. Eventually. In secret.

I have found, when the beardies are young, there are skiddish of whatever is new to them. I persobally just got a new girl two days ago. The only time I hold her now, is to go for a bath, or into the feeding bin like posted above. When they settle down, then you can start to hold them. They have what are called "stress marks" on the neck and belly. These are the little black lines, when they seem to be going away, I will start to hold her more. I also have a year old male who I raised as a 5" baby and now I put my hand in there, and he walks right up my arm. He loves to be held and to cuddle.

Jamiedog":wmshnp9e said:

. This has been put on hold for the moment, because she's shedding, so I'm leaving her alone.

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A good bath will help with the shedding. I use a toothbrush in the bath and LIGHTLY brush her shots where the excess skin is to help. If it doesnt seem to come off easy, then don't force it.

This is my first juvenile dragon so my advice is a bit lacking in experience.

Anyway, I handle mine a lot. Every morning before work, after work and I let her sit on my hand while I watch TV for a bit.

I just think that the more she gets used to the family and I the less likely we will have any issues with her being aggressive in the future.

midmichicer":2l0zvdf8 said:

A good bath will help with the shedding. I use a toothbrush in the bath and LIGHTLY brush her shots where the excess skin is to help. If it doesnt seem to come off easy, then don't force it.

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I'll give that a try, thanks! She doesn't want anything to do with me or anything else at the moment, but if that stubborn skin is still hanging on this afternoon, I'll try to corral her for a bath. Anything to make her more comfortable, poor thing...

Edit: She was open to suggestions, so we went and had a bath. Toothbrush trick worked well - I used an infant toothbrush, since those are really soft; she seemed to enjoy it; bet it felt good to get that stuff off. Didn't get all of it, but did get some of the more stubborn bits that have been there since yesterday. Thanks!

(And now I will stop hijacking.)

I've been trying to handle mine about once, maybe twice a day for about 10 to 15 minutes each time. He's squirmy as soon as i open the tank to reach in to grab him but once i've picked him up he is fairly calm and just sit's on my hand and looks around my room.

Another question i have is dealing with feeding my baby dragon. Now he is only about 5 inches long so i realize he won't eat too much, but the first day i had him he ate about 25 crickets between 2 different feeding sessions, and has only ate about 10-15 a day since the first day i got him. He seems to be lazy once the crickets are put in his cage and usually let's them come towards him and then will eat them. From reading other people's posts everyone says how they feed their dragon for 10-15 minutes and then stop, but it takes mine about 10 minutes to start eating and i don't want to stop him and take all the crickets out that i've put in his tank before he's done eating. Is there a better way to judge how much to feed him and is there a better way than taking him out and puttin him in a tub with the crickets (he didn't enjoy that very much when i tried it). Not so much concerned about his eating patterns yet just most curious about how other people fed their young dragon and about how much it would eat on a daily basis.

Thanks for all the help so far
-Aaron

Kedro5":15u2dw6s said:

Another question i have is dealing with feeding my baby dragon. Now he is only about 5 inches long so i realize he won't eat too much, but the first day i had him he ate about 25 crickets between 2 different feeding sessions, and has only ate about 10-15 a day since the first day i got him. He seems to be lazy once the crickets are put in his cage and usually let's them come towards him and then will eat them. From reading other people's posts everyone says how they feed their dragon for 10-15 minutes and then stop, but it takes mine about 10 minutes to start eating and i don't want to stop him and take all the crickets out that i've put in his tank before he's done eating. Is there a better way to judge how much to feed him and is there a better way than taking him out and puttin him in a tub with the crickets (he didn't enjoy that very much when i tried it). Not so much concerned about his eating patterns yet just most curious about how other people fed their young dragon and about how much it would eat on a daily basis.

Thanks for all the help so far
-Aaron

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Make sure your baby is warm before he/she eats. I have a timer set up, lights turn on at 6am, feeding at 7 then again at 3. Lights turn off at 8pm. In the winter months, more sleep. When I had my 1st dragon, i put crickets in his cage too. I soon realized they were hiding and getting out at night and biting him. I soon put them in a sterolite cantainer and let him eat in there. I feed them as much as they can eat in a 10-15 min span, then dump them back in the cricket bin. Make sure you are dusting them too.

I usually wait about an hour or two after all the lights have turned on in the morning to feed him, and usually put all the fresh vegetables in before actually feeding him. My problem i have with the steralite container feeding is once i put my dragon in the container all he wants to do is try to get out and run around in a panick. He doesn't even bother to look at the crickets so i just placed him back in his cage and dumped the crickets in there. He seems to be casual about eating the crickets too, he will seek out 2 or 3 right away to eat and then wait's for the rest of them to come around him before eating them. I do dust the crickets before feeding, but would it be a smart idea for me to remove the rock and wood branch out of his cage for when i'm going to feed him so there's no places for the crickets to hide or would that be too stressful on the little guy?

-Aaron

yes, make sure there is no where to hide if you put them in there. They are nighttime insects, so they will roam around when lights out, and bite your beardie causing stress while sleeping. Everything else sounds good.