Are you sick of me yet? Ha question on handling

Sorry for all the posts and questions guys just trying to get all my info before getting and I know you guys have so much experience and this is the best place to ask questions.

As far as handling..how often do your guys come out of tank to be held? Do you hold while relax time watching tv, walking around house with it? Do they enjoy to be out of their tank?

When we had our bunny she was hardly in her cage. She sure had the life we always had her out as I felt bad keeping her in there. She would go in there when she was sleepy or to eat. Sometimes she enjoyed just hanging out in same room as us.
Since I am so new to reptiles I have no idea how they are socially with humans. I know all must be so different so trying to get a feel from most of you how often you handle yours!

What I've noticed with my little beardie is that she is very active. So I don't take her out to different parts of the house because I don't want to lose her. She is fast as hell, and hard to catch. I do however, take her out and put her on my computer. She loves to watch youtube with me.
But my advice to you is, unless she is a docile beardie, and is big enough for you to be able to catch it if it runs away. I wouldn't take her out to far away from the tank until she is big enough, and used to you enough.
As to telling what she enjoys, its all through trial and error. See what your beardie enjoys, take it out if you feel that it is used to you enough and go around the house.

It will all depend on your beardie and how he/she is with being out of cage.

I got Rygel when he was 10wks and 10". He had been handled regularly by his breeder, but took some time to completely warm to me. The first few days after I got him, I held him for short durations close to his cage, and took him out at night when he was tired and cuddled him wrapped in a blanket.

As he began to trust me, and I felt more confident about holding him, I'd carry him round the house and give him a tour of everywhere. I never felt comfortable about letting him explore because he was so small and fast.

He really seemed to like those "tours" and I talked to him constantly, so he learned my voice.

I tried letting him run in a beardie safe room, but I think he was frightened and stressed out.

As he got older, I held him more often. After baths, I cuddled him and let him climb around on me..

At 3.5 months old, I began to feel that I'd like to have him out more, but I worried about keeping him warm and having enough daily UVB. I brought a tall cat perch, a CHE (for heat) and a MVB (for UVB - it didn't get hot enough for heat, hence the CHE), and set them up next to where I sit when I'm on my iPad. I put a puppy pee pad over the cat perch to protect from accidents, and then set up a basking branch. Now every morning, he gets to hang out there until breakfast. I get him out periodically during the day - I'd let him out more, but he tends to climb down from his perch and want to explore. I don't think that's too safe, so I usually put him back in his cage then.

Rygel doesn't seem to mind being in his cage. If he wants out, he comes up to the front and kinda stands up against the glass. He doesn't do this often, but when he does I let him out. The rest of the time, he basks in his cage and seems quite relaxed.

Ok biting... how likely are they to bite? Googling I am hearing horror stories how badly it hurts even you tube videos of bleeding fingers? Maybe I should not google ?

I've never been bitten by Rygel, so I can't say. The worse I've ever gotten from him is a gaping mouth, or a puffed up beard. He tries to look scary, but he's just too cute for it to work.

I've heard it said many times that beardie are very docile and do not tend to bite. I also think I read that a baby bite isn't terrible. An adult bite can hurt. The only time you're likely to get bitten is by accident if you're hand feeding. I always place Rygel's treats on the palm of my hand, and that seems to work.

So typically do you hand feel them when they eat daily or can you put food in a dish? I need to read up more on feeding

Shannonc":2n7j2gbr said:

Ok biting... how likely are they to bite? Googling I am hearing horror stories how badly it hurts even you tube videos of bleeding fingers? Maybe I should not google ?

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I stupidly put a glob of baby food on my finger and offered it. He'd been licking everything up to that point, but this time he bit hard! LOL It was like being bitten by a razor blade with the tenacity of a terrier.

But ultimately it really didn't do much more than slice my finger like you might do with a slip of a sharp knife. So my advice is not to coat your finger in yummy treats and then place it next to his mouth. That'll reduce your odds of being bitten.

Great I am already getting scared haha! All I picture is me going to pick him up and it lunges at me!!!!

Jsw":1v1den0s said:

Shannonc":1v1den0s said:

Ok biting... how likely are they to bite? Googling I am hearing horror stories how badly it hurts even you tube videos of bleeding fingers? Maybe I should not google ?

Click to expand...

I stupidly put a glob of baby food on my finger and offered it. He'd been licking everything up to that point, but this time he bit hard! LOL It was like being bitten by a razor blade with the tenacity of a terrier.

But ultimately it really didn't do much more than slice my finger like you might do with a slip of a sharp knife. So my advice is not to coat your finger in yummy treats and then place it next to his mouth. That'll reduce your odds of being bitten.

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I've a habit of handfeeding all my pet lizards, occasionally I get bitten by them by mistake, you think beardie's have a good bite, LOL, try being bitten by an adult bluetongue skink ! Ouch!!!

Comes with the territory, that said, none of my pet lizards has ever even looked like it wanted to bite me and I've never been bitten by one of them in anger.

I have however (when I was a kid and used to go lizard hunting - to catch skinks, dragons, geckos and monitors to bring home as pets) been viciously bitten by wild five line skinks, water skinks, and small lacies, complete with death rolls like crocodiles do while biting.

BrightStar":3ok303ld said:

I've never been bitten by Rygel, so I can't say. The worse I've ever gotten from him is a gaping mouth, or a puffed up beard. He tries to look scary, but he's just too cute for it to work.

I've heard it said many times that beardie are very docile and do not tend to bite. I also think I read that a baby bite isn't terrible. An adult bite can hurt. The only time you're likely to get bitten is by accident if you're hand feeding. I always place Rygel's treats on the palm of my hand, and that seems to work.

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None of my gang have ever threatened me .... too pampered and laid back.

Shannonc":6p7w6nob said:

Ok biting... how likely are they to bite? Googling I am hearing horror stories how badly it hurts even you tube videos of bleeding fingers? Maybe I should not google ?

Click to expand...

A beardie is more likely to run away than attack and bite you in anger.

Ordinarily the threat (gaping mouth with hissing) is all bluff.

Best to simply either back off and give beardie space if he/she is telling you to go away , or you could simply pop a tasty food treat into the mouth (FROM THE SIDE) - beardie will soon either get sick of eating and keep it's mouth shut or it'll soon learn to associate you and your hand with good things that it likes.

I find they will usually show you if they are uncomfortable and will attack if you put your hand near them, usually letting us know they simply down want to be touched at that time. As for feeding, I us a baby spoon that banjo eats literally anything off of it. It's his favourite spoon. I get him to try new things off it an never fails.

Shannonc":3i3rzk4s said:

So typically do you hand feel them when they eat daily or can you put food in a dish? I need to read up more on feeding

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I've read that only handfeeding can be bad, because they might refuse to eat out of a food dish.

I typically go for a combination of hand feeding, and feeding in bowl. Roaches are pretty difficult to get to stay still to be hand fed, so I leave them in Rygel's food bowl. Worms are much easier to hand feed. I will usually just offer 2 or 3 worms by hand, then leave the rest in the bowl for Rygel to eat whenever. I may also offer him an additional worm or two throughout the day. It does help with bonding and trust - Rygel wouldn't eat out of my hand at first. Now he will, unless my timing is off and I offer him a treat too soon after he are, and he's not hungry.

Beardies can bite hard but very rarely do. You will know an aggressive beardie when you see it, and even they [ in the minority ] they can be tamed . I've raised many clutches of beardies in the past [ since the mid 90's ] and I have never been actually bitten enough to break the skin.

Hand feeding is not really a good idea. You have the chance of getting a dragon that will associate your fingers with food and so you're always dodging so you don't get bitten. The only time to hand feed is with a dragon who for some reason is not eating, usually due to illness.

Ok so I am a bit confused. Should I be hand feeding or a bowl. Or do I do both? Any advice will be very helpful!