I am also a new bearded dragon owner. I’ve have mine for about 5 months now. This worked for me really well, however I’ve only ever had one dragon so I’m not sure if this works for every dragon but this is how I bonded with my dragon (sorry that it’s so long, but I do think it’s very valuable):
I found important times to bond, is the morning and right before he goes to bed. In the morning what I normally do even after we are bonded is a couple minutes after the lights come on, he is awake but still hasn’t moved. I then pick him up and put him on my chest and use my body heat to warm him up after the temp going down at night. What’s good about this, is if he is skittish or aggressive then he doesn’t really have a choice of if he wants to cuddle or not. He also can’t offer any resistance like he can when awake because he has just woken up.
The second time is right when he goes to bed. This time he probably won’t be absorbing body heat however he will really tired and won’t be able to offer much resistance. If he goes to sleep on your chest, then that’s a really good step and shows he trusts you enough to fall asleep on you. However I normally wrap him in a blanket first or put something I underneath him. This is so it’s easy to put him back in the tank, because if I don’t then he will grab onto my shirt with his claws and I will wake him up in the process of getting him off me.
This will take time, for me it took about a month, but after he was completely comfortable with me and we are completely bonded. Please note that to do this you should try to do both of these things every day (ok if you miss a day every once in a while). However he will get on a routine with this and you will have to continue doing it. For me, my dragon waits for me to take him out of bed and won’t get out on his own. At night my dragon will fall asleep anywhere and I will then wrap him in his blanket and snuggle him and then put him on a flat surface in his tank to sleep (should be the same spot every time).
Hope this helps and I’m sorry it was so long. Good luck!
