Update on pepper

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Hey everyone. I just wanted to give a little update of our first few weeks being am owner of our first bearded dragon. So we've had pepper 3 weeks tomorrow. He turned 4 months on November 2nd. For those that haven't seen his introduction my son picked out the runt of the clutch. So I expected him to be very skittish. His appetite sure hasn't slowed with relocation stress. He will eat between 20-30 dubia roaches a sitting. Snacks on a little bit of his veggies during the day. And I normally feed him 2-3 superworms every other day as a treat.
The handling part has been a little tough. But from what I've read that can be expected. He loves my son and watches him from his viv. I covered his hammock with one of his shirts so he can get used to his smell. And he will let my son reach in and pet him a little. I usually feed him his first few dubias by hand each meal for him to get used to me. The first two or three he will puff his beard a little (but never black) and gape but eventually come eat out of my hand. He will let me pet him every now and then while he's basking after he eats. But usually just two or three times then he runs away.
Catching him to hold him is an adventure in its self. Who knew they were that fast. He will normally just run and gape at me but he did try to bite me the other day when reaching for him. Once I do have him he's pretty calm and will fall asleep if petting him. He likes to crawl up and down my arm and even on to the middle of my back to look around. Haven't put him down on the floor yet to explore due to there being too many places for him to hide under. Do they make baby lizard baby gates? Also trying to get him used to being handled but ther only way to get him out his viv is to try and trap him in a corner and grab him. Don't want to stress him though I think it stresses me more.
I have a big bean bag right in front of his viv that I sit on every night and talk to him and my son will sit on and watch his tablet showing pepper what videos or games he's playing or read to him. And pepper even gave me a little wave the other day. Sorry for the long post but just wanted to give an update and see if could get any advice on the handling and keeping them contained in a certain part of the room.
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playing hide and seek
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dubia catching a ride
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watching YouTube together
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not a fan of baths
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hanging out while I clean his viv
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CooperDragon

BD.org Sicko
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I'm glad to see he's doing so well! He will likely mellow out as he grows. As far as containing him, I'd try some pillows or stacks of things to keep him out of inaccessible areas (where you can't retrieve him easily). You could put him in a play pen or something like that too (keep in mind they can climb mesh pretty easily).
 
He looks like hes doing great for being the small one of the clutch, with a nice appetite! Great job on the care you've been giving him :)
 

ComicBookMama

Sub-Adult Member
Great to hear that Pepper is doing so well! The skittishness is perfectly normal for the age and stage of development... they all go through that "ohmygawdshe'sgonnaeatme!" phase! Hand feeding is the best thing for it, and trying to scoop him up from the bottom rather than grab from the top. What I used to recommend when I bred gerbils - and no, beardies aren't gerbils by a long shot, but hear me out - was to use a large, opaque plastic cup to scoop up the little critter instead of using your hand. That way, the little guy won't form a negative association with your hand. (But again, gerbils are of different dimensions, and are easier to corner and scoop up... you'd have to get a pretty large cup for a beardie baby, and just try it out and see if it works.)

For confinement, I second the playpen idea... and here's one that might do the trick. The mesh doesn't go all the way to the bottom of the pen, so there's a barrier to climbing, and it's a fold-away pop-up model. I've actually used this one with puppies. Get the bigger one to give your son room to sit. It's 3'x3'x23" in dimension.

https://www.chewy.com/etna-pet-stor...ReMt1512gtdMo4gbSF7XoGoyylFNWaHxoCQJMQAvD_BwE

Sorry for the long URL!

Love all those pictures - and so glad your son is enjoying his little pal! :)
 
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