Aggression won’t stop??

I’ve had a female beardie for about 6 months now, as of june 2018. i got her from my aunt, and the beardie is about 4-5 years old. she didn’t start laying eggs until about one month after i received her, and that was the first time. (we previously thought her to be a male before this, ha). she used to be extremely mellow and calm, i’d lay her on my chest for hours as i watched tv at night and she’d fall asleep and be perfectly chill. she’d get week long periods or so where she’d get crazy after laying the eggs, but we wrote that off as just that motherly instinct or her body going through those changes since it was her first time laying eggs, and the aggressive periods ended and it was fine. she’d laid about 5 or so clutches total, over a hundred eggs. she’s never been in contact w any other beardie, so we disposed of the eggs and moved on, and as i said, each time she’s gotten over the aggression. it’s prob been a month since the last clutch, and she’s been extremely aggressive the past 2 or so weeks. she was nuts a little immediately after the last clutch, got over it, and is now very aggressive again. i can barely reach inside to feed her bc she lunges at you, and has bitten. i try not to show fear and pet her and try to handle her, but it hasn’t helped at all. she’s still v aggressive. we’ve also moved, so we thought that had smth to do w it, but it just seems to be going on for a really long time, and the move from my aunts house to mine when i got her she wasn’t aggressive at ALL. she’s in the living room of the new house as opposed to the spare bedroom of our old house, so i’m not sure if seeing people walk by all the time has her worked up. sorry for the long post, i’m just not sure what to do to calm her down! i miss the days of being able to hold her for a long time like that, and in general i just want a friendly beardie, who doesn’t? thanks for any help anyone can give!!!

Many factors can go into changing a normally sweet Beardie into a defensive and frightened one. She sounds upset, to me. But without more information, it is hard to guess about the cause. It could be physical...pain and discomfort will certainly cause a change of personality. Or, it could be a reaction to something in her environment, a new location, something she sees, even a new scent.

First thing I would do, is rule out any physical problems. How often does she have a bowel movement, and what does it look like? A good herp/reptile vet could go over her and give her a very thorough exam. If you absolutely cannot find one, then at least you can go over her carefully, checking her from head to toe for any little injury or suspicious looking changes. Check each toe, to be sure no string has wrapped around it and cut off circulation, for example. touch every part of her, and note any differences between her feet, arms, legs, tail...she should be warm to the touch. Her skin should be soft and not dehydrated, her mouth inside should be pink, not white, and moist but not sticky. No dirt or matter around her nostrils, vent, mouth...listen to her chest for any wheezing or clicking sounds.I would like to say that you could examen her, and should every week anyway, but a vet really knows what to look for, so that would be much more preferable. You would not be able to check for worms or other less visible problems.There is no substitute for a vet check up.

If she was in good health, I would next check her environment. She has been moved, so that is a possibility. Even though she did not act this way over her moving from your aunts home, this time may be different. What is her vivarium like? does she have a view of a window? Is something she sees threatening to her? Are there loud sounds from outside, or maybe a TV set nearby? She is clearly in distress, and you will have to do some detective work to discover the cause. Get eye level with her, and try to see and hear what she does. Even her own reflection inside her viv can cause her to feel threatened...if the windows are letting in light in a way that makes her reflection stand out on the inside of her viv, she will react to that, for example. Is she warm enough? too warm? Getting good sleep at night? If the room is not dark enough, she may be not sleeping...stay a night in the room with her, and observe the room.

Think like a lizard. Try to get in her head, and find out what is going on. That kind of stress is not good for either of you. She would not suddenly change so drastically, without good cause. I hope you figure it out soon!

thank you!! that was a lot of info! as for physical stuff, nothing has changed... she is in a room with a tv now, and she wasn’t before. her tank is also slightly different decoration wise, but not much. she has a window view, but she did at the old house too. i guess i’ll give it another week or two and if nothing changes we’ll try moving her to another room...

You are welcome!

So she was not in a room with a TV before, but she is now? That is a change for for her...even when turned off, TV sets put out low electrical sounds that we cannot hear, but they certainly can...She has some different decorations which can be seen by her as potential threats. The window has a different view, and maybe different sounds, like dog barking that she does not recognize. Again, it could be a sound you do not hear...all these things together would add up. With the move, her nerves ate already frayed. Yes, wait another week to see if she calms down. Give her extra attention and treats. Keep her environment as quiet as possible.

My Dezi once freaked out when I changed his tank. It was a bigger fish tank...He paced and blacked his beard and acted crazy all the time. I finally saw his reflection in the new tank glass! I tried covering the glass, but eventually, I had to buy a different vivarium, for his peace of mind. I bought one for lizards,that had thinner glass and that reduced his reflection. Such a small thing to me was a major problem to him. He saw his reflection as a big, bad invading lizard! When he puffed his beard at that lizard, it puffed its beard back at him. The "invader" threatened him all day long. He did not figure out that it was his own reflection. I did not want to buy yet another enclosure, but it was worth it, to keep him happy and healthy!

here is my happy healthy boy

Are you the only one living in the house with her ?

Are there other animals in the home ?

I think she's likely upset by something or been scared by something or someone (even if it was accidential , they do remember when someone hurts them and it can result in lost of trust (in that person or every human) - but they do settle down and relearn to trust (even if the remain wary of the "injury / pain causer".

Another likely course of her recent behavior may be hormonal (peak of beardie breeding season for beardies in the USA) and this be hormonal angst and will settle down once her hormones settle to "normal" levels.

A more worrying possible cause is she's tender or sore (and trying to avoid this) because she has some injury (soft tissue or broken bone or sprain or dislocation) or even more serious she is ill or perhaps egg bound (you mention she laid eggs lately - did all of them come out ?
or
she has fatty liver desease - this is very painful when it's advanced or some other painful internal / organ issue.

I think , for your own peace of mind , and since you don't really know if you can trust anything you have been told about her prior husbandry and health status , a wellness assessment and maybe thorough examination by a REPTILE vet including bloodwork and xrays and ultrasounds is in order , probably should arrange this ASAP , because if she is ill she will only get worse if you delay this and any treatment that proves necessary - she may not be blackbearding and being obviously sick now, but they can and often do go down hill extremely fast.

Kingofnobbys is one of our major beardie experts...If he gives me advice, I always listen. He has more experience and knowledge than I ever will!

yes, there are 2 other people in the home and a dog, but still nothing new there compared to the old house. it could be the trust thing, since one of the other people was doing something with her while i was asleep, so i’m not sure exactly what happened, but he said she bit him pretty hard. since that hasn’t ever happened before, i’m assuming it was provoked... i’ll still wait just a bit longer to see if it is the new environment, because i know that’s very overwhelming, especially since she spent 2 hours in the car to get here. if it hasn’t somewhat calmed or if it’s gotten worse, i’ll look into finding a vet, but hopefully it won’t come to that. thank you!

Might help you regain her trust if you hand feed some of her food , especially yummy insects that you know she likes or her favorate salad items each day and make sure she associates it with coming out for a snuggle / petting session.

If she's not accustomed to being hand fed , expect a few accidential finger tip nips . Wont take long for her to get the hang of it though and it's a great way of forming a tight and trust based bond with a lizard so well worth a few nips and the time.

If she likes being tickled under the throat , do that each day for a while.