Cazd":nmpf31s3 said:
Awwww thanks for the great advice! I got him out yesterday. Braved it. I set a
bath. He did wiggle quite hard but I put him on a towel and calmed him. He freaked out in the
bath so dried him and put him back. I took him out today he wasn't so happy. Puffed his beard but I put him on bed and talked calm and he seemed to chill out. It trust building I suppose. Both ways. Small steps But definitely feeling more confident. He all good other than that. I'll try and put some pics up. Thanks again for replying
Your beardie is panicking when in the
bath,
bathing regularly is UNNECESSARY for bearded dragons. If the dragon enjoys a
bath and splashing about/ swimming/ and drinks from the
bath water - some do , then it's pleasureable experience and continue
bathing, if not,
bathing is not worth the stress the beardie will experience.
Central bearded dragons , the most common in type in the pet trade , are evolved for survival in the hot dry tropical deserts (not sandy deserts in the main in Australia) , the tropical grasslands and sevannahs and tropical dry woodlands in central Australia where drought is the rule - a wild beardie can live it's entire life (10 - 15 years) and never see or experience running or standing water.
Trust building : I have found lizards (even skittish wild lizards) respond very quickly to offers of food (treats/ bribes).
Start off by offering a slow moving but very twitchy or wriggly live insect as a treat by placing it where the lizard can see it and it sees you put the bug there. It wont take long for a lizard to learn that you are the bringer of yummy bugs ( silkworms , BSF maggots are excellent bugs for this ).
Then after doing this for daily at least once per day, even better a few bugs at each live feeding WHILE the lizard IS HUNGRY, then place the bug on your open upturned hand and place the hand with the bug on it where the lizard can see it, if it's hungry and is starting to trust you, it''ll come over and take the bug off your hand, it may even loiter on your hand and perhaps even try to pry your fingers apart (if it thinks you're holding out on it and have some bugs hidden inbetween or under the fingers ===> you'll be over the moon at this point as you've cracked it and lizard trusts you enough to hand fed.
You can then move to full on hand feeding (BE PREPARED you will likely get a few ACCIDENTIAL finger tip nips until the lizard gets the hang of the new handfeeding lurk) - I find when giving crickets if I squish the cricket's heads and then present this end of the cricket to the lizard , by placing the cricket against the side of the lizard's mouth with a little bit of pressure so some of juices are smeared on the lips , lizard will taste this and will then take the bug.
Routine is very important for a pet lizard, I started off offering 2 or 3 crickets by hand to my Peppa and Toothless before putting them back in and giving them the rest of their bugs a few a time to chase and catch themselves.
This approach works with wild lizards too.
Spending at lot of time near the beardie's tank where it can see and hear you helps with trust building - beardies (lizards actually) are very curious and soon figure out that you are not going to eat or hurt them just by observing you.
Talking quietly and frequently to the beardie will help lots too , as will simply gently petting the beardie while it's basking or napping (in it's tank).
PATIENCE IS THE KEY.
Also at 9 months old, your beardie is large enough to have a bit of floor time (IF you have an area in the house that's safe for beardie to roam about on the floor and explore and IF you supervise this to ensure beardie is safe and make sure it doesn't crawl or climb somewhere it will be hard to recover it from.
You should start off by sitting on the carpet or floor with beardie on your chest or tummy or lap and letting the beardie decide when it's ready to explore a little. (Likely beardie will regard you as it's SAFE PLACE.)
This will be a great time for your 12yr old son to bond with the beardie and to watch and enjoy it's behaviours , perhaps he could offer some live bugs (silkworms or BSF maggots) as treats while beardie is on the floor exploring, beardie will soon learn he give food to me sometimes too.
You''ll find after a few weeks the beardie will demand some floor time and will be reluctant to be picked up to go back in it's tank when play time is up .... just like a child.
