Justdoitpruitt":1d24te78 said:
I just got my beardie over a week ago from petsmart. He's is roughly 6" long, so he is a wee baby. I haven't owned a beardie before this. The first two days or so he seemed very tame. He wasn't very squirmish and was very melo and chill. However these past few days he's been anything but. Now whenever I go to pick him up he darts away. I'll try and slowly move my hand towards him to pet him. Sometimes he'll let me give him a few head rubs before he takes off. I've tried hand feeding him, talking to him while reaching for him, the petting him hasn't worked. And as a side note sometimes he'll open his mouth as if to bite.
Give him the space he needs. Start off with only handling him to clean the tank , feed him and not more than 5 - 10 mins per day. Slowly build up on this as the hatchling gets used to you and the new routine and learns it can trust you.
Some hatchlings tame up almost immediately (Peppa loved snuggles and being petted from the getgo) , while others are more highly strung and are little live wires and no so keen on being handled (it can take several months for them to come around).
You could do what I do with all my baby lizards , I establish a bonding ritual where I take the hatching out of it's tank and initially place them in a smaller tub (35L is ideal for hatchling beardie) while I deal with left over salad, rogue crickets (who managed to avoid being eaten) and spot clean the hatchlings tank).
Then I pick the hatchling up and hold onto it so it can't dart off, and place it on my tummy / chest with my left wrist resting on the skinny half of the tail and the left hand cupped over it's body but not over it's head.
If it tries to craw out from under the hand I place my right hand infront of it's nose as a roadblock, and pet it for a few minutes while talking calmly to it. When it seems to have settled - I give it the first 3 or 4 of it's bugs by hand by placing the cricket (who's head has been squished) against the hatchling's side lips with a gentle pressure , some of the cricket innards will come out and be tasted and this will encourage the hatchling to eat the cricket - watch out finger tips for first few sessions until the hatchling gets the hang of the handfeeding lurk.
I then place the hatchling back in the cleaned tank and give it crickets a few at a time - to catch itself and continue until the hatchling looses interest in the bugs.
