afraid of tennis balls

My bearded dragon is deathly afraid of tennis balls, he tries to get away from them as quickly as he can when he sees one and if he gets cornered he'll hiss at it. I find this extremely hilarious but has anyone else had experiences like this? Haven't tested this with other types of balls

My beardie was scared of strawberries and bananas, even when cut up into small chunks :lol:

Also, (though I don't think you are) try not to intentionally scare him with them. Maybe try to gently introduce things to him, so he won't be as frightful (but use your common sense! don't try introducing him to larger pets like cats and dogs- they should always be separated)

Might be funny for you, but scary / stressful for the beardie ....so if you know he is scared of them, don't expose him to them.

He could have been hurt by or scared by a tennis ball being thrown or hit at him (hope not as that is sadistic and abusive) or accidentially hit by a tennis ball that was dropped on him ... they have long memories and do remember things that are scary to them or hurt them.

Lucky aways responded very fearfully when he heard or saw a cat (on TV) , he was rescue by me a little juvenile when had been attacked by nextdoor's cat and had it in hot persuit.
Wriggles I believe saw another skink, one of her elder offspring I suspect attacked , tortured by and killed by nextdoor's cat one afternoon, she came running up the driveway and onto the front patio frantically tried to get inside the house through the front window, I think she was trying to get me to come out to chase the cat away as I had very often when ever I saw it in my yard when the resident skinks were about... I went down the back and soon discovered the dead mangled little skink and it twigged why she had behaved in such a matter.... she was also terrified of cats ( even TV cats ).

Lucky and Wriggle were also terrified of the vacuum cleaner sound.... likely sounded like the whippersnipper and lawnmower to them....

My BTS and beardies have never been scared of the vacuum cleaner, though Rex is not thrilled by the sound motorbikes reving.....

Yes they remember bad experiences for the rest of their lives, think about it, in the wild if they survive a bad experience or an attack , if they don't learn from it (at least to recognize the source of the pain, injuries , the fear) they wont live long. It's a survival imperative to learn what to fear , even if the thing they fear seems strange or funny to you ....

JessPets":1r346ed7 said:

My beardie was scared of strawberries and bananas, even when cut up into small chunks :lol:

Also, (though I don't think you are) try not to intentionally scare him with them. Maybe try to gently introduce things to him, so he won't be as frightful (but use your common sense! don't try introducing him to larger pets like cats and dogs- they should always be separated)

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Sorry .... BUT IMO it's very unwise to introduce a family dog or cat to your beardie. There is no good reason to have them socialized with these larger animals.

kingofnobbys":21hajn45 said:

JessPets":21hajn45 said:

My beardie was scared of strawberries and bananas, even when cut up into small chunks :lol:

Also, (though I don't think you are) try not to intentionally scare him with them. Maybe try to gently introduce things to him, so he won't be as frightful (but use your common sense! don't try introducing him to larger pets like cats and dogs- they should always be separated)

Click to expand...

Sorry .... BUT IMO it's very unwise to introduce a family dog or cat to your beardie. There is no good reason to have them socialized with these larger animals.

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I don't know if you misread it or something, but I clearly said DON'T introduce beardies to larger pets.