Sudden over-the-top aggression in 3 year old female beardie

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thegardengrrl

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I received a 3 year old female leatherback about 6 months ago. This beardie had come from a neglect situation. She grew up in a large enclosure with five of her clutchmates. When she came, she was very timid but grew to be what appeared to be friendlier with regular handling, a good, regular diet, and housing that gives her plenty of space.

Over the last several weeks, she has become very aggressive toward everyone who has formerly been totally ok with handling her. We are not new to reptiles - or beardies - in our house, and we're generally not fearful of any of them. However, my eldest daughter received a nasty bite, and a subsequent nasty infection, from this beardie.

It's not even a matter of putting your hand in her space. She will flare and gape at any living thing that walks past her space. She has bitten me twice, each of my daughters once, and another household member twice.

I have contacted the woman who rescued her, and her advice was "hold her more." This beardie flat out doesn't want interaction with us, and has become menacing. I would love to keep her since I feel committed to her well being. However, caring for her has become problematic. This is not our first beardie, and I've never, ever seen anything like this. I get that some of this behavior might not be entirely her fault, because of her prior neglectful situation. But she wasn't always like this with us.

I've had her to the vet (a herp specialist) and she's been given a clean bill of health. In fact, we were told she is acutally in superior condition. Her diet checked out, and we were told that we don't actually need to cater to her as much as we do. The vet was astounded that she receives pots of living plants that she can graze on at will. He said that we need not feed her anything but crickets, but we're still offering a varied diet of insects and such. Dubias, crickets, horn worms, phoenix worms. All kinds of fruits and veggies. Living herbs, collards, and more. She has good light, good UV that is replaced regularly, and proper supplements.

I'm completely at a loss right now. No one else in my house will have anything to do with her, and we've been advised to get rid of her.

Any reasonable advice would be very much appreciated.

Claire
 

Birdy

Hatchling Member
Hi, Well wow i'm kinda blown away by this one! That is very interesting! Has she been dropped lately? Or anything that would make her scared? I know this is a strange question but what do you wear when you walk up to her? One of my BD's is terrified of hats :lol:! Any change in environment, logs, accessory's.........new cage from when you brought her home till now?
 

thegardengrrl

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She has been in the same enclosure since I brought her home in late November. 80 gallon. Lots of room, good hide, lots of light, living plants, access to water. If this girl was ever dropped, it was before she came to me. She had virtually no handling for most of her life. The initial rescuer worked with her, and she was pretty much lovely for quite some time. Now? She's just a jerk all the time. Experienced beardie people - certainly those with more experience than me - in my area are telling me to rehome her; that she'll always be difficult and a problem child. I understand it's not her fault that she hatched into a bad environment, but I'm not really equipped for reptile rehab.
 

fuchsiaSkies

Hatchling Member
Hi there!

If you're willing to try and work with her for a little bit longer, you could try gardening gloves. Is your enclosure top-open or front-open, by the way?

I've had a couple dragons in the past with this aggression situation. Just wear a pair of new, clean, gardening gloves in case she does try to bite. Start by just trying to hold your hand close to her until she stops puffing or behaving aggressively. Once she calms down, keep getting slowly closer to her, again watching for her stress levels. If it progresses to the point where you're able to actually touch her without her freaking out, you can try picking her up. Always go in from the bottom, they see anything coming from above as a possible predator. Scoop her up, one hand supporting all her appendages and belly, and the other resting lightly but firmly on top of her in case she starts to squirm. If you can manage to get her picked up without too much trouble, try holding her to your chest, one hand with light pressure on the base of her tail so she can't escape. With any luck, she will start to calm down and realize that you're not there to hurt her.

This is not a quick process and can't be rushed, and also may not work for every dragon. Some of them just really won't tolerate being held, unfortunately. But if you are willing to give it a little more work, I really hope for the best for your little girl, and am very happy you took her out of a bad situation, even if it doesn't work out as the best thing for your family and you have to send her to someone else who can handle her. :)

Again, good luck, whatever happens!

**EDIT: Forgot to add, at 8 months old, you could be dealing with the start of some puberty hormones, so she might lighten up a little bit on her own... Maybe. :?
 

Birdy

Hatchling Member
Have you tried different things like giving her a warm bath? Or, taking her outside on a warm sunny day? You could put on gloves and put her in a box to take her outside... Sometimes when I do both of these things it seems to calm them or help them relax when they are tense.
 

thegardengrrl

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Original Poster
She's not 8 months old - I've had her for 8 months. She's three. She also gets held multiple times a day, formerly by numerous people in the household who now refuse to have anything to do with her because she has bitten everyone, including me. I still hold her. I don't use gloves, they seem to stress her out more. So I get bitten. I'm STILL holding her multiple times a day, and she's STILL biting me. This behavior has been going on for nearly a month, and nothing we've tried has helped. Not more holding. Not baths. We haven't had any warm days in Oregon for her to be outside, but I'm not sure what else there is to do.
 

fuchsiaSkies

Hatchling Member
Whoops, don't know how I read that wrong, must have gotten mixed up with another post. I apologize.

Well, if everything in her environment is correct, and you don't know of any trauma that could have caused this, then I'm afraid I don't really have any more ideas.. Maybe someone else does, but maybe she's just going to have to be a 'look, don't touch' critter. They're all different personalities, so sometimes there isn't anything we can do about it. :dontknow:
 

Birdy

Hatchling Member
This may be a phase it is spring so they know it is the breeding season for them and BD's get fussy. With my 2 little girls I never know what mood they will be in sometimes they are all sweet and sometimes they're like DON'T YOU DARE TOUCH ME HOOMAN :lol:
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
thegardengrrl":13ux8dm4 said:
She has been in the same enclosure since I brought her home in late November. 80 gallon.
<<< well , sorry you are having problems with the rescued girl,

.... are you sure she is a girl and not a boy , who has become hormonal and uberterritorial with the seasonal change , in which case this will pass as his hormone return to normal levels

Otherwize I suspect this is something to do with her previous owner (who likely hit her or was abusive towards her , or perhaps she's been dropped or accidentially hurt by your daughter at some stage (she may not even know she hurt the beardie) , they do have very good memories when it comes to things that hurt.
So she is acting out in an aggressive manner because she is terrified of people or perhaps of women ( is she the same with your husband ? ) or your perfume might be scary to her (do you ware perfume) and you will have a big job (not at all impossible) to gain her trust and get her tame enough to tolerate being picked up and handled.

Everytime she opens her mouth when you are near , pop a food treat in the opening .... eventually she'll become some full she''ll not be gain to open the mouth for fear of getting another bit of food popped in there . Poke it into the mouth from side , not the front BTW, less change of her nailing you with bite.
In need be , wear leather welders gloves for now when handling her.

Food treats work wonders with lizards to get their trust , once she learns to associate you and your hand with nice things (food is nice universially for lizards) then half the battle is over regards trust building.

Lots of room, good hide, lots of light, living plants, access to water.
<<<< 80 gallons is NOT adequate for a full grown adult bearded dragon , she needs at least at tank with a foot print of at least 4ft x 2ft.
If this girl was ever dropped, it was before she came to me. She had virtually no handling for most of her life. The initial rescuer worked with her, and she was pretty much lovely for quite some time. Now? She's just a ***** all the time. Experienced beardie people - certainly those with more experience than me - in my area are telling me to rehome her; that she'll always be difficult and a problem child. I understand it's not her fault that she hatched into a bad environment, but I'm not really equipped for reptile rehab.
<<<< it only takes patience and perseverance , no special skill or equipment involved IMO.
I have rescued lizards (wild ones) and they became uber tame and affectionate in my hands and great pets , gentle enough to let my grandson pet them even when he was only 2 - 3 years old.
 
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