Timid 3 month old beardie. (Help Please)

Hi all! My Beardie Anze is very happy in his cage. Loves to bask, loves to hang off his log and dangling his legs. As soon as I take his bowl out to feed him, he comes right up to the glass walking back and forth excited. The only thing is, when I reach in to grab him he gets very skittish and almost jumps off my hand. When I sit on the couch he almost immediately jumps off me and runs on the couch which I am glad he likes to do, but when I go try and pick him up to bring him back to his cage, he runs from me and if my hand gets too close to his face, he hisses but never bites. I am sure some of it has to do with his age and his size (Myself being so big to him), but I have had him for two months and hes been handled now for the last month. I just want him to be a chiller once he is older and am concerned that if i don't do something, he may always be like this.

Any advice or assurance he will grow out of this is much appreciated! Thanks!

It sounds like he's a handful =). I would enjoy this phase and let him roam around and explore if you have a safe area to let him do so. They're really curious and run all over the place if you let them. He may still be skittish due to your relative size so I'd put the food down and instead of moving toward him just hold some out in your hand and let him come to it, or just leave it for him and watch from a distance. He will calm down eventually but may always have at least a bit of curiosity and energy which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I'd try to encourage that as much as reasonably possible. I have my house dragon proofed (no small bits lying around to eat up, drop offs are sealed, hiding places are well known, nothing heavy is loose to fall on him etc) and I have some lights set up for him to return to so he can warm up. He's curious and energetic like your guy but not timid anymore at 2.5 years old.

Wow what a gorgeous dragon! Don't worry. He will calm down. The first couple months I had my Peatrie was so worried we would never bond, but now we are best friends. He is 6 months old now. When he wasn't used to me yet I put one of my worn shirts in his tank so he could get used to my smell and that really helped. Every dragon is different and yours might just take a little more time. But I think once he is out of the hatchling stage he will calm down and realize you're not going to eat or hurt him haha. I also bonded with mine by hand feeding. One day he took the food and looked me and then my hand and it's like it clicked in his head that I'm where his food comes from. Just give it time!

AnnaC109":sw1kb4oa said:

Wow what a gorgeous dragon! Don't worry. He will calm down. The first couple months I had my Peatrie was so worried we would never bond, but now we are best friends. He is 6 months old now. When he wasn't used to me yet I put one of my worn shirts in his tank so he could get used to my smell and that really helped. Every dragon is different and yours might just take a little more time. But I think once he is out of the hatchling stage he will calm down and realize you're not going to eat or hurt him haha. I also bonded with mine by hand feeding. One day he took the food and looked me and then my hand and it's like it clicked in his head that I'm where his food comes from. Just give it time!

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thank you!!! He's pretty awesome looking. Can't wait till he's full grown to see all of his patterns at a larger scale! I'll def give it time and I was pretty sure that's what it was, but I really appreciate the assurance. I work in a class and we have a beardie and he's the chilliest guy ever. I can't wait till Anze gets there!

CooperDragon":2b0ldf9h said:

It sounds like he's a handful =). I would enjoy this phase and let him roam around and explore if you have a safe area to let him do so. They're really curious and run all over the place if you let them. He may still be skittish due to your relative size so I'd put the food down and instead of moving toward him just hold some out in your hand and let him come to it, or just leave it for him and watch from a distance. He will calm down eventually but may always have at least a bit of curiosity and energy which is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. I'd try to encourage that as much as reasonably possible. I have my house dragon proofed (no small bits lying around to eat up, drop offs are sealed, hiding places are well known, nothing heavy is loose to fall on him etc) and I have some lights set up for him to return to so he can warm up. He's curious and energetic like your guy but not timid anymore at 2.5 years old.

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thanks for the assurance!!! I was pretty sure he'd calm down but I just needed some assurance. I'll post updates in a few months!