Semi-Juvenile Beardie Still Aggressive

Hey there guys/gals im new to this forum and have been becoming discouraged with handling our beardie. We adopted him/her at Petsmart March 5, 2018, barley almost 2 months with us. Every time me or my fiancé try to handle him or her it runs away and tried to bite us. Ive been trying once a day for atleast 15-30min a day handling and hand feeding every meal. There arent any issues taking food from either of our hands. There is a constant attempt to squirm and bite. Sometimes just when we think its calmed down and sits on our hand it makes a run or jumps to freedom. Beardies name is Smaug lol and is housed in a 30 long aquarium with reptile carpet and proper UVB/UVA lighting/basking spot. Current diet is Dubias. Ive read articles talking about taming and i want to believe or hope this grows out of him/her and i worry it just might be a beardie that hates handeling. It measues about 8in and seems healthy. Stools seem normal. We are a 1st time beardie parents, though not our first adopted reptile (leopard gecko). Ive considered taking him/her to the vet but am unsure if that would be nessesary. Maybe something wrong with the enclosure?

Hi. When you go to pick him up or pet definitely don't go from the top. They see your hand as a predator. Try picking him up by sliding your hand underneath him. Also the uvb light you are using puts off very weak uvb. I'd replace it with a reptisun 10.0 T5.

destiny1998":38q42nkg said:

Hi. When you go to pick him up or pet definitely don't go from the top. They see your hand as a predator. Try picking him up by sliding your hand underneath him. Also the uvb light you are using puts off very weak uvb. I'd replace it with a reptisun 10.0 T5.

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Hey destiny 1998, would the bulb Mayotte a difference if it's still a Reptisun 10.0? Perhaps maybe we need to get a tank that opens from the front? Weve read that to try picking up from under neath, and been trying for a few weeks still aggressive, skiddish

A tube light and a compact bulb are fairly different things so yes, although both are 10.0's they are not the same. One produces a correct amount of UVB that a bearded dragon needs to live while the other fails terribly and barely produces a single thing, even if mounted inside the tank.

As for his behavior he's probably still scared of you and thinks you'll hurt him. With time, patience, and handling he should calm down... but dont force anything.


Here is a list of fixtures and UVB bulbs, I recommend buying the 34" T5 HO Fixture and the Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 34" bulb at the very least. It may hang off the edge a bit right now but it'll save you money in the long run as beardies need 75 gallons at minimum when they reach 12 months of age or so.
Generally a UVB tube should cover half of the enclosure at the very least.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013RNBXLQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
^ 46" T5 HO Fixture

https://www.amazon.com/Reptile-T5HO-Standard-Fixture-Reflector/dp/B01B209YQC/ref=sr_1_5?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1523586973&sr=1-5&keywords=t5+ho+fixture
^ 34" T5 HO Fixture

https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26062-Reptisun-Fluorescent/dp/B00AQU8HKO/ref=pd_bxgy_199_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00AQU8HKO&pd_rd_r=ZNH52XHETCP3Y7K5FGA2&pd_rd_w=GIi1G&pd_rd_wg=oAEwd&psc=1&refRID=ZNH52XHETCP3Y7K5FGA2&dpID=31QDwNV8eSL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=detail
^ 34" T5 HO 10.0

https://www.amazon.com/ZooMed-Zoo-Med-ReptiSun-Output/dp/B00AQU8HRM/ref=pd_bxgy_201_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00AQU8HRM&pd_rd_r=R1ZX884J9P08VVS6YN6C&pd_rd_w=l58nu&pd_rd_wg=ZeSJJ&psc=1&refRID=R1ZX884J9P08VVS6YN6C
^ 46" T5 HO 10.0

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-ho-t5-14-uvb-dragon-lamp-34-inch/
^ 34" T5 HO 14%

http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/arcadia-d3-ho-t5-14-uvb-dragon-lamp-46-inch/
^ 46" T5 HO 14%

And then this is some extra important things that may help.
Feeding guide.
All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches, possibly earthworms.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.

Generally beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 2-4x a week with
multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This depends on how your adult beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.

And then a care sheet that goes over the basics.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/18Pf ... sp=sharing

to help with him getting used to your scent, wear an old shirt for around 24 hours, then cut off a sleeve or something and put it on his basking spot. this will allow your dragon to get used to your scent at his/her pace in a non-threatening manner