New baby bearded dragon is terrified of me

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trinityy

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I just got a baby bearded dragon yesterday and this is my first ever bearded dragon. Although I did research on bearded dragons , I’m still struggling a lot. Basically whenever I get close to it or put my hand near it in it’s tank, it jumps or runs away to the corner of the tank and oftentimes it will only eat 1-2 bugs or 1-2 bites of its greens and then it will just bask and won’t eat anymore. I’m going to list the lighting & age & other information and can someone first , tell me if anything is wrong with the lighting & other things and second , give me tips on bonding with my bearded dragon so that it’s not so scared of me :

I bought mango from petco and they said that she is about 2 months old , I have her in a 20 gallon tank , but I bought a 20 gallon terrarium kit instead of buying everything separately so what came (other than samples of repti calcium and other food) in the kit was :
-a mat to use as a substrate
-a 75 watt repti basking spot lamp from zoomed
-a reptisun 10.0 UVB mini compact fluorescent lamp also from zoomed
-mopani wood
-and lastly a sticker / stick on thermometer

as for mango’s diet, I try to give her as many baby crickets as she can eat for 15 minutes but she only eats 1-2 crickets and then will just go onto her hide.
I also try to give her small pieces of apples , sweet/bell peppers, and cilantro but she’ll only take one bite then again be done eating
and occasionally I give her meal worms but some people say that they could cause digestive issues / impaction but others say that they’re fine so I feed them but not too often

I can’t hold her , I can’t really pet her because she gets extremely scared when I put my hand near her and I don’t want to stress her out by forcing myself onto her , and she barely eats so far.
I’m a brand new bearded dragon owner so if there’s anything that I’m doing wrong or any tips that I may need , or any further information you need to know before being able to help me , please reply !!
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Ok so the tank will need to be upgraded soon-- like w/ in the next few months -- I suggest you start upgrading the lighting now -- you need at least a 40 gallon tank I recommend the bigger the better 75-120 gallon -- you can start looking on FB marketplace or Craigslist -- look for one w/ front doors -if you find one on FB or Craigslist make sure you sanitize it real good w/ Zoo Meds WipeOut or some F 10 - you can find that on Ebay https://www.ebay.com/itm/F10-SC-Disinfectant-100ml-Veterinary-BirdsPetBirdReptilesCageCleanerVet/152133531790epid=1664725015&hash=item236bdd788e:g:DdMAAOSwcUBYMuwP-- ---- this stuff is good to have on hand----next I would recommend getting a 24" fixture w/ a reflector and a Reptisun 10.0 T 5 bulb- they look like this
https://www.reptilesupplyco.com/wholesale-reptile-hoods-domes-fixtures/1884-reptisun-terrarium-hood-t5-24-zoo-med.html your basking temps w/ the stick on is inaccurate-
I would work on getting this NOW especially the digital probe---
Your dragon is going thru relocation stress so her eating will be slow but she should not quit eating all together --- when putting your hand in the tank do not approach from the top they have a 3rd eye for predators so she thinks your a predator- she is scared she sees this huge hand coming towards her -- its going to take a lot of patience working w/ her -- you need to start hand feeding her so she gets used to your hand as a friend not a enemy-- it may take months but w/ your hand in the tank as much as possible talking to her hand feeding her she will learn to trust ---
you need to get a glass bowl or ceramic and order some BSFL from here www.symtonbsf.com order large they are small do not dust them and feed as many as you want -- they are a good baby staple feeder -- there is a glass bowl on this site that is good for the insects / worms order the large one if you get one -- next you can get some wax worms these I really dont recommend as they are a fatty worm and too many for too long can cause liver issues but using them to to get her to the salad bowl and hand feeding them like the BSFL is good -- small super worms are good too for luring to the bowl - they are hard to find -- but if you can find some use 1-3 on top of her salads like the BSFL and feed your salad first thing in the morning offering her the worms out of your hand - you can do both hand and tongs but I want you to use your hand and feed out of the tongs and let her eat out of the both - when she gets older you will be glad you did this when shes a baby -- I would think about getting her over on dubia roaches they are a better staple feeder and last longer than crickets -- silk worms are a good staple feeder here is a website www.reptilianarts.com -- that has both I think right now they only have a bigger silk worm that comes in a cup -- you want bulk like 50 they come small and you would need to order food to feed them -- the ones in the cup come w/ food but I think they may be to big to feed her now -- you would need to feed them daily and clean containers as well --
www.coastalsilkworms.com they are shipping now and they come w/ food
www.xyzreptiles.com they are out of Palmetto Bay FL they ship small and w/ food and they are fast they ship Fed Ex 2-3 days
Here is a website for nutrition ignore the kale thing its a good staple feeder
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
What is the Mopani wood? Is that a substrate -- if its a loose substrate I recommend you get rid of it and put in some paper towels for now -- you do not want her ingesting the wood -- that would not have a good outcome-- if you need more help or questions please ask
Karrie
 

trinityy

Member
Original Poster
thank you for all of this information !! I was actually planning to get a 40 gallon tank to begin with for my bearded dragon but all pet stores were out of the terrarium kits and I did not think about buying everything separately at the time. I’ll start working on upgrading the lighting and tank size for my beardie as soon as possible !
Also , mopani wood is just a type of log that comes inside of the bearded dragon terrarium kit , and I’m sure not to put any loose substrates in mango’s tank while she’s a baby bc I don’t want her to possibly ingest anything bad
lastly , a little update is that today was only my second day having her ever but she actually ate about 5 meal worms (the last 3 times I tried feeding her, she would only eat 1 cricket and then stop or 1 piece of greens + a piece of a pepper than stop, so in my opinion this is progress :)) today, one of which was hand fed from me and she is less scared when I put my hand in her tank :))
I mean she still gets a little spooked since I’ve only had her for barely 2 days but now when I get close to her , she doesn’t jump or really run away (and if she does then I just back off so that I don’t scare her more) , but mango seems to be starting to trust me a bit more ! I’ll keep using your tips , upgrade so that she has the best habitat and diet that I can provide , and have patience ! Thank you !
 
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