Hi there,
I'm wondering if someone can help me. I adopted my first beardie 3 days ago, he's 8 months old, adopted from a pet store and was adored by everyone in the store (friendly etc).
He has an 80 gallon viv, properly set up with UV lamp, heat lamp & night lamp. Viv gets to 104f on his basking stone (digital probe therm.) and 70f on the cooler end. He's eating very well and has done since he arrived (greens+apple+carrot in morning and live mealworms+crickets at night).
The worry I have is that he appears very scared of me - complete contrast to how he was around the pet store staff. If I open the viv door - he will shoot across to the other side of the viv - when I open that end, he tries to crawl up the wall! I'm a bit skittery myself by nature - anything that moves quickly, I react quickly, but I love him so much and want him to trust me and know that I'm not a threat. I feed him live insects off tongs - he attacks the tongs quite aggressivly so I'm worried about hand feeding. I have handled him 4 times since he arrived. I have had a cuddle when hes been a bit groggy towards sleep time and loved having him snuggled up in a blanket on my shoulder - but is that a good idea? - should I be potentially disturbing his sleep and would this help him trust me? Is it best for me to continue trying to handle him? - or give him time/space to get used to his new surroundings? Sorry for all the questions but I would really like some help as to what the best approach is to gain his trust and bond.
Thank you
I'm wondering if someone can help me. I adopted my first beardie 3 days ago, he's 8 months old, adopted from a pet store and was adored by everyone in the store (friendly etc).
He has an 80 gallon viv, properly set up with UV lamp, heat lamp & night lamp. Viv gets to 104f on his basking stone (digital probe therm.) and 70f on the cooler end. He's eating very well and has done since he arrived (greens+apple+carrot in morning and live mealworms+crickets at night).
The worry I have is that he appears very scared of me - complete contrast to how he was around the pet store staff. If I open the viv door - he will shoot across to the other side of the viv - when I open that end, he tries to crawl up the wall! I'm a bit skittery myself by nature - anything that moves quickly, I react quickly, but I love him so much and want him to trust me and know that I'm not a threat. I feed him live insects off tongs - he attacks the tongs quite aggressivly so I'm worried about hand feeding. I have handled him 4 times since he arrived. I have had a cuddle when hes been a bit groggy towards sleep time and loved having him snuggled up in a blanket on my shoulder - but is that a good idea? - should I be potentially disturbing his sleep and would this help him trust me? Is it best for me to continue trying to handle him? - or give him time/space to get used to his new surroundings? Sorry for all the questions but I would really like some help as to what the best approach is to gain his trust and bond.
Thank you