Baby beardie bonding

Status
Not open for further replies.

LuaBlua

Member
Hello!

I got my beardie a month ago, and she's doing well health wise etc, but I was just wondering at what stage she should be completely comfortable with me, and enjoy coming out of her enclosure. (I'm not sure of the gender yet so we're just assuming she's a she :lol: )
She seems to be comfortable with my hands, she'll let me do whatever within the enclosure and stroke her etc, but she never seems to want to come out. When I pick her up to come out she's very apprehensive.
She's also extremely unpredictable when out of the enclosure, which I know is very normal for especially babies/juveniles, but god it will be the death of me. She'll seem like she's chilling one second and the next shes sprinting off and jumping for dear life, and more often than not it's in the direction of her enclosure. I was just wondering if and when this tends to die down, and when she'll enjoy to chill with me a lot more? I can never trust putting her on my shoulder because she always just runs down my back and I don't trust her enough for that yet.
So I guess I'm asking, when will she likely become more docile and want to come out? I also acknowledge you probably can't make a proper guesstimate, but what are your personal experiences?
 

LuaBlua

Member
Original Poster
Also, bonding recommendations? I'm not really sure how to bond with her either :D
I've tried to have her sit with me while I'm by my computer, but she's always too distracted by being set on jumping towards her enclosure, which is right next to my desk. It's impossible for her to just sit with me
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, beardies are a lot of fun but as babies they are like small children in their temperament + activity level. :) Some are not so jumpy and active and others are like your baby. It's fine to take her out but never put her on your shoulder [ even later as she gets older ] because there is always the chance of jumping + getting seriously hurt. When handling her, stay low to the ground and keep her on your hands/arms or your chest where you can monitor her. You can't cure jumpiness, but that behavior can and often does slow down and many dragons calm down to be more easy to handle as they get older. You just have to be patient. :)
 

Martadragon017

Hatchling Member
One of the ways I bonded with my beardie was a I hand-fed her her greens. However, this did result in her at one point eating greens only from my hand :lol: . Another thing I read you can do to help her get used to being picked up is lift her just a little bit off the floor of her enclosure and then set her back down, and repeat this frequently. I haven't actually tried this method so I can't say for sure whether or not it works, but you can also search this forum for other threads with this question, since I'm sure it's pretty common and you'll be able to find a lot more information. Hope this helps! :D
 

LuaBlua

Member
Original Poster
AHBD":2qjxwve5 said:
Hi there, beardies are a lot of fun but as babies they are like small children in their temperament + activity level. :) Some are not so jumpy and active and others are like your baby. It's fine to take her out but never put her on your shoulder [ even later as she gets older ] because there is always the chance of jumping + getting seriously hurt. When handling her, stay low to the ground and keep her on your hands/arms or your chest where you can monitor her. You can't cure jumpiness, but that behavior can and often does slow down and many dragons calm down to be more easy to handle as they get older. You just have to be patient. :)
Oh wow do some beardies tend to stay jumpy forever?? Gosh I could have my work put out for me. Today I managed to calm her down, sitting between my legs (crossed) on top of a hot waterbottle. (Don't worry about burns, I don't let it get hot enough and it has a really thick layer of really soft fur so it only really gets a bit warm :lol: ).
I've noticed that she gets completely distracted by something and then her life's goal is just to get there, and she won't give up until she does! (Which she doesn't). E.g. the window, her enclosure, some corner. So today my legs and hands just blocked her view of the window and she calmed down and just I think started even falling asleep on the waterbottle as I stroked her. I know that they can tend to slowly blink if they want you to leave them alone, but she looked really sleepy :D It was really very cute. I really hope she becomes a beardie that enjoys cuddling, as I'm a sucker for all cuddling!
 

LuaBlua

Member
Original Poster
Martadragon017":3tt80xfg said:
One of the ways I bonded with my beardie was a I hand-fed her her greens. However, this did result in her at one point eating greens only from my hand :lol: . Another thing I read you can do to help her get used to being picked up is lift her just a little bit off the floor of her enclosure and then set her back down, and repeat this frequently. I haven't actually tried this method so I can't say for sure whether or not it works, but you can also search this forum for other threads with this question, since I'm sure it's pretty common and you'll be able to find a lot more information. Hope this helps! :D
Yes! I so far have been hand feeding her the greens, it's really very cute, the only greens she'll eat is rocket but she seems to love it!
I started hand feeding in the first place so that she'd get used to my hands and she didn't seem interested at all unless I brought them right up to her face, but now I've been slightly worried she won't eat them unless they are hand fed, like you said! So I've been trying to propose the idea of putting them in a bowl for her, and she's been co-operating a bit but she actually struggles to pick the little pieces up with her tongue, and she eventually gives up, which is where I have to hand feed them again! :roll:
The other point with the picking her up sounds good, I'll give it a try! She usually gets freaked out if she realises I want to take her out though, so I hope she'll tolerate it :(
Thanks for your suggestions!
 

WinFam01

Juvie Member
Sounds like you're doing great!
it did take a while for ours to get used to being picked up/taken out, and at almost 6 months she still doesn't seem super excited about it and still gets quite jumpy/squirmy. But I read all the time about ones that snuggle and chill, so I keep holding out hope that will still happen!
 

LuaBlua

Member
Original Poster
WinFam01":2nqtziqq said:
Sounds like you're doing great!
it did take a while for ours to get used to being picked up/taken out, and at almost 6 months she still doesn't seem super excited about it and still gets quite jumpy/squirmy. But I read all the time about ones that snuggle and chill, so I keep holding out hope that will still happen!
Well it's definitely comforting to hear it's not just her that doesn't naturally love coming out very early on, but within the past 2 days I think we've actually made more progress than in the past month!

I've beardie proofed my room so I've let her explore a lot more, instead of completely limiting her from going anywhere apart from my tiny radius on my bed. She's already so much more bright and comfortable, she even relaxed with me on my bed for a while! (Which is groundbreaking considering her temperament). I hope she begins to love snuggling as much as I do :(

The one time she will just sit there and chill doing nothing is by my window, she literally sits there for hours, I often get her out to sit with me there while I do my makeup because of it. Very cute.

I've also been much less stressed and don't dread bothering her by taking her out because she seems to love exploring my room. Hopefully soon it'll be the rest of the house! :lol:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Members online

Still Needs Help

Latest resources

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

What is a quick way to warm up a cold beardie? His heating element went out overnight and now he's very cold.
Pearl Girl wrote on moorelori1966's profile.
i feel so sad reading your about me 😢
Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

Things to do:
Buy calcium powder
Material to raise surface for basking spot
Scenery decals for back of tank
Taking my beardie for a walk

Forum statistics

Threads
155,853
Messages
1,255,169
Members
75,936
Latest member
KarmaChild99
Top Bottom