Sudden anger, please help!

So my 8 month beardie named Cindy recently went outside for the first time, and for a few seconds her expression was blank, and then she got angry out of nowhere, and bolted into a nearby bush. Thankfully, I found her. If anyone would be able to tell me what happened please do.

captainmoist":3t3ijtaj said:

So my 8 month beardie named Cindy recently went outside for the first time, and for a few seconds her expression was blank, and then she got angry out of nowhere, and bolted into a nearby bush. Thankfully, I found her. If anyone would be able to tell me what happened please do.

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My beardie had a similar reaction the first time brought him outside... luckily, he was in a large rubbermaid bin, so he couldn't escape from me. I personally think it's not anger, it's overstimulation - suddenly, after being inside most of their lives, they are bombarded with scents, sounds, and sensations (wind, temperature, grass underneath) that they don't understand and don't know if these things should be identified as dangerous or not. A sudden change, like a bird flying overhead, a stiff breeze, a sound - all of that could set off the fight-or-flight response.

My Figment was perfectly fine until I tried to pick him up to bring him inside - and then he suddenly blackbearded and hissed at me, for the first time in his life, and set about frantically trying to escape through the wall of the container. I guess outdoors can be a pretty stressful place for a beardie who's accustomed to the great indoors! :lol: Needless to say, I didn't bring him outside much after that... I don't want to stress my sweet dragon unecessarily!

You're probably going to want to invest in a harness or an outdoor pen if you're going to be bringing your dragon out again... too many stories on this forum haven't ended as well as yours did, sadly.

nevermind, just figured out it was because i was walking and she thought it was a predator

I have also had simular experience with my 7 month old dragon Jim. He is ok outside as long as I am holding him or he is hanging from my shirt but if I try to sit him on the grass he freaks out beard puffed stiff as a board generally upset. I think it is the shock of a new environment as well as fear of predators mostly birds that sets him off. With time and maybe some shelter like a mesh cage with a hide I hope he will get more comfortable and enjoy spending time in the sun. For now I take him out in hand for sun and he is ok with that as long as I don't sit him down.

Our girls (Rosie and Lil Squirt) love outside. One year Rosie took herself outside from the window sill in our bedroom. Goldie (unfortunately we no longer have her) looked outside when my husband asked her where Rosie was. Rosie wanted to go outside and her dad (my husband) didn't take her out as soon as she wanted to so she rubbed her nose on the screen enough to get a hole in it wide enough to slip through it and by the time he got into the bedroom she was sitting outside in the tree well. That's fine, except a roadrunner could have grabbed her. We used to see them here a lot and one time one tried to fight my husband because he would let it get to the first two beardies we had. One must watch out for wild animals when we have beardies outside.