About when you first held your Dragon?

[xmyselfxmex]

How long did it take till your beardie trusted you and let you pet them and pick then up?

 

[xmyselfxmex]

And how did you know they were OK with it?

 

[Comet07]

I was actually able to hold my Beardie Comet only a day or so after I purchased him :lol: .
I didn't want to freak him out, so started by petting him and then finally slowly help him inside the cage. Now I take him out all the time and he never runs away or seemed scared (He's still a bit new)

I believe as long as your Beardie doesn't run away from you or show aggression you should handle them as much as possible

 

[allusiontoanillusion]

Haku was extremely friendly when I first got him - took no issue with hanging out on me as I stroked his beard the first day I got him. I got him when he was 3 months and he already LOVED his vegetables and had no problems being held by anyone so the guy who raised him certainly did something right.

For me, you can tell they'be started trusting you once they stop watching you all the time. A beardie will often tolerate being held while watching you carefully to make sure nothing fishy is going on. At first, Haku would tend to keep an eye on me when he was out of his tank. But within the first few days he relaxed.

 

[reptilemaster]

The fist time I held Blaze was when I was picking him out at the pet shop, and he would not stop biting me :shock: He was just like "bite, bite, bite!" He was just so pretty and healthy that I just had to have him! I was able to tame him though, he stopped biting after the first day and would just sit on my hand puffing at me! Now he will tolerate cuddles!

 

[twixy79]

I was able to hold Chewie from day one. He sat on my finger for 40 minutes while I picked through the pet store trying to set up his new home (3 days later I decided a 55 gal tank was needed lol) Chewie will sit calmly in my hand, or on a finger, but if my husband tries to hold him, he starts running all over. It's kinda funny because my husband is a big, 6'6" dude. We've only had Chewie a week, and he is still such a baby, that I think its hysterical when my husband gets all upset because he won't sit still for him... hahaha

 

[BrightStar]

Rygel was handled a lot by his breeder and her family. So he was pretty calm about being held from the start when I got him. I had more of an issue with him reacting to my hand inside his cage - he did not like being caught, or me putting my hand in the cage to feed him, or clean him out. I believe this was due partly to just me being new to him, and doing things different to how he was used to with his breeder. He would run along the walls, and even tried to jump out of the cage door on more than a few occasions. Lucky I caught him.

I've had him three weeks now and he is much, much better. He spooks if I rush too much, or am a little awkward about how I pick him up, but the rest of the time he stays still and is quite calm about being picked up. Once I have him out of his cage, he usually will stay where I put him, then when he's comfortable and feels safe, he'll start trying to explore.

 

[kingofnobbys]

As soon I got home , just for a few minutes before transferring from travel tubs to rearing tubs.

Rex and Puff had to endure a 90 min road journey at 6 weeks old, and spent much of the trip watching my wife who was nursing them in their tubs . They were quite happy to come out of the little 1L travel tubs and seemed as curious about us as we were about them.
Peppa and Toothless (5 week olds) only had to endure a 45 min - 60min road trip. Again as above.
In each case I gave the hatchling a cricket by hand as soon as I got them out , and I made sure they saw me get the cricket out of the tub for them too ,and placed the little lizard on my chest with my other hand cupped over it's body and it's wrist gently resting on the lizard's tail (just so they fealt some pressure (a good deterrent to leaping off).

Little beardies (hatchlings) can be very nervous and skittish, if your's backs off , take the hint and leave him be.
Never chase little beardies (hatchlings) and try to grab them, this will only enforce it's fear of you.
I found when mine evaded me by heading to the back or out of reach in their big tubs, I could move them closer by reaching in with a long stout stick , and slipping it under their front legs / chest, they instinctive clutch onto it and if you move slowly and gently you can move the closer where you can slip your hand under them to lift them with little drama in most cases.

I have found a food bribe helps very often.

Puff was cool with being handled from the getgo, as was Peppa. Rex was OK until she saw something and it was then an argument (beardie wants to dash off and explore / investigate while daddy wanted more petting / snuggle time ), she came round in a few months, Toothless was / is a force of nature and had and still has his own agenda, he was a real live wire would only stay put long enough to eat 2 or 3 crickets initially, took over 6 months for him to decide he was OK with snuggles (but still on his terms only).
Every lizard has it's own personality and some are people lizards from the getgo, some take a while but eventually come round. Patience and time are the keys.

 

[SpacialCoogs]

I held Scaley from the time I picked her up to the time I put her in her new habitat. Then I let her acclimate for a week before taking her out of her enclosure. I would pet her and hand feed her during that time.

Now she passes out on me and won't wake up when she gets transferred to her sleeping platform. It's kind of awesome that she trusts me that much.

 

[Tayandjules]

I was able to pick Falcon up immediately in order to put her in a carrying case for the trip to her new home. Bearded dragons are very nervous when humans interact with them initially. But it is really important to hold them and interact with them every day even if they seem nervous at first because they will not ever get used to human interaction any other way. While it may initially cause some stress that is slight compared to living their whole life with humans and never learning to trust them.

Also, as SpacialCoogs and kingofnobbys mentioned, hand feeding them is a great way to bond with them so that he or she will trust you. I agree that chasing them with your hand in the cage isn't a great idea. Typically though if you lay your hand down close to the ground in front of them and kind of scoop them up from underneath they will not run away from this. I also echo the need for patience.