Angry at the four year old?

[Mirandor]

So I've had my beardie, Mohinder, for a little under a month now and he's had a perfect temper. He didn't have any major relocation stress, lets me handle him, doesn't hiss or bite, and his beard and belly are normally non black/stripey. However, today he got angry and puffed out his beard and made it black and made his belly really flat and wide and started hissing at, and even bit, my 4 year old sister. The first time, it was the morning and my sister was looking in his viv and talking to him, when he saw her and reacted that way. Then later, my friend and my sister were holding him while I scrubbed down his viv and rock and stuff, and he got like that again, and that's when he apparently bit her. I wasn't there for when it began because I was cleaning his tank, but it took him a few minutes and my sister leaving in order for him to calm down, but then he was fine around my sister for the rest of the day and is sitting on my chest, all normal and chill, as I type this. He's been around her pretty much daily since I got him and hasn't shown any signs of aggression towards her until today, and when she was holding him last night she wasn't unusually rough with him or anything. Any idea what it might be?

 

[jducky18]

It's possible that it could have had nothing to do with your sister. I was holding Hermes once, and a police siren blared down my street in the city and all of a sudden Hermes whipped around, jumped down my arm, off my chair and onto the floor, then dove into my laundry pile. I found him huddled in the middle of a pant leg at the center of the pile. I thought it was because I had his tail lifted to double check that he was a boy, but now I'm more than fairly certain it was the siren. So if something happened outside while your sister was holding him, his fight or flight response might have kicked in, and he happened to choose fight, where Hermes chose flight.

Then again, I could be totally misinformed, that just happened to be my one experience with something like this.

 

[dougkara]

I brought ours out one day and our guinea pigs started squealing like crazy. It scared him and he jumped. So for the next two days when I picked him up he would turn black on me. I think he blamed me for the girls squealing and scaring him.

 

[Mirandor]

That's the thing: the first time, when I was there, there wasn't anything out of the ordinary, she was just talking to him and he flipped out when he saw her and did the whole shebang. I haven't had the chance to pull him out with her today, though I will later, and hopefully it won't be a repeat of yesterday, because she just loves him to pieces.

Also: Last night I was holding him about an hour before his bedtime, and he fell asleep on my chest, so I burritoed him up in one of my shirts and kept him there for about an hour or 2. He's never fallen asleep on me like this before, is that normal? He's been eating and being active like normal today and yesterday, but I just wasn't sure if I should be concerned or not.

 

[sweetpea1981]

yes it is normal for them to fall asleep on you, you are a warm space heater and he feels safe!

 

[carlisv]

If she did anything at all that might seemed to him that she was a bird - if he suddenly noticed her above him, if he felt a breeze when she got near him, of if there were any noises that seemed bird-like (flapping, screeching, whistling), that may have been a trigger. We always to be careful to approach ours from the front so they'll see us coming.

It could be shed-related crankiness, though, which will pass.

 

[JoshCD]

Could be smell as well. Did your sister handle or pet another animal before the bite?

 

[Mirandor]

No, not that I know of. Plus she's handled him before after petting one of the dogs or cats and there was no problem, and Mohinder has been around a few of the dogs and cats with no problem