Baby wont let me touch her..

[MikeRC]

So today makes one week since I've had my beardie. (She"s yet to have a name..) She hasn't let me pick her up once since I got her, accept to put her in the tank.. She seams to be doing good, very alert and eating well. I have her in a 75 gallon tank split in the middle with cardboard for now.. She allows me to get as close as I want, she's even eating some veggies from my hand. I place my hand next to her in the tank everyday without her moving, but as soon as I go to rub her back or touch her at all she takes off. I want to be able to handle her or atleast be able to place her somewere for feeding for now but she won't allow it. I try being firm when she's gaping at me by not moving, but as soon as I touch her she's gone..

Is there anything I can do for her to get use to me? She's only about 6 or 7 inches and currently shedding, which may be making things worse.. I know it'll be a pain cleaning the tank if I can't remove her to do so.. Any help would be greatly appreciated..

 

[sassyglizzard]

Most likely she has just not adjusted to being handled yet. You can solve this by handling her. What this takes is confidence. After you have the confidence to touch her and pick her up, she will get used to you and many even enjoy this. Best of luck.

 

[MikeRC]

So should I be forcing her to be picked up? I admit I'm nervous but only because of how fragile she is. When I try picking her up she runs and gapes. Should I ignore this?

 

[sassyglizzard]

I would. And I don't mean to sound bad with using the word "force". But right now it is running from you because it doesn't know what to expect. Once it understands that you are not such a bad thing.. maybe even a good thing .. then it will be a lot more calm with you handling it. Also, it is just small.. so they are a lot more active. Run run run! You want to be careful picking it up... i'm not saying be too harsh... but at the same time, they arent quite as fragile as they may look or seem. Good luck!

 

[MikeRC]

So after chasing her around the viv I just picked her up for the first time. She did the exact opposite of what I expected. I cupped my hand over her and sat on my bed. Instead of taking off like I thought she would she actually seamed pretty comfortable. I began gently rubbing her back and before I know it she's stretched out and sound asleep in my palm.

Should I try handling her like this once a day everyday for now? Or should I maybe try it more..?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

 

[Atrax]

The best time to handle her is right before she goes to sleep.
Good luck!

 

[MikeRC]

I tried that tonight and she's more aggressive than she's ever been. She's beginning to bite and instead of her laying in palm like she has been she instead kept constantly jumping from my hand. I ended up just giving up as she just wouldn't allow being picked up, or even letting me get close to her..

 

[tdharris]

My baby tries to bite too, but I am finding that handling him every day he seems to be getting a little better, even though he has his days that he tries to jump out of my hand etc. there are days that when I put him back he just clings to my hand and I have to kinda push him off me LOL he is still small though

 

[jon21388]

when my beardies where babies they were pretty hard to pick up when they were in the tank. Trust me I'm sure everyone would be scared if they saw a huge hand coming down after them. But now they are used to the hands coming down so sometimes they come to your hand.

 

[MikeRC]

So this continues to be an issue. I just spent an hour trying to touch/pet her and like every other time she bites and takes off. She'll hide under her log or run to the back corners where she knows it's hard for me to get her. Not really sure what's left for me to do that I haven't tried. This all makes caring for her a PITA when it comes to cleaning her tank and whatnot.

 

[sheri85]

sorry you're still having trouble. my suggestion would be to wait till nighttime when she gets ready to go to sleep, then handle her. she'll be a bit calmer when she cools down for the night. otherwise, just be patient with her. she's probably still scared of her new surroundings so it might take her awhile to realize that she's safe and you're not going to hurt her.

 

[AHBD]

Mike, just pick her up and hold her in your cupped hands, DON'T bother petting her. That's the first stage....you definitely got a flighty beardie, and you need one step at a time. She will get used to it. If you just got her recently, you may want to leave her alone for about 2 weeks to a month until she is comfortable in her new home, then start picking her up for 10-15 min. at a time.

 

[tdharris]

Also from what I have tried to do and had a little success with is to hold some greens and when it went to bite I put the greens there. That way you can kill 2 birds with one stone, hand feeding and getting used to greens LOL.. Hope it works for you it takes alot of patience and persistence but follow what others have said to just hold her/him and don't try to pet.

 

[Gail]

I agree with AHBD, you just have to pick her up and hold her. At this point she should have learned you won't hurt her but instead it seems you have learned to leave her be when she is being bratty.
It doesn't matter if she doesn't like it or doesn't want it, hold her on your term when you want. Don't expect her to be your friend right away, for now she just needs to learn that you won't go away when she bites and runs.
I know many people will say take you time and leave her be but with a feisty baby thats not really practical. I'm a bit more forceful, if they try to wiggle away, I hold tight and let them thrash about. Jupiter went through a bratty stage where he was bearding and trying to bite, only took a few days to him to figure out it was useless to try and bully me.

 

[MikeRC]

So today I took her out for a little while. I kept giving her veggies when she gaped at me and after chasing her around for a while I got her. I put her in the bath and afterward she seamed to calm down enough for me to hold her. I tried placing her in the tank but she seamed to enjoy my hands long enough to stay there for about 30 minutes..or maybe she was scared? Anyway, tonight she seams more active than ever running all around her the tank and eating her veggies for the first time in a few days. Hopefully tomorrow goes as good as today did..