Bearded Dragon flattening onto me

[psykick]

I just got little Zilla about a week ago from a pet store. He's been doing great so far and took to me picking him up every now and then completely fine. He's around 2-3 months old and his viv is kept at around 105 at his basking spot and 75-80 on the opposite end. He eats fine and often and has actually surprised me with his appetite. All around I think he's healthy right now.

To the question at hand: When I take him out of his tank to handle him he'll spend a little while alert and crawling around me and my desk/bed with insatiable curiousity. Then he'll crawl onto my hand or shoulder, spread eagle and actually grip me and press his body completely flat against me and close his eyes. Is this just him sleeping? He has a very light color to his back and a white bottom while running around, then he'll cuddle up on me and darken a bit while he dozes off.

I'm just wondering if this is normal behavior and if it's safe for me to just let him chill on my shoulder while I do my business or if I should remove him once he starts.

 

[Taterbug]

He may be getting too cool, little dragons get colder much faster than big dragons. How long has he been out at that point?

They flatten out and darken to soak up as much heat as they can.

 

[psykick]

He had been out maybe 5-10 minutes. The room temperature was around 75 with a heater on.

 

[Tonja]

Beardies will flatten out to get as much area exposed to heat as possible and will darken to absorb heat. I agree he may have gotten a bit cold so found a spot <neck and head or any pulse area on your body is warmer than other parts of you> that was comfortably warm, flattened out to get as much surface area exposed to your body heat. He sounds perfectly normal to me, my adult female and my baby will do that same thing if they feel a little cold when out.

 

[thebenior]

My dragon will also adjust himself and flatten out on soft surfaces like fleece blankets.