Bearded Dragon Flipped Out For No Reason

[kryptozic]

Ok, so my bearded dragon was normally basking as usual, and it was getting cool in my room, so I got up and turned off my fan. It started slowing down. Then, my beardie looked up and started vigorously looking left and right repeatedly, and out of nowhere, he jumped up and started flipping out and attacking the glass and jumping up and down all over his rocks and fake plants. It was like he was having he drank 3 damn monster energy drink that kicked in. He then cornered himself in the back side of his cool side, and his beard turned black and he was hissing and gaping at nothing. Here's a picture to prove it:

I tried to sooth him by stroking him, and he calmed down a bit. Then I took him out of his tank, and right now he's back to his normal color and he's just roaming around, but like what th hell? Did anyone have this experience or know what caused him? If it was the fan, he would have been spooked from it turning on, and he wasn't looking at the fan, he juts looked up at the mesh. Honestly I have no idea what caused this. Anyone have information on this behaviour?

 

[EllenD]

Yeah, he definitely looks like he's extremely stressed and agitated...most likely he saw the reflection of the fan or himself or something else in the glass of the tank, that's usually what sets them off 99% of the time, whether it be their own reflection causing a hormonal reaction (black bearding, head-bobbing, etc.) or the reflection of something else in the room, like a light flash (or the flash of the fan) that scares them/stresses them out and puts them on guard. You have to realize that when they see the reflection of something/someone in that tank glass, they think that whatever they're seeing is INSIDE THEIR TANK WITH THEM! There was probably some noise from the fan too, so the combination probably just stressed him out and put him on high-alert...

If the black beard and his current stressed-out behavior continues longer than another hour or so then you may want to double-check all 3 temperature zones inside his tank with your Digital Probe Thermometer or Infrared Temp Gun, just to be sure there wasn't a sudden spike or drop in his tank temps, check the entire tank for a loose insect or any other irregularities, just to be sure it wasn't something else within his environment that suddenly changed or went haywire, but I'm guessing that he'll be fine shortly. You may also want to cover the inside glass of his tank with something like paper, so that he no longer picks-up any reflections that will cause him stress.

 

[Drache613]

Hello,

Poor thing, he does look stressed! Things like that do happen & for no apparent reason too,
that we can figure out but something obviously affected him. You may never figure it out,
but do review your temperatures as suggested, just to be sure they are fine & he isn't getting
too hot, etc.
Maybe he saw a reflection of the fan blades slowing down, it's hard to know!
Is he better this evening?

Tracie