Bearded dragon mad

[Barfish88]

Hi All

Wondering if anyone can offer any advice for me. My beardie is 3 month old. when I first got him we could pick him up and hold him etc no problem. Now he has become very skittish and hisses and gaspes at us when we put our hands in his enclosure. We feed him in a small fish tank and latley we have been feeding him by hand. When he gasps at us we stick a cricket, etc into his mounth. Otherwise he doesnt eat. He does polish off his tub of greens nearly everyday.

Why has his mood changed that he now wants to eat us and runs away. Is there anything I can do to calm him down a bit? its been more than a week.

Please help.

Regards

 

[Barfish88]

bump, any ideas please guys

 

[divinedimension]

I would post this in another place like if there is a health topic. Maybe he is ill? Just a thought.

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

Give a full description of your enclosure, light brands included. Finger confusion is another thing to think about, if your hands are what he associates food with they are food for him.

 

[quigleysmom]

Has anything changed in his enclosure? I changed my tube light to the wrong one and mine 4 months old at the time began doing the same thing. I just picked him up anyway. I did not want him to think that kind of thing woudl keep me from picking him up. Just go slow. He needs to learn that you are not going to hurt him. Both of my beardies like to go in my sweat shirt or jacket and that is really the only way we handle him right now. With our older one he eventually stopped needing to be under cover all the time. He now will wiggle out from under his blanket if he doesnt want to be covered. I think it makes them feel safe and it give them your sent while they snuggle with us. I tamed baby squirles the same way when I was a kid. BTW I changed his light to correct one and he has really calmed down. Good luck.

 

[Barfish88]

He has a Reptiglo 10.0 uvb floresent light 70cm long and 20 cm from his basking spot as well as a reptilo 75w basking spot. His Basking spot is around 39 degrees celcius and cool side is around 29 degrees. I feed him crickets 3 times a day (but he has not always been feeding latley). There are always greens for him. He usually finishes most of his greens.

 

[Fallencomrade2008]

Get that light changed to a Reptisun 10.0 The reptiglo has been known to cause health issues, eye problems and such. He might actually calm down and let you handle him more if you change it.

 

[gtramontelli]

I'm thinking that you're training him to behave that way. Animals have pretty simple thinking processes--Any behavior that is followed by a reward will tend to happen more frequently. When he hisses at you and you stick food in his mouth, he's learning that "hissing = getting fed." I would suggest that you stop that, as it can't be helping.

The trick is to avoid rewarding the unwanted behavior. In other words, pick him up and handle him (with gloves if necessary) and don't put him down in response to aggression. What you want to do is to teach that "aggression = no result at all." This is called extinction. If an animal stops getting rewarded for unwanted behavior, the behavior will eventually extinguish.

 

[moongypsy]

I'm thinking that you're training him to behave that way. Animals have pretty simple thinking processes--Any behavior that is followed by a reward will tend to happen more frequently. When he hisses at you and you stick food in his mouth, he's learning that "hissing = getting fed." I would suggest that you stop that, as it can't be helping.

The trick is to avoid rewarding the unwanted behavior. In other words, pick him up and handle him (with gloves if necessary) and don't put him down in response to aggression. What you want to do is to teach that "aggression = no result at all." This is called extinction. If an animal stops getting rewarded for unwanted behavior, the behavior will eventually extinguish.

I agree, except I've read by many people that say one should not handle with gloves because they will get used to the feel of gloves and when the time comes for one to take them off because the beardie has calmed down, he will not recognize your touch if it dealt with the feeling of gloves.