Bearded Dragons Extremely Aggressive When Outside!

[BlitzTheBeardie]

I have 2 bearded dragons. Dragon 1 is 17 inches long and Dragon 2 is 21 inches long.

Dragon 1's enclosure is a 55 gallon long, Zoo Med Repti Sun 10.0 florescent in a 36 inch T5 High Output fixture... basking light (correct temps), repti carpet, etc etc...

Dragon 2's enclosure is a custom 120 gallon corner style tank, zoo med repti sun 10.0 florescent in a 36 inch T5 high output fixture, repti carpet, etc etc

both dragons are very healthy, eat crickets, dubia, occasional superworms, greens/veggies/fruit mix.

Now that it's summer time, I have taken them outside a few times to soak up some real UVB from the sun. I've had them out "running free" in the grass and I've also made them a huge enclosure for outside. It's probably 4 ft x 4 ft x 2 ft and has basking/climbing places and also places for shade and cool down.

So... these 2 bearded dragons are very nice and calm. I have a 6 yr old son and he plays with them all the time. They never puff their beard out, open their mouth, or do anything agressive in any way when they are inside. anybody, even a complete stranger, can walk up to their tanks, pet them, pick them up, anything! No aggression at all. They love the attention.

Now, when I put them outside... TOTAL different story! If anyone walks up close to their outside enclosure, they both go crazy! Both of them puff out their beard, open their mouth, and aggressively follow you biting at your feet as you walk around their screen cage. If you put your hand in the cage, they will both run towards it trying to bite you with their beard still puffed out and mouth snapping as they try to bite you.

When they were free roaming in the grass, they would sometimes chase you... snapping at your feet!

It's unbelievable because they are so calm and relaxed inside and show no aggression at all to anybody!

Is this normal? What is going on? lol and why are they doing that? I literally have to take a bath towel with me to throw over top of them just so I can get ahold of them (without getting bit) to bring them back inside. Once they have been inside for 15 mins or so... They go back to calm, cool, everyone can pet me dragons!

Just blows my mind! haha

 

[DaisyDragon123]

Both of mine are that way. Little Dragon will hiss and lunge. DaisyDragon mainly bows up and mouth gapes.

 

[SDragons]

Wow that sounds a bit scary.

I have never seem a change in behaviour in ours when they are outside.

Maybe they just want to stay outside

 

[GodzillaMax]

I found this while doing a search on here for behaviors. My bearded dragon just did the exact same thing! We wanted to take her outside so she could get some extra UVB rays and made sure to go to a quiet spot with just wide open grass. As soon as we set her down, she immediately puffed up, started running practically straight up with her mouth wide open - scary looking! She ran straight towards me and I was almost afraid to pick her up because I thought she'd bite me! She's just a baby and is really sweet inside but a little more active than our other beardie baby. It actually scared me a little because I thought those little teeth might bite me :shock:

 

[BlitzTheBeardie]

haha yea I know what you mean! after chasing mine around the yard for 10 mins, i ended up getting a bath towel to throw over them just so I could pick them up and bring them inside! I tried grabbing them without the towel, but they both would turn around and snap/bite at me.

after I put them in their tanks indoors, its like a switch flips off and they go back to normal! very sweet, calm, and my 7 yr old can put his hands all in their tank and all over them. no aggression or anything while inside!

 

[Phurba390]

This is normal for many reptiles. To go from an indoor climate-controlled space to the great outdoors can be very overwhelming to them.

You have to envision the world the way they see it. There's an onslaught of new sights and smells.

They can see very well and every bird, plane, car, dog, cat or whatever else they see is a potential predator. Every shadow overhead that their parietal eye picks up startles them. They see things in the soil and on the grass that are too small for us to see. They see particles and pollen in the air floating all around. They smell everything that you can't. I'd be scared too!! LOL

In short, they just need time and patience. Sit with them and talk to them when they are outside. Speak softly and calmly. If they let you, gently stroke the top of their heads. They will get used to it.

BTW, watch out for hawks.