Beardie suddenly scared of me?

[cookiee271]

I got my 4 months old bearded dragon 4 days ago. It eats but I had a few problems with drinking although it doesn't show any signs of dehydration, I still try to bathe it but it runs away every time. Other than this it was active and basking from time to time, running after crickets. I also started taking it out of the tank for around 20 mins and it was still active.

Today, I was worried about it not drinking so I tried to take it and encourage it to go into his water dish which my friend said worked for all her lizards and she never had problems with it. It started running away so I left it alone. Later I noticed it got stress marks and so I left it alone for a while. Then I cut a tiny piece of apple and put it on his dish as a treat but it moved away from my hand immediately and opened its mouth (beard didn't puff or go dark though). Now I fed it crickets and it's not as willing to run around after them as it was yesterday.

It was totally fine with me yesterday, too.

Update: When I was getting out uneaten crickets and tried to pet the bearded dragon it puffed up its beard at me.

Update 2: I took out of the tank for a minute and it seemed fine now. I don't know what was wrong before.

 

[SukiLove]

The puffing up and opening of the mouth is a defensive move, just his way of trying to make himself look more intimidating. A lot of beardies start out puffing up and gaping at their owners in the beginning, it's not something unusual so I wouldn't worry about it too much. As desert-type reptiles, most beardies get their hydration from their food; insects and salads. Some will drink when soaking, some hardly ever do it. He should be fine hydration-wise as long as he is eating good and you are gut-loading his insects and your temperatures are right. It's also good to soak babies in warm (not hot) water up to their armpits more frequently than adults as they can get dehydrated faster. I liked to soak mine daily until they were 3 months old and then went to every other day now unless they are shedding.

I would continue to hold him and he should eventually settle down for you.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Enclosure / territory defensive ?

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

If not particularly hot in the house and even more so in the enclosure, a beardie doesn't need to drink very often ( they have evolved to survive / thrive in tropical and semitropical central Australian deserts and savannahs and dry eucalypt woodlands - regions where very long periods of drought are the norm and surface water is scarce and running water is even scarcer and rarely seen), this is providing they are eating leafy greens , diced/chopped/grated veg / salad daily and at his a minimum of 2 live insect feeds per day.
I removed my beardie's water dishes at about your beardie's age on the advice of experienced beardie keepers and breeder here (in Australia), confirmed with a phone call to Gosford Reptile Park (to ask one of the professional keepers there) and by my reptile vet.

My 2 usually only used their water dishes to cool off in or as their dunny ( they soon figured out that if the horrible sticky object is underwater it no longer stunk out their rearing tub - they were both in 100L at the time).

It is OK to lightly mist the beardie a couple of times a day if it's REALLY HOT weather.

A nice luke warm bath is generally appreciated in hot water, but go easy on the bathing. I generally only bath my beardies if :
- they are in shed to help loosen up the old skin
- if I think they haven't been to the dunny often enough
- if they crawled through their poo and soiled themselves.
So bathing is very infrequent now my 2 are 3 years old (can be months between baths now).

 

[cookiee271]

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

Thanks, I'll try feeding him crickets out of his tank because yesterday my mum wanted to show off to the guests and gave my beardie crickets not long before its night time and when I found out about it later she claimed that it ate all the crickets and are none left in the tank. So today morning I do the routine and I see two crickets hiding under a rock and panic immediately. Checked up on beardie and it doesn't seem to have any bites but that was a close call.

 

[cookiee271]

The puffing up and opening of the mouth is a defensive move, just his way of trying to make himself look more intimidating. A lot of beardies start out puffing up and gaping at their owners in the beginning, it's not something unusual so I wouldn't worry about it too much. As desert-type reptiles, most beardies get their hydration from their food; insects and salads. Some will drink when soaking, some hardly ever do it. He should be fine hydration-wise as long as he is eating good and you are gut-loading his insects and your temperatures are right. It's also good to soak babies in warm (not hot) water up to their armpits more frequently than adults as they can get dehydrated faster. I liked to soak mine daily until they were 3 months old and then went to every other day now unless they are shedding.

I would continue to hold him and he should eventually settle down for you.

Thanks, I'll keep trying

 

[kingofnobbys]

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

Thanks, I'll try feeding him crickets out of his tank because yesterday my mum wanted to show off to the guests and gave my beardie crickets not long before its night time and when I found out about it later she claimed that it ate all the crickets and are none left in the tank. So today morning I do the routine and I see two crickets hiding under a rock and panic immediately. Checked up on beardie and it doesn't seem to have any bites but that was a close call.

No need to panic , leave some greens and chopped up salad in the enclosure overnight if you suspect there may be a few rogue crickets hiding in there, they'll come out at night (you'll see them crawling about) and instead of annoying or nibbling even on your little beardie while he's trying to sleep (disturbing his sleep) they'll instead eat the veg and greens.

How often do you clean out and sterilise the tank and his furnature ? I usually clean and F10 my enclosures completely once every 4 - 6 weeks , and spot clean with F10 any mucky spots inbetween.
F10 is a powerful but perfectly safe to use around reptiles and people vetinarian strength sterilising mixture that you simply spray on let air dry.

If you do through tank clean including replacing bedding you'll find all the rogue crickets and probably a lot of dead ones too.

 

[cookiee271]

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

Thanks, I'll try feeding him crickets out of his tank because yesterday my mum wanted to show off to the guests and gave my beardie crickets not long before its night time and when I found out about it later she claimed that it ate all the crickets and are none left in the tank. So today morning I do the routine and I see two crickets hiding under a rock and panic immediately. Checked up on beardie and it doesn't seem to have any bites but that was a close call.

No need to panic , leave some greens and chopped up salad in the enclosure overnight if you suspect there may be a few rogue crickets hiding in there, they'll come out at night (you'll see them crawling about) and instead of annoying or nibbling even on your little beardie while he's trying to sleep (disturbing his sleep) they'll instead eat the veg and greens.

How often do you clean out and sterilise the tank and his furnature ? I usually clean and F10 my enclosures completely once every 4 - 6 weeks , and spot clean with F10 any mucky spots inbetween.
F10 is a powerful but perfectly safe to use around reptiles and people vetinarian strength sterilising mixture that you simply spray on let air dry.

If you do through tank clean including replacing bedding you'll find all the rogue crickets and probably a lot of dead ones too.

I just got my first bearded dragon so I haven't done through cleaning but I plan on doing it once a month :3

 

[kingofnobbys]

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

Thanks, I'll try feeding him crickets out of his tank because yesterday my mum wanted to show off to the guests and gave my beardie crickets not long before its night time and when I found out about it later she claimed that it ate all the crickets and are none left in the tank. So today morning I do the routine and I see two crickets hiding under a rock and panic immediately. Checked up on beardie and it doesn't seem to have any bites but that was a close call.

No need to panic , leave some greens and chopped up salad in the enclosure overnight if you suspect there may be a few rogue crickets hiding in there, they'll come out at night (you'll see them crawling about) and instead of annoying or nibbling even on your little beardie while he's trying to sleep (disturbing his sleep) they'll instead eat the veg and greens.

How often do you clean out and sterilise the tank and his furnature ? I usually clean and F10 my enclosures completely once every 4 - 6 weeks , and spot clean with F10 any mucky spots inbetween.
F10 is a powerful but perfectly safe to use around reptiles and people vetinarian strength sterilising mixture that you simply spray on let air dry.

If you do through tank clean including replacing bedding you'll find all the rogue crickets and probably a lot of dead ones too.

I just got my first bearded dragon so I haven't done through cleaning but I plan on doing it once a month :3

Be careful about what cleaning agents you use - many household cleaners and sanitisers are toxic to reptiles and give off toxic fumes for a long while even if the area looks dry - beauty with F10 is it is perfectly safe used in the presence of reptiles and people and only needs a thin film sprayed on or wiped on to kill just about all microbes (even rabies !) , and is bone dry after airdrying for 30 minutes. <Most I need do is quick wipe with some paper towel to get rid of any left over pooled F10>
The enclosure is for the beardie a confined space with very limited ventilation when he's in it with doors closed or lid on - so any fumes will quickly build up and could come home to find a very dead beardie because of mom giving you her usual cleaners for about the house. You should have a word with her about this so she knows this can order in the good stuff.

I use on the furnature and carpet too when my lizards have an accident while on the floor - does happen sometimes.

 

[cookiee271]

Suggest feeding him his crickets in a tub , a few at a time . Less likely to be overwhelmed by insects hopping , running in all directions and wont loose any .

Thanks, I'll try feeding him crickets out of his tank because yesterday my mum wanted to show off to the guests and gave my beardie crickets not long before its night time and when I found out about it later she claimed that it ate all the crickets and are none left in the tank. So today morning I do the routine and I see two crickets hiding under a rock and panic immediately. Checked up on beardie and it doesn't seem to have any bites but that was a close call.

No need to panic , leave some greens and chopped up salad in the enclosure overnight if you suspect there may be a few rogue crickets hiding in there, they'll come out at night (you'll see them crawling about) and instead of annoying or nibbling even on your little beardie while he's trying to sleep (disturbing his sleep) they'll instead eat the veg and greens.

How often do you clean out and sterilise the tank and his furnature ? I usually clean and F10 my enclosures completely once every 4 - 6 weeks , and spot clean with F10 any mucky spots inbetween.
F10 is a powerful but perfectly safe to use around reptiles and people vetinarian strength sterilising mixture that you simply spray on let air dry.

If you do through tank clean including replacing bedding you'll find all the rogue crickets and probably a lot of dead ones too.

I just got my first bearded dragon so I haven't done through cleaning but I plan on doing it once a month :3

Be careful about what cleaning agents you use - many household cleaners and sanitisers are toxic to reptiles and give off toxic fumes for a long while even if the area looks dry - beauty with F10 is it is perfectly safe used in the presence of reptiles and people and only needs a thin film sprayed on or wiped on to kill just about all microbes (even rabies !) , and is bone dry after airdrying for 30 minutes. <Most I need do is quick wipe with some paper towel to get rid of any left over pooled F10>
The enclosure is for the beardie a confined space with very limited ventilation when he's in it with doors closed or lid on - so any fumes will quickly build up and could come home to find a very dead beardie because of mom giving you her usual cleaners for about the house. You should have a word with her about this so she knows this can order in the good stuff.

I use on the furnature and carpet too when my lizards have an accident while on the floor - does happen sometimes.

Thank you, that's actually really helpful. I'll definitely try to find F10 because I definitely do not want anything toxic.