Hi everyone, I got my 3 month old bearded Dragon about 2 weeeks ago. The first week was good and I gave him his space for a couple days. After that I tried holding him for a little bit. This also went good. He crawled right up my hand. But now, my dragon is scared to death inappropriate word removed by moderator of me. If I even put my hand near him he flinches and runs away. I used to hand feed him, and now he won't even eat anything coming from my hand. I have to literally put crickets in the cage for him to run and get them. But this stinks because I have reptile carpet and I don't want them to get stuck. I will also add I have all the right temperatures throughout the cage, as well as uvb lighting. I never scare him by going over my beardies head to pick him up or anything like that, and I don't own any pets to scare him. Everything is peaceful in my room. I just don't get what is happening. He used to eat 20-30 crickets a day which was really good because he just moved homes. And now he only ate 2 crickets. I just left a large mustard green salad in his cage for him to eat while I'm gone, but I'm just really sad and dissipointed because I have so much money put into this animal.
Have you reviewed your tank setup with us, such as the type/brand of UVB lighting, supplementation & temperatures?
How many crickets do you place in the tank with him, at a time? You could try getting a separate feeding tank for him, so he could get them easier.
Have you changed anything in his tank or room recently?
I have a reptisun 10.0 uvb, with a 100 watt basking bulb. And yes, recently I changed his cage around from what it originally was because I was afraid he was getting too much basking light. I feed him flukers repti calcium, as well as repcal multivitamin. I do mostly calcium and two times per week I'll feed the multivitamin. Today I put about 15 in the cage and he ate quite a few, but I always make sure they are out of the cage so the don't nip at him over night and make him stressed. I have a separate container for feeding, but like I said, without a 10 minute fight I cannot pick him up. He won't let me. So, instead of bothering him a lot by trying to pick him up, I put the crickets in the cage.
That's good you have the Reptisun 10 tube bulb then. How close is it to him, is it mounted directly beside the tube UVB?
What were the temperatures getting to previously before you moved him?
I am glad to hear you remove any out of his tank at night so they don't bite him. Have you tried getting a piece of fruit or leafy green to feed to him, so he associates your hand with something good? That can sometimes help. I hope he will calm down for you.
At night, you could also try picking him up & wrapping him with one of your old sweatshirts or a soft fleece blankie & hold him while he goes to sleep. That helps with bonding.