Hello! Paranoid first time beardie mom desperate for help!
We got Bardt in July, he was small but I don't know for sure his exact age. We've had him for about 5 months now and he is now abou 8in including the tail.
I had read a lot of things on here about slowly introducing your hands to him as not to scare him and we definitely took it slow. He's never come to us on his own but he always lets us gently get under his belly and pick him up...until recently. The past few weeks when I go to pick him up he jumps and runs away from me. I'm not doing anything differently but he seems very scared. He has ZERO stress spots, no black beard, and has never hissed or shown any aggressive signs. Yesterday i was able to get my hand underneath him and his front hands held onto my finger but if I slipped my hand under his belly he backed off so I couldn't pick him up. He actually jumped from the top of his tank to the floor the other day and when i picked him up he jumped off my shoulder! He's never done this and don't know why the change all of a sudden. For the past month prior to this we'd been taking him out of his viv in a big plastic bin and holding him while we watch TV and he was doing great! We've never let him run around the house loose because we can't really block it off and he could easily get lost.
I was very excited to finally get to hold him regularly and outside of is tank but now I'm very upset about this change in his behavior. Was there something I could've done to spook him? Is it time to move him into a bigger tank? Please help! I miss holding my little sweetie!
We got Bardt in July, he was small but I don't know for sure his exact age. We've had him for about 5 months now and he is now abou 8in including the tail.
I had read a lot of things on here about slowly introducing your hands to him as not to scare him and we definitely took it slow. He's never come to us on his own but he always lets us gently get under his belly and pick him up...until recently. The past few weeks when I go to pick him up he jumps and runs away from me. I'm not doing anything differently but he seems very scared. He has ZERO stress spots, no black beard, and has never hissed or shown any aggressive signs. Yesterday i was able to get my hand underneath him and his front hands held onto my finger but if I slipped my hand under his belly he backed off so I couldn't pick him up. He actually jumped from the top of his tank to the floor the other day and when i picked him up he jumped off my shoulder! He's never done this and don't know why the change all of a sudden. For the past month prior to this we'd been taking him out of his viv in a big plastic bin and holding him while we watch TV and he was doing great! We've never let him run around the house loose because we can't really block it off and he could easily get lost.
I was very excited to finally get to hold him regularly and outside of is tank but now I'm very upset about this change in his behavior. Was there something I could've done to spook him? Is it time to move him into a bigger tank? Please help! I miss holding my little sweetie!