Complex Beardie

[DrummerBB]

(My Bearded Dragon is about three months old.)So I've had my Baby Bearded Dragon for almost two months, and in those two months were some really weird interactions. After the first two weeks, I began handling my beardie and it was completely okay with it. It stayed in my hand and often times wouldn't let go of my finger when I put it back inside. Then after that it became frightened when I put my hand near it and it always ran away when I tried to pick it up. I've never approached from above or the side, and only picked it up by carefully and gently sliding my finger under its belly. I've taken super cautious care of it, and made sure every day it had everything it needed. For a while, it would eat Baby Kale out of my hand with no problem. Now, it won't eat it at all from my hand. Sometimes it will let me pick it up now, but after a few minutes of holding it, it wants to squirm out of my hand and jump off onto its own great adventure (which it had been successful in before previously). It acts as if it always has mood swings, like it can never decide how it feels about me.

Why is this? How can I get it to bond with me like everyone else has? I know they all have different personalities, and my best friend just got his which is younger than mine, and it's super chill.

That's the other thing I want to bring up. What's odd about mine is, how it tries to eat crickets. My friend's Bearded Dragon chases them all around until it catches it and eats it, while mine sinks its body low like a cat, and slowly tries to creep up on one.... like a cat. Many times the cricket is only an inch or two away but it still does this and ends up missing it anyways.

Another personality quirk is that it always becomes super super active at night, once I turn the lamp off. It also starts chasing its reflection, or trying to climb the walls of the tank.

Any explanations and/or advice?

 

[TerryG]

I've heard that beardies can get moody around shedding time. My Shacklynn is kind of moody all the time, but after nearly a year, I just roll with it.

I've noticed that my Beardie doesn't like to be held at all. Have you tried (putting on a long sleeve shirt or jacket) and then just letting it run around on you to explore? I'd read somewhere that beardies enjoy "shoulder rides" but Shacky prefers to walk up or down my arms or hang out at the base of my neck. My boyfriend wears a hat so I've put her on top of his head and she seemed to like that too.

I've also heard that the younger ones are in a kind of survival mode so they are kind of wired and frightened all the time until they get older. I'm not sure if that helps or not.

As for the cricket hunting, when I used to feed her crickets she would just wait for one to come by and then lap it up. If there were too many crickets hopping around in her feeding bin she wouldn't move at all. When I changed to worms and grubs she was more motivated to dash over to her feeding dish whenever she saw it. I think all the movement from the crickets scared her. Maybe crickets make yours nervous too. I've heard that ReptiWorms (Black Soldier Fly Larve) are better feeders than crickets. All they do is wriggle around tantalizingly for the dragon.

 

[DrummerBB]

I've heard that beardies can get moody around shedding time. My Shacklynn is kind of moody all the time, but after nearly a year, I just roll with it.

I've noticed that my Beardie doesn't like to be held at all. Have you tried (putting on a long sleeve shirt or jacket) and then just letting it run around on you to explore? I'd read somewhere that beardies enjoy "shoulder rides" but Shacky prefers to walk up or down my arms or hang out at the base of my neck. My boyfriend wears a hat so I've put her on top of his head and she seemed to like that too.

I've also heard that the younger ones are in a kind of survival mode so they are kind of wired and frightened all the time until they get older. I'm not sure if that helps or not.

As for the cricket hunting, when I used to feed her crickets she would just wait for one to come by and then lap it up. If there were too many crickets hopping around in her feeding bin she wouldn't move at all. When I changed to worms and grubs she was more motivated to dash over to her feeding dish whenever she saw it. I think all the movement from the crickets scared her. Maybe crickets make yours nervous too. I've heard that ReptiWorms (Black Soldier Fly Larve) are better feeders than crickets. All they do is wriggle around tantalizingly for the dragon.

Do you think mine is a girl then? I know it will take at least nine months for them to develop, but she seems smaller than the one my friend got even though his is younger. She has a smaller head too.

As far as the crickets go, I actually only put in a dozen once a week. I have worms in there daily, but it doesn't seem like she's eating them much either. Maybe it's because she is shedding. She is having her first shed. I don't know if its in brumation or not, because its eyes are open most of the time... but she never really moves anywhere.

 

[TerryG]

I don't know of your Beardie is a girl. Mine is, I'm not sure if that's related to her behavior. If you have a strong flashlight you can check the sex of your Beardie this way:
http://m.imgur.com/r/BeardedDragons/s2OIALb
Once they get older you can look for the bumps and pores, but it's hard to tell on the young ones.

Beardies grow faster when they get better care so you might see yours thrive and have a growth spirt now that you've got it at home and are presumably giving it the calcium and vitamin supplements it needs (the pet store I got mine from didn't do that and mine grew a few inches much faster than I expected once I started giving her supplements).

I don't think beardies brumate until they are at least a year old.

 

[DrummerBB]

I don't know of your Beardie is a girl. Mine is, I'm not sure if that's related to her behavior. If you have a strong flashlight you can check the sex of your Beardie this way:
http://m.imgur.com/r/BeardedDragons/s2OIALb
Once they get older you can look for the bumps and pores, but it's hard to tell on the young ones.

Beardies grow faster when they get better care so you might see yours thrive and have a growth spirt now that you've got it at home and are presumably giving it the calcium and vitamin supplements it needs (the pet store I got mine from didn't do that and mine grew a few inches much faster than I expected once I started giving her supplements).

I don't think beardies brumate until they are at least a year old.

Are supplements required? Or is that just an option. Mine came with supplements, but I hadn't used them yet.