Dangerous trend : beardie on your shoulder

[diamc]

This thread was brought to our attention and was reported by another member, although posting about the dangers was a great idea and will hopefully help prevent more injuries.

The links to the threads were removed to prevent owners from becoming embaressed since their threads were called out. Imagine that the owners were feeling bad enough realizing their mistakes and some of the beardies may have not even survived or are still trying to heal. We also don't want owners not to feel comfortable about asking for help IF their beardie did get hurt and they are needing our assistance and advise.

Please don't post anymore links on this thread but please do continue the discussion. Thanks for your understanding and thinking about how you would feel if the accidents were posted publicly for everyone to point fingers at.

 

[AHBD]

I agree, for the exact same reasons stated. Sometimes posting an experience from an old thread can be helpful but posting about newer members looking for help when the incident just happened could be embarrassing on top of being a devastating experience.

 

[Ancline]

I got a leash and harness the other day for my beardie when I want to hold him on my shoulder in the morning. What would be the best way to secure the leash to me in the case that Norbert wants to divebomb off my shoulder. I've thought of tying the leash arround my upper arm and keeping the leash length short from the place it's tied on Norbert to my arm, but any suggestions for a better way to secure my beardie would be appreciated
He really doesn't like the harness though, but maybe he'll get used to it.

 

[kingofnobbys]

Is going to be hard to stop him , you need to be firm and only let him climb onto the shoulder when you're sitting , this ensures if he falls off , he lands on something soft and doesn't fall very far.

I guess you could try holding him by the thing half of his tail to discourage his going too far over the shoulder if he hates the harness and leash.

I'd be worried a harness attached to a non-elastic leash is also going cause injuries if he leaps or falls , the sudden stop at the end of the leash is going to really hurt !!! he's not attached to a bungie that will stretch and slow his fall near the end of it's travel.

Maybe connect the harness to a surfboard strap like http://www.findsports.com.au/p/maddog-surfboard-leash-9-black/9318701064872?gclid=CNrRmeCqydMCFQuMvQodXDkHTg

 

[Ancline]

Is going to be hard to stop him , you need to be firm and only let him climb onto the shoulder when you're sitting , this ensures if he falls off , he lands on something soft and doesn't fall very far.

I guess you could try holding him by the thing half of his tail to discourage his going too far over the shoulder if he hates the harness and leash.

I'd be worried a harness attached to a non-elastic leash is also going cause injuries if he leaps or falls , the sudden stop at the end of the leash is going to really hurt !!! he's not attached to a bungie that will stretch and slow his fall near the end of it's travel.

Maybe connect the harness to a surfboard strap like http://www.findsports.com.au/p/maddog-surfboard-leash-9-black/9318701064872?gclid=CNrRmeCqydMCFQuMvQodXDkHTg

I'm trying to tie it short so that if beardie tries to jump off my sholder he would only fall less than a foot before being caught. Also the leash is made of some sort of stretchy bungie cord. I've discovered that taking the leash and looping it arround his waist in front of his back legs tends to bother him the least. He's already tried jumping off the couch and got stopped by the bungie cord, he seemed to not be injured by the leash being tied arround the waist, just mad that I was keeping him from exploring. Lol

 

[AHBD]

It's O.K if they jump from short distances , like the couch on to a carpet, but I like to hold my dragons to my chest when I carry them anywhere or transport them in a box or other container for safety.

 

[Ancline]

My problem is that my beardie is obsessed with jumping from the back of the couch into the trash can :S I now have him on the leash any time I take him out into the living room, so many places to run, hide, and get stuck in, the leash is my best option to letting my beardie spend time with me and exercise without gettinf lost or hurt. I still keep an eye on him but you know how fast beardies can be if they want to. He'll litterally run up my arm, up onto the back of the couch and fling himself to the trash can in a blink of an eye. Thankfully the time he did that the trash can was full of bubble wrap and he didn't hurt himself. Since then I've only been able to play with him on the bed or on the floor where I can easily grab him if he chooses to run. Now with the leash I feel safer letting him run a little.

 

[BeardieLover232]

I do admit, I have my dragon (squishy) sit on my shoulder. Lizarto, my other dragon is okay, because she still has no use on her back legs, I have to hold her. But for squishy, once he gets excited he will try to either climb on my head, and try to climb to my back from my shoulder, I literally, act like an insane person trying to pull him back up to prevent him from falling, since the back is the most hardest to reach! :lol:
Got to love dragons, they misjudged height! :lol: