Do you believe Beardies get emotionally attached?

[Momswims1]

My husband and I were just talking about this earlier this evening. Do they feel emotion and can they get attached?
Here are some facts that you can interpret yourself:

Rosie starts hopping around and moving her head when I get home in the afternoon and start calling her name. (Maybe she just wants food or maybe she is happy to see me...you decide).

Rosie will not go to sleep until I pick her up and cuddle her up to me in a blanket. She will turn around in her viv and stare at me until I come get her and put her to bed. The other two will go to sleep on their own.

Two of my three will glass dance and throw greens around when they want out of their vivs.

When they are afraid of something, they immediately calm down and relax when we pick them up.

Rosie goes to sleep with her chin on my chin almost every night. If I put her somewhere else, she will crawl up to my chin and cuddle in. Is that tolerating my presence or enjoying my presence?

In my opinion...they don't feel love in the human sense, but I do believe they bond strongly in some cases, and I do believe that they enjoy being held and talked to. I do believe that they trust when trust is earned.

Bottom line....I love my beardies so much that it doesn't matter. They have comfort me when I am sad, they make me laugh, they are a source of peacefulness in a hectic world. They bring so much joy to me and to my family. I love my beardies. That's enough.

 

[JellOh]

I've never owned a Beardie (yet), but this kind of stuff interests me to no end. I've never come across any research done with Bearded Dragons but there has been exstensive research done on animals like rats and mice. There have been cases where animals show complex emotions like grief and empathy. Rats, for example, can feel empathy. Scientists have seen evidence of this while testing with rats. One rat would release another rat from a cage even though there was no reward. Some rats would even releases other rats from cages rather than collecting a chocolate reward. On the other hand though, some animals can't feel certain emotions. For example, dogs can't feel guilt. What everyone calls the "guilty face" is really the look of a dog who knows he is going to get in trouble, not the look of a dog that is sorry for what it has done. So it's possible that they could be doing it because they have formed an emotional bond with you and have the brain power to do so, or you could be a walking heater that feed them treats. Until science proves either or I'd like to think that my animals like me for more than a few table scraps or fish food.

(CountofCasulty: While I'm not certain of their emotional state anyone who has ever properly owned a betta fish can vouch that they have their own personalities like any other pet.)

 

[label]

It's hard to avoid projecting emotions onto our pets but it is interesting how many people's beardies seem to want to be taken out, cuddled, held, etc. We've got a central beardie, a northern blue tongue and 2 southern angle-headed dragons and Shayvele, our beardie, is the only one who actually seems to enjoy being held. Stroke her beard and she gets her "happy colours". She'll happily (I think) sit with me or climb up my chest. We've had Raisele, our bluey, for over 9 years and while she certainly tolerates being taken out and held, she shows no signs of actually enjoying the experience. Of our 2 angle-heads, the girl Rifkele will readily put up with being held while the boy Moishele is 27 cm of reptilian fury. In his mind he's a Komodo dragon, trapped in a tiny body. He once tried to bite my head when I looked into the enclosure, which was pretty ambitious for a lizard whose mouth is about 2 cm long.

As JellOh said, there's no research on bearded dragons that I've run into but there is a real bias against thinking that animals whose brains are really different from ours can have some of the same abilities that we do. If you think of all the complex things that parrots and crows can do with brains smaller than a walnut, it makes you wonder about other species. Echidnas have really complex brains--why does something that waddles around eating ants all day need a brain like this?

Maybe another reason that people seem to bond more with beardies than most other reptiles is their changing colour with mood--blue tongues looks pretty much the same unless you really annoy them, in which case they inflate and hiss, but a happy beardie looks different to a grumpy one. It would be interesting to study their behaviour more but good luck getting the research funded! It's too bad because if we could understand what these little critters really were capable of we'd have a better understanding of what abilities and emotions were nearly universal and which maybe did require a human brain to implement. Not sure if I can convince the Australian Research Council of this, though...

 

[bunnyrut]

(CountofCasulty: While I'm not certain of their emotional state anyone who has ever properly owned a betta fish can vouch that they have their own personalities like any other pet.)

yes. i have had a few bettas. i have one right now - a little eating machine.
My first one was calm and so friendly. he would 'pose' when i put a camera by him for a picture. he would just stare at my roommate and swim around the bowl watching her. only her. he didn't do that with anyone else.
i had a female betta that just hated me. she would attack me. literally jump out of her tank to attack me. anyone else could feed her and she was fine, i tried and she jumped at me.

 

[Buddysfam]

I think any animal that sits with you must enjoy it or else it would leave... Make sense? I don't have any scientific data, but just like with my dogs, my beardy will walk away when he's ready or snuggle in just before bedtime. I've even been deep water swimming and had fish swimming all around me "checkin me out"! I think everything living has thoughts and feelings, therefore, some level of emotion...

 

[beardielove10]

Wow, I am so glad people wrote in with their own personal stories. It made me feel so much better about this topic!! I was all depressed thinking that my beardies didn't love me even though they seem to show it. My one won't go to sleep unless I hold him and "tuck him in" at night. He just glass dances and tries climbing up the glass until he gets my attention. When I was sick, he sat with me in bed the whole day. Every time I would put him back in his tank, he would glass dance again only to come and sit by me again all day. To me, they can sense something is up and you can't say that's not showing some kind of emotion. Just the fact that they trust you is huge, but I think every beardie has a different personality like other posters have said. I have an explorer and a cuddler. Two different types of personalities. I also wonder if captive beardies have bred into having more emotion than just instincts like the wild ones? Not necessarily bred into it, but they clearly show more emotion than a wild one would toward something else.

I just love hearing all the little stories that people have about how their beardies seem to most certainly show emotion. I really do think that they recognize the love that an owner gives. Kind of like how a dog can recognize who is a good person and who is not. I think all animals have a sense about a lot of things that humans may overlook. I think that beardies really can sense that their owner loves them and they are good people and therefore that is why they trust in the first place, and attempt to show their love and how much they enjoy being with you back.

 

[Kriechtier]

I generally think they don't get as attached as we as humans understand it. But, emotions, they do have and actually need them for survival. Basic emotions are reasonable to assume to be experienced in some form by Bearded Dragons:

Fear, very important when making a flight or stay decision.
Excited, needed to catch food and for mating
Angry, needed to mount an attack in response to rivalry or disturbance when needed
Contented, no stress marks, perhaps feeling of being somewhat secure

I don't think that they can feel sad, happy or tender as most humans can experience. These feelings are generally more of a selfless nature.

Do they experience "Love"? I doubt it, but maybe some form of attachment as a result of knowing the care giver gives them food and doesn't present a threat.

However, none of the above stops me from talking about my dragon in human emotional terms, which is more for me to relate, than her benefits.

 

[LizzyBlaze]

Ah I'm new (hi!] & super excited that i found an active
Forum we got our little guy because my 12yo daughter
Wanted one & I'm the one who takes complete care.. In saying that he/she
Does show attachment to me &actually puffs at men she'll (we'll call her a she
Because it's just what i do lol) anyway she lays flat in my hand and hides her face as much as she can in me. When all is clear, she pops her head up, licks me and goes about her merry way. She also will race back to me if she's on the floor with me. I do spend a lot of time with her, she's 16 weeks. She also getsmad at me when i leave for a few days so i won't be doing that again! Ha i love a dragon...never seen this coming. I seriously love her like she's my kid. I observe everything she does and there are distinctive things they do & why. I findwhen i look things up about dragons, the answers couldn't be further from the truth. I didn't know a thing about these before i got one, but i can tell ya, i know a lot now just from my time with hey thus far. They may not be capable of"love" in our sence, but they have trust & isn't that what we all want in love..

 

[Momswims1]

Well said, Lizzy Blaze. I got a beardie, Frankie, for my son's 14th birthday and Rosie just happened to be a part of the deal. We fell so in love with these little animals! Trust is a huge part of the relationship. They trust us and rely on us so completely.
After a few months, we also got Kitty (a beardie) as a rescue and she has also stolen our hearts. I had no idea that a reptile could be so full of sweetness and affection. The more you learn about their communication and what they arereally saying with their tails, their eyes, their colors, and posture, the more you fall in love with them. I can't imagine not having them in our lives.
Whether or not they are just looking for warmth, when they crawl up and cuddle their noses in my hair or my neck, I just melt. When I go to put them back in the viv and they try to run back up my arm to my neck again, I just have to give in.
I love my beardies regardless. I am happy to be their heater.

 

[LizzyBlaze]

@momswims, that's beautiful that you could do that. I wanted another, not knowing that they really don't get lonely when they are spoiled i bought my friend one & thought lets see how she would react to another. It was a6 week old baby, had no problem with my lizzy (it's his/her name lol) but oh boy did she get stressed out!! I felt so terrible for doing that to heri think i have a great little one for still being as young as she is & showing so much trust in me. I'm glad i got her young, but it's seriously like taking care of a baby, but i didn't & don't mind it. Of i do get another,i would like to take one that needs a home vrs. A baby though as you. I got my friend from a pet store, i know i saved its life, the cage smelled of urin SO BAD! & this is at a chain pet store... It crawled right up on my hand, laid down closed it's eyes. So it was the one who left with me. My lizzy was purchased from a teacher of my daughters who had the mother & father at school, she laid her eggs there.. All the kids wanted one i think lol i kept saying no for weeks :lol: off topic: her mother yellow, orange & white the father yellow (head) greens &i swear looks as if he had blue tint in her. My lizzy shows signs of all colors :lol: dad is absolutely beautiful!

 

[Momswims1]

Aw. Give Lizzy a kiss for us. She sounds beautiful.

 

[disturb3d0n3]

My beardie is still getting settled in and skittish only until I hold her for a little while then she calms down. I can't wait for her to be a little bigger and get to really interact with her. I'm not sure they can have emotions per say but I'm with the others on bonding. I believe we are the ones that get hugely attached.

I've had my Iguana for 9 years, they bond to one person and could care less about everyone else. In fact during the short time she had to stay at my parents before we moved she absolutely refused to eat until she saw me. She would usually be ready for bed around 7 and if I came in at around that time she would greet me and come down and eat then go to sleep. Glad to finally have her at our new place she enjoys being in her basking spot, looking out the window all day and of course eating every day

My crested geckos I've had for 6 years, they will always try to jump away no matter what, that's just their nature.

 

[SpazzUnscripted]

I'm gonna go against what a few people have said here, just based on personal experience.

I don't know about "love" per se, but certainly trust and attachment.

When my fiance holds Pretzel--sometimes she's cool with it, but often she beards at him, tries to run off, and scrambles off his hand the moment she's able to get to her cage.

With me, she'll sit on my chest contentedly for as long as I'll let her (until she starts to get cold). When I try to set her back in her cage, very often she'll grab at the edge of her tank with her claws to avoid being set back down, and will cling to my hand or crawl up my arm to keep from being put away. It's not because I'm warmer than my fiance (he exudes more heat than I do). I imagine it's a security thing with my smell--I handled her a lot as a juvie, whereas my fiance didn't quite as often. I also bathe her (he doesn't). I'm her primary caretaker and she seems to recognize that.

And really, what's the harm in calling that love? If she doesn't feel the affection I do, it's not going to harm her or me at all to imagine that she does.

 

[Momswims1]

Isn't bonding like you are talking about part of love? Just like a child bonds to it's parent because they provide warmth, food, shelter, etc.
I know beardies don't feel love in the emotional sense a human does, but I do believe they bond and that is, in some sense, part of love.

 

[LizzyBlaze]

Proof: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CflpGgoObqQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I missed the best part of her running down her tree and clawing at the glass to get to me, but this is what she does when I've been away. She's 16 Weeks today. I sound like a goof, but lol yeah she's my baby