Do YOU think Beardies Can Love You?

[Jess]

Wow, I think some people have completely gotten the wrong idea from this thread. No one said that they believe beardies are "reptiles with no feelings" or whatever. I just don't think that reptiles can bond with people on the same level as a dog/cat/rabbit/other human/ect. Does that mean I love Dudley any less? Of course not. But do I believe he craves my love and attention? No, not exactly.

The "non-believers" don't love their beardies any less than you do. We just view our relationships with them differently. It's seriously starting to bug me how some posters are implying that we don't care about our beardies as much as they do. :roll:

 

[diamc]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions. But I, for one, would not underestimate the "love" that a beardie can feel for their owner. I could go on & on, even posting examples and stories but since I had to put our very sweet and loving Sabrina to sleep on 5/31, it is just too painful to get into it. I will say though that she was VERY smart, played games with her human family, there was never ANY doubt that she loved us (if not more) than we did her. In the evening when I took her out of her tank, she looked at each one of us with her beautiful bright eyes, just waiting for each of us to say something to her and had to have some cuddles from all, she would pull herself along the table with her front legs (toward the end, she couldn't use her back legs) to go see each one of us. She would even very gently stroke the sides of our faces with her front legs. Although I was her main caregiver, she was especially fond of my husband and would pout and darken up if he was outside doing yardwork, working on the porch, etc and she wasn't out there. She enjoyed watching anything he did and there wasn't anything that she didn't like or was afraid of like hearing a chainsaw, circular saw, etc, she just loved doing anything at all with us and it was obvious that she was heartbroken if we didn't include her.

Over the years, I have had dogs, cats, chickens, rabbits, birds, horses, etc and I can very much state that Sabrina's love was equal to if not more substantial to their love.

 

[ZanyAmy]

I think it depends on the beardie as well as what you call love. My beardie has no problem crawling all over me, but tends to stay still on the hands of strangers (after a good tasting to recognize them of course). I don't think she'd be heartbroken if I gave her away, but I know that she prefers me (the hand that feeds) over others. Maybe it's just an adaptation, but for lizards, they're definitely affectionate. They don't love like we love though. If I wanted an animal that fawned over me, I'd get a dog. I like my space just like beardies like theirs and I like the idea that, god forbid, should I ever have to give her away, it wouldn't do permanent damage.

 

[PumpkinJelly]

Jess: I agree.

Diamc: I am so super sorry about Sabrina. She sounded like she's a symbol for Beardies. All Beardies are sweet and caring in some way, and Sabrina truly showed that. I was touched by your post, thank you for sharing

To Everybody: My intensions of this thread were not to start arguments, or disputes, or even for anyone to see the purpose the wrong way. I made this thread solely for the purpose of hearing what you had to say on the topics. One day I was holding my beloved little man, Fiz. He was crawling all over me and then settled in my sweatshirt pocket to go to sleep. At that moment, I wondered "I wonder if Fiz loves me". So I went on here to hear opinions. I enjoy reading the scientific information you guys posts, because it gives a realistic feel to it all. But at the same time, I LOVE hearing about the stories of "proof" that you all post of how your Beardies can love, like BeardieParents and Diamc, and quite a few others. I personally love to just hear about Beardies in general, so this thread brings me joy when I read it

To the people who (like Jess said) are saying that "If you don't believe that your beardie loves you then you don't love your Beardie as much as I love mine" We all know we love our beardies, correct? That's an undying love that never fails, correct? So why would that make you love your Beardie more than we love ours? Here's a logic to make it more understandable because in fact, I'm confusing myself! :lol:

For example... Let's say there's two people. Bob and Jim. Bob believes his Beardie can love but Jim does not. Both Bob and Jim love their beardies to the ends of the earth and that will never ever change. Even though Jim believes his beardie will never love him back, he still has that love for his Beardie that Bob does (keeping in mind that Bob does believe his Beardie can love him). I'm sorry if this is a bit confusing, I'm just trying to give my point across.

Please, continue to share your perspectives if you'd like. I, for one, would love to hear your opinion and I will not judge you negatively, I assure you. You'll never hear that from me :wink:

 

[Germ]

Well put & said PJ & Jess. This is an interesting thread & agree the Beardie stories of seemingly Human like behaviour are endearing & heartwarming.

I too, am sorry for your loss Diamc. I have also experienced the loss of my Beloved Nitro. Although I try not to pick favorites, those of us with multiple pets, all have that 'Special' one, whether we like it or not, Nitro was mine. Because I don't believe that they can Love me in return, per se, does not make the loss any less traumatic. That's her looking at me in my Avatar along with quite a number of pics of her in my signature.

RIP Nitro!

Germain

 

[PumpkinJelly]

Germ: So sorry about your loss, Germ. I truly do mean it. I'd be distraught for weeks if anything ever happened to my Fiz. Nitro was surely a beautiful beardie And I know exactly what you mean about the "favorite pet". I want to love all my pets equally because it makes me feel guilty if I say that I love one pet the most (I know, silly, but it's true). I have two favorite pets, actually. My baby boy, Fiz and my 11 year old boy pomeranian, Bart. Bart has been with me for 11 years, and Fiz only a few months, but I love them both so much. They're my two buddies and I love them lots!

I have Bart (pomeranian), Fiz (BD), KD (BD), Herbert (Hermit crab), Arnold (Hermit crab), Marvin (Hermit crab), and Waldo (Hermit crab). I've had my Hermit Crabs for over a year now, and I take great care of them. I am against the whole cruelty act of hermit crabs being sold and only living for 2 months because they're kept incorrectly. So, I adopted four (not at the same time, of course) RIP Eugene, my jumbo hermit crab. He was a big guy, but was mistreated in the pet store and sadly was too stressed out and couldn't take any more.

Does anyone else have pets that they love?

 

[Garbanzo]

I'm a new dragon owner, but I am an animal science student. My dragon is extremely observant and constantly watches and listens to everything, most of the time in the flight mode. However, he definitely shows recognition, when a stranger walks by he is ready to hide or run away but when he hears my voice or I walk by he acknowledges me and then continues to nap or continue whatever he was doing before. The other thing is he feels comfortable enough to turn his back to me/not watch what I am doing constantly. I don't know about love, but he is definitely smart enough to make a connection with a person and understand that they will care for him and not hurt him.