Does she like being pet?

[KLB85]

I have a 8 week old baby beardie and I've just started trying to handle her a few mins a day. She doesn't like being picked up and runs all over her viv trying to escape, but I try to keep handling to a minimum as not to stress her and only do so for baths and what not. I handle her with my hand in her viv right now because she's so jumpy, I don't feel safe taking her all the way out yet. Anyways today I got her to sit on my hand for a few mins and I started petting her back. Sometimes this sends her running but today she started closing her eyes. Does this mean that maybe she actually enjoyed it?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Please don't chase her all over the place in her viv, all see is seeing is a looming and terrifying figure and a terrifying fived headed monster chasing her and trying grab her. This will only reinforce her fear of you and set your attempts to earn her trust and tame her back.

If she backs away from you or moves away from your hand - take the hint and give her the space she is telling you she needs.

I found with my hatchlings and smaller baby and juvenile skinks that a much less stressful (for the lizard) way of picking them up was to slowly move a stout twig towards them and slip the end of it under the lizard's chest and arms , they will instinctively grasp the twig , at which time I would slowly lift the end of the twig off the floor of the viv and slowly draw it towards me until it was close enough for me to slip my hand under them and place my open cupped hand over their body (giving them a feeling of being well supported and security) and I would then deposit the lizard on my tummy or chest (looking at my face) keeping my cupped hand over their body and gently resting the same hand's wrist on the end of their tail (discourages them from dashing off).

Take your time.

Spend time hanging out where the hatchling can see and hear you and it can study you and size you up.
Try also resting your hand on the substrate near beardie so It gets used to your hand being there and then try placing a wormy treat on the hand, when the hatchling is ready it will likely one day amble up and take the treat from your upturned open hand, might even linger on the hand. The feeling you'll get when this happens for the first time is indescribeably good.

Try handfeedings some of their bugs to them or some other desireable treat (something you know they like) when you get them out (make it a little daily bonding ritual) , they soon get the hang of handfeeding and it will help them associate your picking them up with pleasureable things and is a great way to create a good bond with the lizard and to cultivate trust.

Also never come at the hatchling from behind (very predator like and will freak them out), try not to come at them from above (again this will scare them).

Slowly built up the contact time over the first serveral months.

Good times for handling and snuggles are when the hatchling is very relaxed (basking with a full tummy) and when it's sleepy (before bead time).

 

[Ancline]

Trying not to scare your dragon is a good suggestion. You want the dragon to associate you with good experiences as much as possible. A front opening vivarium is better suited to make your dragon feel more comfortable when trying to pick them up. A large animal over top of them trying to pick them is is more scary than an animal next to them trying to go underneath them.

One thing I learned to do with my beardie is to take a note out of their own behavior. Bearded dragons wave when wanting to convey to other bearded dragons that they are not threatening. So when my beardie was young and scared I would sit next to the vivarium and wave slowly a few times until he looked like he was no longer apprehensive of my presences. Then I would slowly put my hand in the vivarium as far away from the dragon as possible and slowly snake across the floor with my hand toward his belly, then he would let me pick him up without freaking out. But then again my beardie is really chill it seems, I could pick him up anytime I wanted without him much running away but I chose to take the long route of picking him up when I first got him because I didn't want him to be scared of me. Now I could walk right up to him and grab his back foot and wiggle it a bit and he'll just give me the stink eye, won't even move.
You may just need to give your beardie some patience.

 

[KLB85]

Thanks for the advice, I took her out for her bath tonight and made sure to try to make it as stress-less as possible for her. Unfortunately I don't have a front opening tank, so I have to come in from the top. I try to bend down so I'm not directly over her, and stick my hand in as low as possible. It can become very difficult and awkward when she's in certain positions to get my hand in the right position, but tonight I was able to sort of get her to walk onto my hand by gently touching her back with my thumb. It worked well and there was no running around. I put my hands in her tank a lot through out the day, cleaning out her messes, trying to hand feed or tweezer feed veggies and bugs. She's definitely not as scared of my hand as she was a few weeks ago, so I'll keep up the calm approach to gain her trust.

Regarding the eye closing when petting, do you think that means she enjoys it? I put her in the bath tonight and she seems to relax in there, and enjoy it too.

 

[Ancline]

Is she closing both eyes or just the one nearest to you? My beardie when he was young would do that and I never got a clear answer on why, but it is common. One suggestion was that they close one eye is because they want you to think they're dead and keep the other open to look for a quick get away in case you hurt them -which if you never hurt them then they will trust you more. Maybe it's a bearded dragon's trust fall? However no one really knows what's going on inside the mind of a juvinile beardie. Over time when my beardie became more familiar with me he stopped closing only one eye and just started staring at me when I hold him, then eventually he would close both his eyes and fall asleep if I was holding him comfortably on my lap or chest. I think a surefire sign that your bearded dragon likes you is that they feel safe enough to fall asleep on you.
It's good that you're building a good relationship with your beardie, a well socialized pet is a much happier pet and a much happier owner in my opinion. Just keep trying to make your beardie comfortable around you and your beardie will at least not mind being pet.

 

[KLB85]

Hmm from memory I want to say she was closing both eyes, but that's really good info on the one eye close, I'll keep that in mind and pay attention to if it's one or two. She definitely closes one eye a lot when she's hunting and will keep the open eye on the prey. Right now, I'm only at the point where I am holding her to transfer her from her tank to the bath, which I put right beside her tank. I'm reallllly nervous to put her on my chest or even hold her outside of her tank, because she's flighty and I don't want to have her run off and potentially hurt herself. When would you say I should start bringing her out of her tank? Maybe when I can reliably pick her up easily and she doesn't seem as scared? It's confusing because I see a lot of pictures of people having babies around my beardie's age, out and about with them, so I'm not sure when to start doing this safely.