Handling help

[hiimstacey]

Hi. We recently bought a pre-owned beardie and we have held him once when we first bought him. We really want to pick him up all the time now because obviously leaving him by himself in his cage is cruel. However, when we put our hands in he puffs up and hisses at us. We were just wondering when we do handle him (now in a minute when my baby brother has gone to sleep), if he puffs up and hisses at us should we put him back into his enclosure or persevere with him?

Thanks for the help

 

[Gail]

Never put him away when he is being bratty, that will teach him that being a bully will make you go away. He is scared, be gentle and move slow. Pet his back for a bit before you pick him up then try not to hold him too tight unless necessary. If he bites or you are afraid., use a pair of thin cotton gloves.

I'm blessed to own a bad tempered, antisocial beast of a dragon and she hisses every time I open her cage. I recently discovered that if I don't hold her too tight, she is more willing to hang out on my lap and let me pet her. She is slowly getting to the point of tolerating me though I'm sure she would smite me if possible.

 

[hiimstacey]

Thank you !

 

[jberntsenr]

We had the same problem when we adopted our girl in October. We first took her to the vet to make sure she was ok and she was. The vet even said most of the hissing and puffing is just talk and go ahead and pick her up. We used the cotton gloves for awhile and picked her up everytime we got a chance. We also noticed that she was more cranky during the day. We found out that she was kept in the basement in her previous home so she was not used to the sunlight Once we figured this out, we started handling her more in the evening and then worked our way to the daytime. Lastly, we also had her cage positioned in the room so she could not see us walk into the room. I think this made her nervous so we rearranged and that made a HUGE difference

Also, we would present food to her (her greens) and she started eating from our fingers...this helped her warm up to us quickly. All and all, it took about a month for her to turn around and now she loves to hang out on our shoulders and look out the windows.