Handling

[Kildey]

My almost 4 month old beardie has been doing pretty well with handling. He let's us pick him up without flinching or backing away from our hands and loves to bask in the sun in our hand or on our shoulder at the window.
What we are struggling with is that (if he's not in the sun) he is seemingly obsessed with trying to get on our shoulder just to run down our back. Its nerve wracking as I don't want him to fall! Anyone have any idea why he is doing this? Is it just exploring? Is he trying to run away? Is it safe for me to just let him do it? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to tame him to not do that?
Any ideas are welcome, thanks!

 

[xp29]

My almost 4 month old beardie has been doing pretty well with handling. He let's us pick him up without flinching or backing away from our hands and loves to bask in the sun in our hand or on our shoulder at the window.
What we are struggling with is that (if he's not in the sun) he is seemingly obsessed with trying to get on our shoulder just to run down our back. Its nerve wrecking as I don't want him to fall! Anyone have any idea why he is doing this? Is it just exploring? Is he trying to run away? Is it safe for me to just let him do it? Or does anyone have any ideas on how to tame him to not do that?
Any ideas are welcome, thanks!

They pretty much all do that. It just takes time and patience. Try not to let him on your back, falling can cause serious injuries.

 

[Sue E.]

I put a hand on mine very lightly as he starts climbing up to my shoulder but he now has the crazy idea to climb up to my head and sit on top of my head! And then gets mad when I I put him back in his enclosure once he starts doing that. One thing that kind of helps is to let him walk across my forearms with my arms bent out at the elbow so he cant get up there without having to turn. I always keep that hand lightly on him whenever hes on me so I can grab him but I think with a baby it might be harder to do so. You can also try whenever he is on you to sit in a beardie-proofed room on the floor, or in one of those pet playpens for big dogs. That should keep him from falling if he should decide to leap off you. I wish I had a better answer for you but that is just beardies being beardies. You can use rolled towels or pool noodles to stuff into any gaps where he might get under or behind things like appliances or sofas if he climbs off you and free roams. They just love to climb, and its pretty nerve wracking when they climb too high.