How to grab bearded dragon out of enclosure?

[SarahMr98]

I have had my bearded dragon for about five months now and she still is scared of me. She lets me feed her and pet her inside of her enclosure without a problem, but when it comes to taking her out she gets scared and sometimes hisses at me. I think it’s because her enclosure opens from the top and me going to grab her from above scares her. Is there any tips on how to better grab her from a top opening enclosure? I’ve read that some people take their dragon out after it’s already gone to sleep to try to help bonding. Should I try that? Or would that just scare her?

 

[kingofnobbys]

Definitely the top opening tank not improving the situation.

These top opening tanks are a very bad design for a lizard viv , front opening is better.
This is pretty easy fixed , you can convert a top opening tank to a front opening tank very quickly if you are handy :
viewtopic.php?f=34&t=244922&p=1863668#p1863668

It is also a good idea to make it a daily ritual , lizards like their life to have a predictable routine , what I found works is
>>> am spot cleaning , little lizard goes into 30L plastic archive box (remove stale salad, remove soiled paper sheets replace , recover any rogue bugs) then
>>> am handfeeding / bonding session (first few bugs of the day) , maybe 10mins , then return the dragon to it's nice clean tank , and finish feeding.
>>> late evening snuggle , wait for the little dragon become very relaxed after it's last feed , will be basking, take out and have snuggle / petting session , talk quietly to it.

In the case of a skittish hatchling , what I found works is to
> tempt the hatchling by placing your hand (palm up and open) with a very desireable food treat (one that wriggle is very effective) near the hatchling but not inside it's personal space, often the food treat will be enough for it to overcome it's distrust / fear and approach to accept and take the food bribe/offering.
Do this each day , a few times per day and this will help the hatchling learn to trust you and it soon amble right up to you and beg you for more.
> when the hatchling retreats to a hard to reach spot (back corner say), don't chase it about (this will only reinforce it's fear / distrust of you) , I find if you have a stiff twig handy , move the end of it slowly towards the hatchling and under it's arms and chest , generally a hatchling will instinctively grasp the end of the twig when you slowly lift the end and the hatchling off the ground, then slowly draw the hatchling on the end of the twig close enough to deposit it on you other hand.