How to tell if a bearded dragon is scared when free-roaming ?

[Monpetitchou]

Since today is cloudy here in LA and a little chilly, we didn't go outside for him to get his daily dose of the sun. But bc i bought something new for his tank, I re-arranged his tank accessories and he seemed to explore it a lot/was SUPER active (he's not usually too active in general and just chills in his basking spot unless he's gotta go #2). but it got to the point where he was being SO active that it seemed like he wanted to go outside the tank. For ex, he would crawl to the highest point via rockwall and it looked like he actually was trying to get OUT of the tank through the top mesh.
So, I took him into a small room to let him roam.

Aside from stress lines on his belly (which he didn't have), how can you tell if a dragon is stressed or scared outside of the tank ? he was walking around a lot, licking things and kept going to the same wall under the desk. he seemed to have wanted to look out the window at one point so i perched him up on the windowsill. after looking outside a bit, he continued to explore the ground. i put out 2 super worms for him to hunt, which he did.

but bc he was going back and forth a lot bw the same areas, i began to wonder if he was actually just scared instead of being explorative.

after i put him back into his tank, he perched on his usual basking spot and stayed there (compared to before when he was doing laps).

 

[KarrieRee]

Since today is cloudy here in LA and a little chilly, we didn't go outside for him to get his daily dose of the sun. But bc i bought something new for his tank, I re-arranged his tank accessories and he seemed to explore it a lot/was SUPER active (he's not usually too active in general and just chills in his basking spot unless he's gotta go #2). but it got to the point where he was being SO active that it seemed like he wanted to go outside the tank. For ex, he would crawl to the highest point via rockwall and it looked like he actually was trying to get OUT of the tank through the top mesh.
So, I took him into a small room to let him roam.

Aside from stress lines on his belly (which he didn't have), how can you tell if a dragon is stressed or scared outside of the tank ? he was walking around a lot, licking things and kept going to the same wall under the desk. he seemed to have wanted to look out the window at one point so i perched him up on the windowsill. after looking outside a bit, he continued to explore the ground. i put out 2 super worms for him to hunt, which he did.

but bc he was going back and forth a lot bw the same areas, i began to wonder if he was actually just scared instead of being explorative.

after i put him back into his tank, he perched on his usual basking spot and stayed there (compared to before when he was doing laps).

Their beards will turn black - sign of distress scared or mating or pain -- if they are scared they will take off running and try and find a place to hide

 

[Monpetitchou]

Their beards will turn black - sign of distress scared or mating or pain -- if they are scared they will take off running and try and find a place to hide

ok his beard never turned black. and he didnt run off to hide, unless thats what he was trying to do when he was running around.

ever since i got him in Jan, he's been hard to read bc he has NEVER tried to hide or run away from me. he just sits there lol so im like 'is he ok? is he just real chill? IS he scared but too scared to move?' lol.

 

[KarrieRee]

ok his beard never turned black. and he didnt run off to hide, unless thats what he was trying to do when he was running around.

ever since i got him in Jan, he's been hard to read bc he has NEVER tried to hide or run away from me. he just sits there lol so im like 'is he ok? is he just real chill? IS he scared but too scared to move?' lol.

Yea you will know when he is scared -- most of the are real chill but if they get scared they will turn black and try and run and usually try and find a place to hide under something - the decor piece has invaded his territory and anytime I change things around they dont like it -- they dont like change and Hiccup sat and stared at a new vine that is on the back wall of his tank for like 2 weeks waiting for it to move - he finally got used to it -- same w/ his new bed I got around Xmas time - its a big pillow I got off of Etsy and he stared at it for weeks before he finally got on it when he got the zoomies here around Jan -- now he goes and sits on it

 

[Monpetitchou]

Yea you will know when he is scared -- most of the are real chill but if they get scared they will turn black and try and run and usually try and find a place to hide under something - the decor piece has invaded his territory and anytime I change things around they dont like it -- they dont like change and Hiccup sat and stared at a new vine that is on the back wall of his tank for like 2 weeks waiting for it to move - he finally got used to it -- same w/ his new bed I got around Xmas time - its a big pillow I got off of Etsy and he stared at it for weeks before he finally got on it when he got the zoomies here around Jan -- now he goes and sits on it

gotcha - so do you think him being super active bc i added / rearranged stuff was not the signal to take him out of the tank ? lol

i bought a new, tall hideaway to put on the cool side of his tank (which he hasn't used) and moved his old, shorter hideaway to the hot side which he did end up using to bask on top of (he didnt use it before). when he was doing his laps, he was going from the hot side to the center of the tank and back/repeat.

 

[KarrieRee]

gotcha - so do you think him being super active bc i added / rearranged stuff was not the signal to take him out of the tank ? lol

i bought a new, tall hideaway to put on the cool side of his tank (which he hasn't used) and moved his old, shorter hideaway to the hot side which he did end up using to bask on top of (he didnt use it before). when he was doing his laps, he was going from the hot side to the center of the tank and back/repeat.

they glass surf when they want out -- could be a sign of the tank being too small too if they do it alot - its hard to say about the adding rearranging stuff tho -- how long did that last -- when Hiccup wants out and does that it drives me crazy and he does it for hrs even tho hes in a 120 gallon tank -- and its always in Jan / Feb he starts this --- every year -- I call it spring fever

 

[Monpetitchou]

they glass surf when they want out -- could be a sign of the tank being too small too if they do it alot - its hard to say about the adding rearranging stuff tho -- how long did that last -- when Hiccup wants out and does that it drives me crazy and he does it for hrs even tho hes in a 120 gallon tank -- and its always in Jan / Feb he starts this --- every year -- I call it spring fever

he hadnt done this before since normally he just chills in his 120g/4x2x2 tank (unless he needs to poo, then he'll come off of his perch/basking area).

he wasnt quite glass surfing. he was just doing laps over and over on one half of the tank for maybe, like, 10 minutes. then he went up his rock wall to the corner of the tank where the mesh top is and seemed to try and climb FURTHER up. which obvi he couldnt. thats when i took him out for 30 minutes to let him explore my small office.

 

[KarrieRee]

he hadnt done this before since normally he just chills in his 120g/4x2x2 tank (unless he needs to poo, then he'll come off of his perch/basking area).

he wasnt quite glass surfing. he was just doing laps over and over on one half of the tank for maybe, like, 10 minutes. then he went up his rock wall to the corner of the tank where the mesh top is and seemed to try and climb FURTHER up. which obvi he couldnt. thats when i took him out for 30 minutes to let him explore my small office.

Was he trying to get to his UVB? What are you using for a UVB? coil or a long tube fixture?

 

[Monpetitchou]

Was he trying to get to his UVB? What are you using for a UVB? coil or a long tube fixture?

i dont think he was trying to get to his UVB bc the 2 places he normally basks all day were untouched - all i did was add another platform (his hideaway) to the hot area.

his UVB is the long tube. i dont think it's a UVB issue. i have a solarmeter to measure the UVB everyday. im guessing he was running around bc of all the new arrangements.

in the photo attached, where he is perched up on the rock wall but also the hammock is where he likes to spend his time. the new items are the big hideaway on the left and the black hideaway on the right (not new but i moved it to that side)

 

[KarrieRee]

i dont think he was trying to get to his UVB bc the 2 places he normally basks all day were untouched - all i did was add another platform (his hideaway) to the hot area.

his UVB is the long tube. i dont think it's a UVB issue. i have a solarmeter to measure the UVB everyday. im guessing he was running around bc of all the new arrangements.

in the photo attached, where he is perched up on the rock wall but also the hammock is where he likes to spend his time. the new items are the big hideaway on the left and the black hideaway on the right (not new but i moved it to that side)

Ok just checking

 

[Xjrosie]

I think bearded dragons are much like grumpy old people who hate change. They're gonna do their best to make a fuss till you change it back. And if you don't change it back, it takes forever for them to stop pouting!