I fear a mean beardie

[WantobeAbeardie]

Hello fellow beardie owners. I fear I have selected an aggressive beardie to bring home. He/she is 3 1/2 months old, and I got him at Petsmart. In the store, he was paired up with another beardie and was housed in a rather tiny tank. Despite that, he was calm and friendly when we visited him.

After 48 hours of bringing him home, we take him out. It took 5 or more minutes to scoop him out because he was running away and hiding. We managed to bring him out 3x and each interaction stressed me, my fiance, and our beardie out. He wouldn't sit still and would run so fast that that we had to chase after him. By the 3rd interaction, he started gaping.

So, it's been 2 weeks, and we stopped taking him out altogether. Now we try to keep our hand in his tank to pet him. Sometimes we can pet him for for 3-10 minutes, but only after spraying him with a light must. But towards the end of the petting, he starts gaping.

When will I know if he will be eternally unfriendly? At what point do I come to terms with this? I'd like to believe he will change, but the more he is handled and with the frequency of handling him, the more agitated he becomes. We do hand feed him and he is fine- that's a huge plus.

Help!

 

[Cheyenne1996]

When its near his/her bedtime wrap him/her up in a cuddly blanket and put him/her on your chest and stroke him/her lightly. My beardie was alittle agressive when I first got her but since I did that. She is very trusting and a loving beardie now.

 

[AHBD]

I agree he should settle down. A lot of babies are energetic [ be happy for that ! ] and flighty. He was moved from his familiar little tank with no handling to an all-new environment where he's picked up more than he'd like to be, then when he runs a large potential predator [ he's not sure who + what you are yet threatwise ] comes after him. Give him time, pick him up once a day or so, calm + gently. You can let him choose to crawl up your arm from in his tank, too. Just be calm + move slowly and when you hold him, stay close to a bed or couch in case he jumps so he doesn't fall on the floor.

 

[kingofnobbys]

NEVER CHASE a skittish lizard, it will terrify it especially if coming from above or behind them and with speed.

I find the following approach works better :
---- long stick from a tree , slip end under chest , lizard will climb on with front claws , slowly draw end with lizard over and slip hand over to GENTLY grasp lizard and place lizard on lap or tummy or chest facing you restrained with a gentle force by the wrist on it's tail.
---- have a few food treats handy (something you know it likes) and ready to offer either by finger tips on placing where lizard can see and get it .... will befriend it with food bribes

 

[thebalkan]

Agree with what the others listed above.

My beardie was unusually calm for the first couple of days after we brought him home but then got extremely skittish later in the week. He'd run, get into a corner, and even hiss at us. It's what caused me to make an account & start a thread on this forum .

It took a few weeks for him to get used to everything but now we have no issues. I think the main thing to do is be consistent. Handle him and be around him as much as you can. If possible, have his cage where he can see you at all times.

Just be patient and it will all work out

 

[kingofnobbys]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQF1eolDn98 way to get grumpy beardie to accept you

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Iw3mSqPqrA taming a beardie

might be good to watch and get some tips.

 

[WantobeAbeardie]

Thank you all for your advice. Today, he bit my fiancé We are huge pet people, but I'm afraid this one may be a challenge.

 

[leroysdad]

We also just got a young bearded dragon recently from Petco. Like you mentioned he seemed fine at the store, but when we brought him home he was very skittish. Now he's hissing and gaping & biting at your hands when we put them in the cage.
He likes baths and we'll take him out (it's a fight let me tell you) and get him in the bath he calms down and actually enjoys bathing.
Then when he's calm we can pet him and pick him up with little to no trouble most times. Sometimes he'll try to run a little or jump out of our hand, but it's night and day different compared to when he's in his cage.
Then he usually finds someplace dark to sleep after his bath (we've made him a little enclosure to go in to) and we move him eventually back to his cage.
Once back in his cage he's instantly aggressive.
I'm not sure if it's because he hates being in his cage, or if it just reverts him back to the predator/prey behavior.
Our cage opens from the top so we're always having to put our hands in from above him. We try to go slow and start at the opposite end of the cage and slowly move towards him, but he always gapes and hisses and attacks/bites.
I have to grab him and hold him to take him out of his cage. When I hold him he calms down a little and I can pet him. Sometimes covering his eyes helps too.
It's very frustrating though because he seems to be getting worse. I've read all of the responses in this thread & others and it does give my wife and I hope that Ozzy will mellow over time.
We had a female dragon previously and she was very docile and sweet. My wife is frustrated because she wants that behavior again, but it doesn't seem like Ozzy is willing to comply.
If there's anything you think we could be doing different please let me know.

We keep his temps in the cage between 90-100 with a UV/UVB lamp. We feed him veggies & roaches. His tank is pretty big (we're using our previous adult beardie's tank) so he has plenty of space to run around.
Just wish he would stop trying to kill our hands when we try to touch him or take him out of his cage. We'll keep at it and hopefully someday he'll realize we're not the enemy.
Thanks everyone.