reptilegyrl
Sub-Adult Member
Hi all!
I have a HUGE problem with my bearded dragon's behavior. (I brought her for a visit to the reptile store that I bought her from and the owner said she was the "meanest one he's ever seen" and he's "never seen a beardie act anything like this)...She literally flew out of the box and bit him 4 times. When I had told him how mean she was he said it was just because of her age, but now he says she is just plain nasty. great...did I get the meanest dragon in the world? Is there any way to tame her?! :evil:
I need some serious help! Is it her diet? her age? her environment? am I doing something wrong or is she just plain nasty for life?
Let me give some background. My husband got my dear Cupid for me for Valentines Day this year. I had been wanting one for so long! Here is a pic of her when I first got her. Sweet little thing. Loved to be held and cuddled and pet. (sorry pics are so big i dont know how to make smaller)
She started out eating tiny crickets. She is in a 30 gallon with two branches, a small food dish, and a water dish. she has a heat lamp on one side that keeps it about 99-103 on that side. Then a UVB lamp 3/4 of the way across the tank. the substrate is rabbit pellets. Her house is on the 3rd shelf of a large "reptile tower" (large shelving in our diningroom). on the other shelves are snakes. (could this bother her maybe??? :?: :?: :!: She has grown quickly and has enjoyed eating larger crickets (with vitamin supplement), meal worms, wax worms, "reptiworms" (black soldier fly larvae), red grapes, plums, lettuce, and just recently fat "Goliath worms" (tomato horn worms - recommended by reptile shop for more protein). (mostly all protein not much veggies or fruit for her). I usually dump the crickets in for her to chase. I feed the worms with rubber tipped tongs. And I put fruits and veggies in food bowl. As she has gotten older (Im thinking she is about 9 months old now?) she has gotten more and more aggressive. Here is what she looks like now.
every pic of her looks like this...or similar. mouth open, puffed up/flattened out. she is permanently angry at the world!
I swear she hates me...she hates humans in general. I walk by her tank and she puffs out her beard and opens her mouth. As soon as I take off the lid of her tank she takes flying leaps at me with her mouth open trying to bite me. I have to wear gloves to hold her. And while im holding her I have to HOLD her I cant just let her crawl on me or rest on me or she will munch me to pieces and run like heck! I have read that it is better to try to avoid picking them up from above...but honestly I get attacked as soon as I open the lid and get bit repeatedly through my gloves. The only way I can every hold her is to just chase her around the cage with my gloved hands while getting bitten repeatedly until I can grab her. This makes me sad because I dont want to scare her or hurt her. And Im tired of having sore hands!!! I tried the whole "scoop her up" thing. she leaped and bit.
This is what it looks like when I hold her. This is NOT what I had pictured when i bought her! I am hoping she will calm down so we can cuddle like I do with the ones at the pet store!
Well, this is really my first real post and quite a long winded one too! sorry for that and I thank you all for reading. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated!
I have a HUGE problem with my bearded dragon's behavior. (I brought her for a visit to the reptile store that I bought her from and the owner said she was the "meanest one he's ever seen" and he's "never seen a beardie act anything like this)...She literally flew out of the box and bit him 4 times. When I had told him how mean she was he said it was just because of her age, but now he says she is just plain nasty. great...did I get the meanest dragon in the world? Is there any way to tame her?! :evil:
I need some serious help! Is it her diet? her age? her environment? am I doing something wrong or is she just plain nasty for life?
Let me give some background. My husband got my dear Cupid for me for Valentines Day this year. I had been wanting one for so long! Here is a pic of her when I first got her. Sweet little thing. Loved to be held and cuddled and pet. (sorry pics are so big i dont know how to make smaller)
She started out eating tiny crickets. She is in a 30 gallon with two branches, a small food dish, and a water dish. she has a heat lamp on one side that keeps it about 99-103 on that side. Then a UVB lamp 3/4 of the way across the tank. the substrate is rabbit pellets. Her house is on the 3rd shelf of a large "reptile tower" (large shelving in our diningroom). on the other shelves are snakes. (could this bother her maybe??? :?: :?: :!: She has grown quickly and has enjoyed eating larger crickets (with vitamin supplement), meal worms, wax worms, "reptiworms" (black soldier fly larvae), red grapes, plums, lettuce, and just recently fat "Goliath worms" (tomato horn worms - recommended by reptile shop for more protein). (mostly all protein not much veggies or fruit for her). I usually dump the crickets in for her to chase. I feed the worms with rubber tipped tongs. And I put fruits and veggies in food bowl. As she has gotten older (Im thinking she is about 9 months old now?) she has gotten more and more aggressive. Here is what she looks like now.
every pic of her looks like this...or similar. mouth open, puffed up/flattened out. she is permanently angry at the world!
I swear she hates me...she hates humans in general. I walk by her tank and she puffs out her beard and opens her mouth. As soon as I take off the lid of her tank she takes flying leaps at me with her mouth open trying to bite me. I have to wear gloves to hold her. And while im holding her I have to HOLD her I cant just let her crawl on me or rest on me or she will munch me to pieces and run like heck! I have read that it is better to try to avoid picking them up from above...but honestly I get attacked as soon as I open the lid and get bit repeatedly through my gloves. The only way I can every hold her is to just chase her around the cage with my gloved hands while getting bitten repeatedly until I can grab her. This makes me sad because I dont want to scare her or hurt her. And Im tired of having sore hands!!! I tried the whole "scoop her up" thing. she leaped and bit.
This is what it looks like when I hold her. This is NOT what I had pictured when i bought her! I am hoping she will calm down so we can cuddle like I do with the ones at the pet store!
Well, this is really my first real post and quite a long winded one too! sorry for that and I thank you all for reading. Any advice would be so greatly appreciated!