I'm afraid to hold my bearded dragon

[Thatwittykid]

My name is Luis and I have a pet dragon named Skippy. I'm pretty sure he is used to me by now, but I am afraid to pick him up. What do I do to decrease this fear? And what is the correct way to hold a beardie?

 

[KarrieRee]

Make sure all 4 legs are on you other wise the tail will flail -- I pick mine up under his front legs w/ one hand and the other under the back legs- set him on your chest or hold him out w/ all legs under or touching you - just so his legs are planted on something --
Karrie

 

[kingofnobbys]

Is it a hatchling or a bigger dragon ?

Yes , as Kerrie says.

Just slip your hand under his chest and make sure his entire body is well supported by hand and fingers . They instinctively crawl on .
I then I place my other hand over top the body, this makes the dragon feel more secure.

 

[melissamott124]

Hey Luis! How long have you had Skippy? I was in the exact same situation when I got my first beardie a few years back. I had wanted one for years and when I finally got her, I was terrified of handling her. I think the big thing to know going into this is that trust building needs to go both ways and that could take a little while!

I'd start off with small things that can help build trust. Hand feed your beardie, put your hand palm up in front of him so he can investigate you on his own terms, give him pets when he's in his tank. Something that helped me a bit too was taking my beardie out while with someone who wasn't afraid of handling her, so I could hang out with her and we could get to know each other with the comfort of having someone else there to help me if I got nervous. If you keep at it and make small progresses, you'll find that in a few weeks you'll have built a real foundation of trust and you won't feel as nervous. Good luck!

 

[Apolla]

Are you afraid to hold him because you're afraid to hurt him? Or are you afraid because you don't understand his movements?

I was nervous because of the second, I'd read and watched videos on how to hold her, but I was still learning what various body language meant. To counteract this, I sat in the bathtub with her (without water, lol) and let her crawl on me at her own comfort level. This was a controlled environment, as she can't escape the tub and run off like on a couch. With this I learned the signals for when she was going to jump, climb, turn around, or just sit.

But like everyone else said, make sure he's supported when you do hold him and you should be fine.