Juvenile Beardie Behavior

[Karoo2024]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight into some unusual behavior I’ve noticed. A little background: my bearded dragon, Karoo, is a 3 to 4-month-old male whom I’ve had for a little over a month. I’ve been working with him to help him get used to me, and some days it seems to be going very well, while other days it feels like we haven’t made much progress.

He has never hissed at me or tried to bite, but he frequently shows a black beard when he sees me and occasionally puffs up. Interestingly, he never runs away from me; in fact, sometimes he runs towards me when I approach his enclosure. He also allows me to pick him up without problem.

Usually, when I have him out for a while, or even right after I take him out sometimes, he lightens up to what seems to be relaxed colors and seems to be okay with me (he's even fallen asleep on me a few times). I’m still fairly new to keeping bearded dragons, so maybe it's normal to act this way but just thought it was odd. Not sure if it means he still just doesn't trust me yet or maybe he's being territorial. Any thoughts?

 

[KarrieRee]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight into some unusual behavior I’ve noticed. A little background: my bearded dragon, Karoo, is a 3 to 4-month-old male whom I’ve had for a little over a month. I’ve been working with him to help him get used to me, and some days it seems to be going very well, while other days it feels like we haven’t made much progress.

He has never hissed at me or tried to bite, but he frequently shows a black beard when he sees me and occasionally puffs up. Interestingly, he never runs away from me; in fact, sometimes he runs towards me when I approach his enclosure. He also allows me to pick him up without problem.

Usually, when I have him out for a while, or even right after I take him out sometimes, he lightens up to what seems to be relaxed colors and seems to be okay with me (he's even fallen asleep on me a few times). I’m still fairly new to keeping bearded dragons, so maybe it's normal to act this way but just thought it was odd. Not sure if it means he still just doesn't trust me yet or maybe he's being territorial. Any thoughts?

Hes young and needs to adjust to his tank and surroundings- please tell me his surface basking temps and how your getting them-- NO stickons they are inaccurate- UVB please NO coils-- this is imperative for his overall health and behavior -

 

[NickAVD]

Sometimes dragons may not recognize us right away. This often happens when the intensity of the UV spectrum in the lighting changes when going outside. You can lean in front of the terrarium and your face will be illuminated by the UV source. This is just a guess...

 

[Karoo2024]

Hes young and needs to adjust to his tank and surroundings- please tell me his surface basking temps and how your getting them-- NO stickons they are inaccurate- UVB please NO coils-- this is imperative for his overall health and behavior -

Ah okay. His basking spot typically is around 105 degrees and I use the zoo med digital probes (I have four of them in his tank to monitor temps closely) and for UVB I use a 24 inch reptisun T5 that is about 9 inches away from his basking spot that sits on top of my wide screen top.

 

[xp29]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone could provide some insight into some unusual behavior I’ve noticed. A little background: my bearded dragon, Karoo, is a 3 to 4-month-old male whom I’ve had for a little over a month. I’ve been working with him to help him get used to me, and some days it seems to be going very well, while other days it feels like we haven’t made much progress.

He has never hissed at me or tried to bite, but he frequently shows a black beard when he sees me and occasionally puffs up. Interestingly, he never runs away from me; in fact, sometimes he runs towards me when I approach his enclosure. He also allows me to pick him up without problem.

Usually, when I have him out for a while, or even right after I take him out sometimes, he lightens up to what seems to be relaxed colors and seems to be okay with me (he's even fallen asleep on me a few times). I’m still fairly new to keeping bearded dragons, so maybe it's normal to act this way but just thought it was odd. Not sure if it means he still just doesn't trust me yet or maybe he's being territorial. Any thoughts?

That's pretty standard. You got to remember these lil guys are brand new to the world and every single thing is brand new to them. They don't know what is food, what wants to make a meal of them, what's safe, what isn't safe, where is safe, where isn't. And we are the biggest creatures they encounter.
Just have patience and keep working at it. It can take months to over a year for them to fully understand they can trust you. Once they do though it is very much worth the effort. Once they bond with you they'll become your bestest buddy
Oh and try not to reach over top of or pick him up from above. They have a 3rd eye 👁 on top of their head. It's basicly just a photo sensor but is extremely sensitive to changes in light. Most of their natural predators attack from above. So moving around above them can scare them and set you back winning him over.

 

[Karoo2024]

That's pretty standard. You got to remember these lil guys are brand new to the world and every single thing is brand new to them. They don't know what is food, what wants to make a meal of them, what's safe, what isn't safe, where is safe, where isn't. And we are the biggest creatures they encounter.
Just have patience and keep working at it. It can take months to over a year for them to fully understand they can trust you. Once they do though it is very much worth the effort. Once they bond with you they'll become your bestest buddy
Oh and try not to reach over top of or pick him up from above. They have a 3rd eye 👁 on top of their head. It's basicly just a photo sensor but is extremely sensitive to changes in light. Most of their natural predators attack from above. So moving around above them can scare them and set you back winning him over.

Thank you for the response! I was thinking about it more from my point of view and not his, but thinking about it like that makes a lot of sense and honestly makes me feel better because I was starting to think he just wasn't a fan of me, so thank you for putting it that way . Also thanks for the tip about reaching over and picking up overhead!

 

[xp29]

Thank you for the response! I was thinking about it more from my point of view and not his, but thinking about it like that makes a lot of sense and honestly makes me feel better because I was starting to think he just wasn't a fan of me, so thank you for putting it that way . Also thanks for the tip about reaching over and picking up overhead!

Your very welcome