Mad, Playful, Defensive, Sad.. What's your mood Beardie?

[CoolioTiffany]

Beardies seem to have a lot of different moods, and they do seem to display them. I volunteer at a herpetological society and so far the adult Beardies I've seen like to display their moods.

I want to know the definitions of these moods and displays:

When the throat turns black (and/or belly)
When they beard out/puff out their throat
When they wave at you
When they turn their head side to side when they watch you
When they bob their head
When they gape open their mouth (bearded out/puffed out)
When they gape open their mouth (not bearded/puffed out)

 

[jarett_harrison]

Beardies seem to have a lot of different moods, and they do seem to display them. I volunteer at a herpetological society and so far the adult Beardies I've seen like to display their moods.

I want to know the definitions of these moods and displays:

When the throat turns black (and/or belly)
When they beard out/puff out their throat
When they wave at you
When they turn their head side to side when they watch you
When they bob their head
When they gape open their mouth (bearded out/puffed out)
When they gape open their mouth (not bearded/puffed out)

well when they wave at you they are most likely seeing a male dragon(the waver being female)
bearded out and gaping is the beardie is probably just thermoregulating
when they turn their head its because they are following you. They dont see straight so they have to turn their head to watch you.
when they head bob, its usually males showing dominance or wanting to breed to a female.

 

[fresnowitte]

Heat are a few of the behaviors not really definitions but oh well.

Arm waving
This is seen in all Dragons contrary to what you may have read. It is a sign of submission. Basically what they are saying is "please calm down, I do not want trouble" or "you are the king and I am not worth the fuss." Most people believe that if you have two dragons in the same cage the one that waves is the female. This is not 100% accurate. I have seen the males wave to the females. When two males are within sight of eachother one will sometimes wave to the other.

Head bobbing
For male Dragons, this simply means I am king. If two males are within sight of each other this is a must. If both males bob aggressively then a fight may result. However, in most cases, the less aggressive male will slow bob his head, while the dominant male bobs will have lots more motion.Females do a slight nod. In new studies, some herpetologists believe they also bob to judge distance.

Gaping
In a healthy dragon, this behavior is normal. They gape their mouth open to release heat for the same reason a dog pants to cool down. Beardies do not sweat, so they do this to release heat. But, at other times it can be a sign of illness also. If you can see excess saliva then I suggest a vet visit to count out the possiblity of a Respiratory Infection. Which can take your beardies life rather quickly.

Eye Bulging
There has been a lot of talk about eye bulging and why Beardies do it. Eye bulging is when the Beardie pushes his eyes out a little. It looks like their eyes are going to pop right out. It can be a sign of stress, but in most cases I think they do this to break the skin loose when shedding. It also appears that they might do this for the same reason that we rub our eyes. It feels good and we often do it when we are tired.

Push-ups
Sometimes females display what looks to be a push-up in response to male dragons' head bobs. Most of the time this is seen during breeding season.

Beard displaying
All Beardies will display this behavior but males have much larger beards. This is a sign of aggression or showing off for the females during breeding. Both male and female beards turn black when displayed (males are much darker and some times the darkness spreads down to their shoulders). I have also noticed they display their beards when shedding to help break the skin loose. Also, dragons do what we call "morning exercises." They puff up their beards in the morning as a way of stretching.

Digging
Females dig burrows to lay eggs and this is totally normal. But almost all will do this even on tile they are like puppies and trying to make a comfy spot.

Tail up in the air or tail twitching
If the tail is up or twitching it usually means the Beardie is hunting. Sometimes their tail will twitch when they are watching their prey before they give chase. And I call the curled up tail the scorpion stance they will do this when they are alert, warmed up, and happy.

Hissing
Sometimes when startled, both the male & the female will display their beards,open their mouths, and make a kind of hissing noise. This is a defense warning. Don't be alarmed, Beardies will hardly ever act on their on their threats. It's usually all show and no bite.

Bearding in the morning without displaying a darkened beard
They do this when they are warming up in the morning getting their throats exercised and ready to eat.

 

[DragonCrib]

So why does my dragon do the arm wave when hunting crickets? Is that normal?