My dragon thinks my fingers are food?

[dragonlady79]

My little one, I've had for just a little over a week, has had a few treats given by hand to get her to think of our hands as good things. Myself and my room mates. She doesn't mind being pet/picked up any more but lately shes been eyeing and biting at our fingers as if they're food.

She's also starting to show signs of shedding as her arms/legs/head and tail are turning into a more faded grey color. So idk if maybe this is making her cranky or she's just mistaking our fingers as food or both.

So I don't know where I've gone wrong but obviously I've done something wrong. Any suggestions/ideas?

 

[CooperDragon]

You haven't done anything wrong. Both are normal. The gray is shedding as you mentioned and this can cause them to be itchy/uncomfortable and sometimes translate to cranky behavior or lack of appetite. Eventually the skin will just crack and peel away revealing bright new skin underneath and her mood should return to normal shortly after.

Your fingers move like a big worm which can attract them and look like food. They usually grow out of this and only bite by accident when you are hand feeding and they get a little too aggressive going after the food. If it causes a problem you can wear gloves for a while when you offer food in order to protect your fingers. You could also offer food using plastic tongs instead of your fingers if you wish.

If she seems to like going after wiggly worms I'd try offering black soldier fly larvae and silk worms if you haven't already. She'll probably love them =)

 

[mmmdonut]

I'm no expert, but I see you area dragon lady. Do you paint your fingernails by chance? Mine will nip and follow my fingers when my nails are painted, especially if they are blue or green. I think he confuses them with his favorite treat, hornworms!

 

[dragonlady79]

Nah, I don't paint my nails. I used to but I have pets that might consume some and that'd be bad. Good to know that it's probably a phase as she's only a little over a month and a bit right now. I still haven't even come up with a good name for her. Right now she's being called baby...as to if it sticks we'll see.

I was worried a touch that hand feeding her was giving the wrong ideas to her but so many video's and pages suggest doing so to get them comfy with you. Her first 3 or 4 days she barely let me touch her without freaking out and running away. Now she has started to seem to enjoy being picked up and pet until today...so a few days of fun and now she's cranky.

How long after her whole body turns grey before she sheds off the old?

 

[CooperDragon]

Hand feeding is fine. I find it to be a good way to form a bond with them and gain their trust. I hand feed my guy a little bit every day.

The duration of a shed varies between dragons and between sheds. Sometimes it's really quick and they seem to kind of explode and shed all at once, sometimes it's very patchy and sheds can take weeks to come completely loose.

 

[SHBailey]

Our beardie chomped my finger once when I was feeding him Repashy Grub Pie -- which he goes totally nuts for, and he got so excited that he got my finger mixed up with the grub pie jelly "worm" that I was holding out to him. It was no big deal -- didn't even break the skin, and the teeth marks weren't even noticeable after a few minutes. Bearded dragon bites are usually no big deal -- they don't have really powerful teeth.

So I agree -- hand feeding is fine. Eventually little beardies learn the difference between food and fingers, and their human slaves also learn better ways to hold out the food to them while keeping their fingers out of the line of fire, but in the meantime, mistakes don't usually result in serious injury.

I've also heard lots of stories about beardies going after fingernails if you've got brightly colored nail polish that reminds them of their favorite foods.