psyco dragon

[agordon89]

So I recently.got a baby beardie and everything was going good till about a week ago, he started freaking out when I try to hold him, even the slightest pet on the back causes him to puff up. He was a little nervis before but he's psyco now, authoring and trying to bite me. And he never calms down, monster how long I hold him. Nothing has changed, his diet and cage are The same. I just don't know what to do. If he keeps this up ill have to sell him back to the pet store

 

[mustangshelly]

I dont really have any helpful advice but I will be watching this closely since mine is doing the same thing. Something about the spring equinox maybe? Dunno but I am having the same thought about having to adopt mine out.

 

[agordon89]

this is going to sound mean but theres not many other ways to say it

imagine someone 300 times your size trying to pick you up,you wouldent be freaked out? im concerned you just expect to have a great animal from the start and dont want to put any work into finding out why shes so upset
have you tried to bond with her at all? hand feeding? petting inside cage letting her bite you? anything
you cant just expect an animal to take to you its takes work

i have one animal that has bitten me for months but im persistant and only get bitten once every week at most now i allow her to bite and she stops and wont do it for a while when there smaller they are more afraid of you

Yes that did.sound very mean!!!!!! And if you read the post you would see that I did put in the work once, and obviously I want to find out what's upseting HIM, or I wouldn't have posted here. I know how to work with a new dragon, I have three. I was asking for ideas on the sudden change and how to help him. He was fine with me and personable TILL LAST WEEK. I've had him for a few months. Next time read the post before you jump down someone's throat.

 

[TeflonHotpocket]

I have certainly had beards that were just crazy by nature but much of the time they will just go through cranky phases. One thing I find that helps with those that dislike being handle is to put it on the table and be near you outside of the cage without handling it. If the dragon freaks out when you hold it cuasing you to restrain it, it might start associating being held as negative. It may also be important to note that reptiles are more active when warm, so maybe try only handling it when it is in cooler resting state.

It may also sound a bit odd, but perhap you might try a bit of training by placing it on a slick service like a counter top, it will likely dislike that it can't get a good grip then you offer your sleeve as a better option to re enforce that you holding is a good thing. Another simular situation is letting it sit on the floor and standing near it, again it will likely get skittish and then you bring it to a higher level to comfort it (most reptiles often prefer being at a higher position).

Mostly from my experience fearful and agressive beards just take time and need to build up trust. As mentioned before hand feeding and constant handling is always the best way deal with them.

 

[AO111]

If you are trying to hold him too tightly that could be part of the problem. They seem to prefer resting in your hand rather than being "held"

 

[agordon89]

Yes I know I have tried that in the cage but he just jumps out ASAP, I am trying anything I can think of

 

[AO111]

Maybe something happened that scared him while you were in contact or maybe you had something on your hands he didn't like, idk.
The only other advice I can give is don't rush it. Keep trying to touch, handle etc. and even hand feed. Then hopefully he will learn to trust you.

 

[Claudiusx]

Hi there,

Babies in general are very skittish. Everything looks very big and scary to them. This is why usually adults are much more calm than babies.

However, this doesn't mean you can't have a tame/calm baby, but you need to take baby steps (no pun intended... haha)

You also need to be consistent in your efforts. You can't just try to work with your baby for a week then give up, you need to stay consistent with the baby steps.

You can start by something as simple as just leaving your hand in the tank for a few minutes each day.
Then maybe you can step it up to putting your hand closer for a few days
Then when you make good progress with that, maybe try letting your baby rest on your hand while the hand is still in the cage.

Then just keep making small progress like that and eventually your dragon will be more trusting of you.

-Brandon

 

[bunnyrut]

You can start by something as simple as just leaving your hand in the tank for a few minutes each day.
Then maybe you can step it up to putting your hand closer for a few days
Then when you make good progress with that, maybe try letting your baby rest on your hand while the hand is still in the cage.

I had to do this with my first beardie (also from a pet shop). he was fine in the beginning, then after a month or so he got skittish and puffed out. he never bit me though.

slowly introducing your hand to him will gain his trust. always approach him from the front. try hand feeding him too. he'll come around eventually.

 

[mustangshelly]

I have been making some progress with mine by holding my hand in the water while he is bathing. Since he doesnt like his bath much he likes to sit on my hand like an island. He tries to climb my arm sometimes so I have to be careful. I have also found that if I hide his head under my hand and hold him against my chest he doesnt get hyper as fast. He still hisses at me and tries to bite occassionally but he seems to be settling down. Hope these ideas help with yours also. When they told me to go slow I never imagined it would take months but we are making very small steps. Good luck!

 

[agordon89]

I've already warned the person who was rude, don't make me warn you, too. I'm going to remove the post that continued this argument so we can go back to helping you with your baby. Anything further that you have to say to that person can be done through PM not on this thread. Now lets get back on topic. Added by moderator

As for everyone else thank you for all the help. The tricks are all very useful and seem to be working already. Slowly but they are working. Although I still don't know what made him do the resession in progress in the first place. But I guess that doesn't really matter. I just wish I could figure it out so It doesn't happen again.

 

[sweetiepie9]

One other suggestion I noted on another topic is to put something that you've worn into your babies tank, like a Tshirt, that he can sleep on & snuggle into & would give him your scent. I've been told it works great. Always lifting him from the front has always worked for me. I guess I've been lucky, I've never had a dragon baby do that, but my youngest baby was 3 mo old & injured, so maybe that was the difference.

I wish you luck & hope that all these ideas help you & your baby. I'm not sure what would change a baby's demeanor, but they do get frightened sometimes, so good luck. Please keep me posted on how you & your new little one are doing.
Deb