QUESTION about skiddish Dragon

[McMuffin]

I have a healthy 4-5 month old bearded dragon and its always been skiddish. When I put my hand in the cage it runs to the corner and doesnt let me hold him very long. I have been practicing some taming tips such as shirt in the cage, use food as a way to show him im not gonna hurt him, etc... and I have made some progress and my dragon has never been aggressive, hissed and has never bit me (except accidently when hand feeding) however I have questions concerning this: Is 5 months to old to tame? Is it to late? and I noticed on youtube that most adult dragons are quiet "lazy" and mellow which is want I want. Do all most all dragons calm down at adult age? is there anyone who has had similar problem and had success?

 

[reddragon087]

its quite normal for this to happen. right now you are a predator because you are so much bigger than he/she is and
he/she thinks you are going to eat or hurt it. a lot of beardies go through being skittish or aggressive with his/her
handlers. my loki went through the same stage..got to the point where i'd walk by the cage and he'd hiss at me or he'd
bite me when i tried to put my hand in there. i just kept at it and let him know i wasn't scared of him and he shouldn't
be scared of me and after a few months of this he finally calmed down. some of it too was his environment was not
correct and that affected his mood as well. now he cuddles with me, sleeps on me, i can take him out of his cage no
problem.

 

[McMuffin]

Okay thanks a lot! Ill just have to keep at it then. His cage is good too its 100 on the hot side and 85-90 on the cool side and he has plenty of UV but ill give it another look

 

[reddragon087]

what kind of uvb bulb do you have? there was one lady on here where she would sit in her tub (without
water) and have her beardie with her so it would have to make the choice of sitting on a cold tub or
cuddling up with her and staying warm. i guess its kind of a tough love situation but she said it worked
for her. you can also try swaddling your beardie and having it sit on you, that way he/she doesn't feel
so threatened being out in the open.

 

[McMuffin]

Dang that is tough love Ill try both of those.. well ill try anything because of all the time i have invested in him. He even has a custom built viv to keep him as stress free as possible.. i also tried putting him in a tank with lighting and diff objects in the tank so that when he saw my hand we would rather go to that than stay in a strange place but it did work out because he immediately made a home of it lol

 

[reddragon087]

Lol...thats a surprise but at least he can handle stressful environments if need be. Just give it time, it took
almost three months for Loki to come around and now he's the worlds biggest baby lol

 

[Jerichosdad]

I would really suggest not putting alot in a Juveniles cage . I have talked to several breeders and they keep a basking rock,water bowl and food bowl in the cage till they are about 12 inches long . Trust me i spent tons of money on all this crap that is just sitting waiting to be placed in a bigger tank when he is grown . Keep it simple and i would take baby steps . Pet him a little each day . Make it longer each time , then go to holding him in the cage for a week then go to holding him outside the cage for short periods of time then increase in time each week . i hope this helps

 

[McMuffin]

Why should you only have a little in a baby BD cage?

 

[Jerichosdad]

From what I was told stress and feeding.too much stimulation can stress them out. If you insist on having items such as plants and logs etc etc then I would take all that out when feeding so crickets do not hide and bite him at night. I was pushed hard to have a basic setup from a breeder and our dragon has never has stress marks in his belly. We were also told to put paper on all side of cage and take a little off each week.Also your temp on the cool side seems a bit high. Should not exceed 82

 

[McMuffin]

Okay I'll try that and lower my temp

 

[jaypm17]

temps and gear have nothing to do how comfterable a beardy is with its owner, but dw its not you or ur beardy, its the same with all beardies when mine was bout 8 weeks old she used to love riding on my head or shoulder everywhere i went until she got to bout 3 months old and realised she cud run away from me...... she did lol.
She is about 6 months old now she is 50/50 bout if she wants me to pick her up when i go to grab her, she doesnt run away from me or hiss at me when i go near the tank, but most of the time she squirms when i grab her but she usualy gets ova it pretty quickly....
so to answer ur question u dont have a unusual situation its the same with all beardies

 

[Jerichosdad]

Temps and gear both create stress which can cause skiddish and erratic behavior. This is 101 stuff. I suggest reading the bearded dragon manual

 

[Sherbert]

I had a neglected beardie that i rescued that i was too scared to tame. Hes 10 now and all it took was a week and some leather gloves. I learned a few simple tricks that got him to stop bring picky about is greens too. My point being i dont think that its ever too late for them too tame up or change.