sexist beardie

[Fortunate]

My 3 year old male beardie HATES men! he has had men around him his whole life: his vet is male, my boyfriend of almost 3 years is always at my house, my dad loves to talk to Dylan (my beardie) and when he goes for boarding the guy that looks after him is male.
I would have thought that with all of this male interaction he would have no problem with men.
But Dylan puffs out whenever there is testonterone in the room and men cannot be by Dylan's viv as he bashes the glass so hard to get out and attack that i am afraid he hurts himself.

He is so snuggly an friendly to females (every female - even my dogs) Basically i just want to know if anyone els has this problem and what i can do to make Dylan man-friendly.

My boyfriend and dad despratly want to hold Dylan but obviously they can't.

I have had Dylan since he was 8 weeks old and he has had no health issues and is a haapy guy!

Help anyone?

 

[wckdbtch]

I don't have experience in this regard with beardies, but had the same problem with a dog. Doesn't he perhaps associate males as not being able to have your attention all to himself? My dog hated the vet, which was male, and he associated male with vet = unpleasant. Boarding with male = not with you. Boyfriend = sharing your undivided attention. As I said, just a guess... :?:

 

[Fortunate]

That makes sence, thank you!

He prob hates that he cant have my undivided attention constantly

Thank you once again for your help

 

[ziggy23]

It's not uncommon for all animals to do this. They are far more prone to make huge generalizations than people. Most animals, if any are capable of such critical thinking to question those generalizations like people. They remember the good and the bad, and all the things associated with them, and label those things accordingly. Just look at all the beardies on this site that will try and eat everything of a particular color. It's basically the same thing. There's a food they LOVE that's red, so therefore everything red MUST be good.

 

[Desdemona]

I had a dwarf hamster a long time ago that was like this. I have no idea why, he was my tamest hamster out of a rather large bunch that I had. He didn't see vets or anything. He didn't see a lot of people either, so maybe he just didn't like other humans. He would run at my ex in his hamster ball and bounce off his shoe till my ex moved...then he'd try to find him again, haha. Cracked me up.

 

[TwistedCrayon]

You could try letting the men in your life feed him. Most animals think with thier stomachs. If Dylan sees males as the bringer of good stuff he may come around. Just a thought...., if he warms up to this maybe incorporate baths too. And heck if they get to have all the fun, put'um on poop patrol too. He can get used to having the men interact with him. And just being in his cage in a non threatening manner could help. You could also try a shirt with the bf's scent on it. You have options if you want this problem eased. Or you could say "screw it! He's mine! Leave him alone!"....lol

 

[Fortunate]

lol i like the last option - i love having him to myself

I will try all the other options too (just to be fair to the men in my life)
Thank you all so much for all the replies! I get him back tomorrow - he went to boarding for a while while i went on holiday, i miss him so much! i may just keep him to myself for another week