Still nervous?

[Sparx]

I've had baby Sparx for almost two months now (since Sept. 7th) and she's still a bit skittish. She's as healthy as can be (she eats about 20+ crickets per feeding, 50 Phoenix/ReptiWorms per day and some bits of her salad), gets bathed daily, has shed a handful of times since I brought her home, grown from a rough 6" to about 10.2" (measured again last night) and all that jazz. So I'd say she's fairly content and is doing exceptionally well.

But when it comes to handling her, it's hit and miss. Every time I go past her tank, I open it up and at least pet her for a couple minutes - sometimes she even closes her eyes (not sure if that's a sign of a relaxed Beardie or a terrified one xD). Then I try getting her out for awhile every day (at least 15-20 minutes not including her 10-15 minute bath) and let her hang out with me. Sometimes she tries to run - most of the time she just sits there and lets me grab her.

However, sometimes she's just ready to bail though and other times, she'll sit calmly on my shoulder. Like last night for example, after bath time and after she was all dried off - she didn't want a thing to do with anyone. She'd try running off our hands, shirts, and everything. Of course, I don't want her to think she can get away with that kind of behavior (she can explore when it doesn't involve running from someone), so I kept handling her through her attempts of freedom (even with her Beard all puffed up and mouth gaping) and eventually she accepted defeat and just sat on my hand.

Then like today, I opened up her cage and was cleaning it so I picked her up to put her on my shoulder so I could put new paper towels down and she was willing, but licked my hand (which I've read is them trying to become familiar with something or to figure out what something is) - then she sat quietly on my shoulder while watching me clean the cage. Afterwards I sat in the living room with her still on my shoulder and after about 15 minutes, she moved closer to me (well I have a hoodie on and she hopped on the hood portion). *I'll add a picture of this*
Then when I went to put her back in her tank, she sat on my hand and looked at me and didn't get off. I had to take her off my hand and put her on her basking log :roll:

Part of me thinks she's getting used to me and doesn't mind the attention - but another part feels that she's still really nervous. I figured other Beardie owners/experts could give me some insight on her behavior and what other steps I can do to calm her down and eventually get a snuggle bug out of her. :lol:
Any insight is appreciated though! I feel like such a newb when it comes to working with reptiles - not matter how much research I do, I still always feel like I hit a roadblock. :book: *shrugs* What do you do, though? x]

Picture of her getting closer :3

 

[CooperDragon]

She's a very nice looking dragon. It sounds like her appetite and energy levels are good too. Happy, healthy dragon =). The younger dragons tend to have a lot more energy than the adults and often want to run around and explore. It's likely that she just wants to burn some energy and run around a bit rather than being nervous at this point since you're able to hold her at times. One thing you might try is to hold her late in the evening right around and after lights out. She is less likely to be squirmy and will probably just fall asleep on you.

 

[Sparx]

She's a very nice looking dragon. It sounds like her appetite and energy levels are good too. Happy, healthy dragon =). The younger dragons tend to have a lot more energy than the adults and often want to run around and explore. It's likely that she just wants to burn some energy and run around a bit rather than being nervous at this point since you're able to hold her at times. One thing you might try is to hold her late in the evening right around and after lights out. She is less likely to be squirmy and will probably just fall asleep on you.

Thank you for your input! Definitely nice to hear ^-^
And I'll try that! Thanks!

 

[Sparx]

She's a very nice looking dragon. It sounds like her appetite and energy levels are good too. Happy, healthy dragon =). The younger dragons tend to have a lot more energy than the adults and often want to run around and explore. It's likely that she just wants to burn some energy and run around a bit rather than being nervous at this point since you're able to hold her at times. One thing you might try is to hold her late in the evening right around and after lights out. She is less likely to be squirmy and will probably just fall asleep on you.

I'm actually quite relieved to say you were definitely right. Tonight I made bath time a bit later than usual, put her back in her cage afterwards and right before bedtime I took her out for about 30 minutes. She snugged up on me and took a snooze while I watched tv, then we had a couple guests over for half that time and she woke up to visit (calmly) with everyone before going back into the cage for bedtime. ^-^ A huge success in my book! :lol:

 

[CooperDragon]

I'm glad to hear it =)