We got our Bearded Dragon Merlin almost a month ago. He is our very first reptile of any kind. He has been really sweet and very social. He climbs into my daughter's hand, sits on her while she pets him, looks for her when he hears her voice, and even eats out of her hand. He has been held by everyone in the family (there are 6 of us) without any issues. It is obvious who his favorite is though from day one.
Today we got home from work/school and noticed his heat light was off. My daughter thought maybe the cord came loose, so wiggled it around and turned the light back on. She tried to hold Merlin to warm him up, but he wanted nothing to do with her. He ran from her, turned and opened his mouth and hissed at her. For the first time ever I saw his full beard! I told her he was obviously stressed so we should leave him alone for a bit.
I went back in there a little while later to check on Merlin and the temp and the light was off again. I messed with the bulb a little bit, double checked that everything was plugged in correctly and turned the light on again.
At this time we were able to get Merlin to let us hold him. We held him for a couple of minutes and put him back in his cage. He let us pet him and seemed to be back to his old self.
Thirty minutes later I went in to check on him and the light was off yet again. At this point I unplugged it and will be taking it back tomorrow. My oldest is on her way home now with new lights. When I went to move his veggie bowl he started acting aggressive towards me again. I could see his full beard, he was hissing, open mouth and if I moved my hand he would run from me, which is totally abnormal behavior for him.
I know he is cold (he wasn't his usual toasty self when I held him), because I think his light has been off most of the day. He does have a heating pad on the side of his tank, to help keep it warm. We have a space heater going in her room right now so that it will warm up in the room and my oldest should be home soon with his new lights.
Any suggestions on what may have caused these changes or what we can do to help him get past his anti social behavior?
Today we got home from work/school and noticed his heat light was off. My daughter thought maybe the cord came loose, so wiggled it around and turned the light back on. She tried to hold Merlin to warm him up, but he wanted nothing to do with her. He ran from her, turned and opened his mouth and hissed at her. For the first time ever I saw his full beard! I told her he was obviously stressed so we should leave him alone for a bit.
I went back in there a little while later to check on Merlin and the temp and the light was off again. I messed with the bulb a little bit, double checked that everything was plugged in correctly and turned the light on again.
At this time we were able to get Merlin to let us hold him. We held him for a couple of minutes and put him back in his cage. He let us pet him and seemed to be back to his old self.
Thirty minutes later I went in to check on him and the light was off yet again. At this point I unplugged it and will be taking it back tomorrow. My oldest is on her way home now with new lights. When I went to move his veggie bowl he started acting aggressive towards me again. I could see his full beard, he was hissing, open mouth and if I moved my hand he would run from me, which is totally abnormal behavior for him.
I know he is cold (he wasn't his usual toasty self when I held him), because I think his light has been off most of the day. He does have a heating pad on the side of his tank, to help keep it warm. We have a space heater going in her room right now so that it will warm up in the room and my oldest should be home soon with his new lights.
Any suggestions on what may have caused these changes or what we can do to help him get past his anti social behavior?