Taming a Baby Dragon

[burntotears]

I want to make sure I am doing all I can so my little buddy will be my cuddle friend when he's older. Right now he's only been with me 3 weeks and he's just nearing 3 months but he can still be a bit skiddish at times. Sometimes I can put a worm in my palm and he'll run up on my hand and eat it and sometimes he'll run and hide behind his tree when I put my hand in to drop the worm and wait till it's out again to come snatch it.

Here are some suggestions I've seen and want to make sure they hold weight.

Hold/cuddle them before bedtime. I tried this tonight and was amazed. Earlier today I tried to hold him and he kept running from me in his viv and then would run up my arm or shoulder so I put him back. Tonight he let me pick him up and wrap him in a soft blanket and pet his head and back. During the day he acts like petting his back is an act of war! I hope nightly cuddle time helps!

I've been hearing that putting a piece of your clothing in the dragon's viv helps them get used to your scent. Is that actually true?

I know hand feeding is usually recommended but he seems pretty picky about that at the moment. When I'm home I'm by his viv so he sees me all the time but during the week I'm at work and he just sees my mom when she goes in to feed him. But I try to sit by his viv and stare at him as much as I can cos he's so cool. And give him baths. But I'm still not comfortable holding him during the day without cupping hands over him because he will skitter off and escape and definitely wouldn't put him on the floor yet. I'd never catch him or find him again!

Any other suggestions for taming?

 

[BrightStar]

My Rygel is about 14 weeks old. Ive had him for a little over 3 weeks. I'm really hopeful that Rygel will go to be a laid back dragon that loves cuddles, and am trying to do as much as I can to bring him up right.

I've been doing bedtime cuddles every night since I got him. At first, I just wrapped him in a blanket and stroked his head. Now I put my hand under the blanket, and he's started this cute little nighttime ritual where he will slowly crawl along my finger so I can pet every part of him. He settles with his head touching my finger - he likes his head, beard and the tip of his nose petting most. He will NOT settle for sleep until I've pet him a certain amount of time that only he knows.

When I first got Rygel, holding him at night was like night and day. He seemed so lively and skittish during the day, then at night he was so calm.

Handling sessions during the day are usually shorter. I don't trust letting my little guy on the floor, and he can be pretty tricky to keep hold of when he wants to explore. I'm trying to set up a playpen for him, so will hopefully be able to give him chance to explore when that's set up later next week.

I will usually give him a cuddle in the morning. He wouldn't let me do this at first, but now he seems okay with it. I find it's a lovely way to start the day. My daily routine includes much more time to relax since I got Rygel.

One thing Rygel likes is to be carried around the house. Most days I give him a "tour". He likes riding on my shoulder, but this makes me nervous, so I encourage him to ride on my hand, or my chest. He seems to like this. My theory is to make time with me pleasant for him, so he associates me with good things.

I do hand feed him - usually the first live feeder of the day. He can't get the hang of taking food from tongs, or my fingertips, so I feed him with the food on the palm of my hand. I also offer him fruit by hand (he seems okay taking that from my fingertips-just not the live food) when I'm holding him (not that he eats it) and drip water onto his nose from an eye dropper when I'm holding him.

He likes me to talk to him. I can't get him to stay still in his bath unless I talk to him with my "baby voice". I try to talk to him as much as I can, I think he responds to this.

These are just some things I've been doing with Rygel. I think they're helping, so I hope they'll help others too.

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Behavior

 

[traildrifterphalanx]

I'm newer to the forum but figured I can add my two cents.

I have a year and a half old female beardie (I will refer to Simon as male pronouns) that I've had since a baby and a new male 3 month old baby (Richter) I've had just about a month.

My first dragon, Simon, was very skiddish and riley as a baby. He'd run around the enclosure if I'd try to hold him and I'd basically have to catch him. I was new with dragons at the time and this likely added stress, but I was determined.

By far the easiest and most suggested thing to do is the bed-time snuggles.
I held this dragon several times daily, during the day and at night. If he tried to run, I would hand ladder until he got tuckered out/gave up or GENTLY tighten my grip on him. Like other animals (or even children I'd assume, I'm no parent) I don't want to reward unwanted behavior with the results they're wanting. AKA, if he wants to run away I don't allow it. If he squirms to be put down I don't allow it until he calms down. Once he was calm I would put him back into his enclosure, not while he was throwing a fit.

This may be an uncommon suggestion but for me I'd say it helped is bath time. Neither of my dragons appear to care for bath time until they relax, but I felt this was a very controlled one on one time. Filling a sink or container with shallow water under close supervision provided a controlled area that they could not easily escape from and they had no choice but to settle down, which I believe helped reinforce the "struggle is futile" message. Then you can gently pet them, finger drip water onto their nose, and wrap them in a nice snugly towel to dry off before placing them back in their basking spot.

Simon is now, as mentioned, sub adult/adult and is very calm. He's never bitten me and I only got puffed at maybe 2-3 times since having him, most occurring when he was outside and it was time to come back in. I still snuggle with him at night and he roams around the house quite often to check out windows.

For Richter, it's kind of hard to say. He has been extremely chill since I got him, even allowing my bf to hold him in the car on the drive back home from the store with 0 fuss. We'll see what happens during the teen years...