Taming a dragon..

[penelepe]

Hi all, well I decided today that from this week on, I'm going to try to tame Gabriel, my sister's 1 year old dragon, I tried before and just gave up because I don't know how to begin, the people where we got him from didn't handle him as a baby so he was wild to begin with but because my sister was to scared to handle him as he was very aggressive. He is still aggressive but not as much. He is just very strong, and I'm scared that when he is squirming to get out of my hand, he'll succeed and the cats might get to him.

I'm planning to make or purchase a harness tomorrow, and testing it out in the bath where he can't escape. And when I know it will stay on let him roam the bathroom where there is little chance for escape, but I don't know what else to do to make him a calmer dragon that I can handle without worrying about him trying to escape and get hurt by falling on something hard or getting hurt by one of our cats. I probably sound desperate but I'm a worry-wart.

 

[AKnorthstar]

I wouldnt force him to accept you. Start slow and gradually work up to holding him a lot. I always start by placing my hand in the cage away from him for a few minutes a day until they get used to that. I always try and hand feed also. Mine have never gone after fingers either.

Then once he doesnt act as defensively you could start picking him up and holding him inside the cage and once he starts realizing you arent going to eat him, hold him outside of the cage.

I think forcing them and holding them while they are squirming and fighting can just make things worse because then they feel restrained and start freaking out more.

 

[penelepe]

Thanks for the reply, I'll try that, I have been holding him a lot more and hand feeding him, and it has helped quite a bit. But I'm going to try the other suggestions as well. Thank you.