Tamming a dragon?

[serenity516]

omg this thread is soooooo helpful! ive had my little girl, spyke, for about a month and a half now and i have been looking for advice everywhere pertaining to how i can get her to warm up to me and be one of those dragons who runs up their owner's arm whenever they put their hand in the cage! i havent had much luck tho :/ she isnt "afraid" of my hand (i hand feed her sometimes so when i put my hand in there she comes up expecting food, but lets me rub her head and back even if i dont have any), but as far as picking her up goes.... ugh. lol... it seems that she's fine with my hand being in there and with me rubbing her, but as soon as i put my hand down on the floor of her viv and move toward her to scoop her, she FLIPS and runs away from me :/ its pretty disheartening lol i just want her to like me and not be afraid of me..how can i achieve that?? any more help out there??

 

[Oriheme]

Yeah it is very disheartening. Unfortunately persistence is the key I guess. I never had to try this hard w my other dragon. I'm right there with you tho... she doesn't mind my hand tho she some times tolerates my hand sometimes she runs away.

And I know it sounds strange but everything I read said keep her in a low traffic area., well a few weeks ago I brought her downstairs into a high traffic area and she's actually been doing better now that she can see us. Boba fett is in the livingroom too and he's seen her cage but they can't see eachother... probably smell but not see. Eventually I'm going to block off half his cage and puy her on the other side. But that won't be until she's bigger and can hold her own (she has no chance against 19inch BobaFett. Hes got 10 or so inches on her).

Its a very tedious slow moving task but eventually all of us will have lovey babies of we just keep trying I'm glad that this thread has been helpful tho! !!

 

[serenity516]

yea ive heard that too, but i feel like i'd rather have her in a high traffic area or at least keep the radio on in my room so she can get used to hearing other peoples' voices so she wont flip out when people come around...so the fact that a high traffic area is helping doesnt seem odd to me

 

[HazmatVisuals]

Don't let her get in the mind set of "oooooo If I run I don't get picked up!" just go in slowly and scoop her up. And hold her over her tank near the ground if your worried about her jumping. Hope I helped

 

[Oriheme]

I am worried but its what I do all the time in small incraments. She seems ok w me when she's bsthing which is def a plus

 

[serenity516]

Don't let her get in the mind set of "oooooo If I run I don't get picked up!" just go in slowly and scoop her up. And hold her over her tank near the ground if your worried about her jumping. Hope I helped

i definitely dont let her pull this one on me :wink: if she does run away, i take my hand out of her viv for five seconds, then i try again to see if she'll be more calm...she still isnt one of those dragons who will run up my hand whenever i put it in the viv (heck, she wont move a muscle to even get on my palm when i pick her up, she makes me work for it :roll: ), but i think we're making progress

 

[disturb3d0n3]

Is Dragonite still giving you problems? Wow it does suck when the breeder doesn't handle them... Daenerys is 4 1/2 months now and doesn't run or puff up on me anymore.. But again anytime she tried to give me attitude or run she would always have to come out. It definitely worked hopefully she comes around soon!

 

[Oriheme]

Is Dragonite still giving you problems? Wow it does suck when the breeder doesn't handle them... Daenerys is 4 1/2 months now and doesn't run or puff up on me anymore.. But again anytime she tried to give me attitude or run she would always have to come out. It definitely worked hopefully she comes around soon!

Funny I was just thinking bout you lol(the whole reason I logged on was to give an update) Dragonite has certainly changed she still puffs her beard if I don't let her lick me first. I can't hold her for long like I can w Boba Fett or even outside of her cage and I have to keep good hold on her if I have her away from her cage. I can reach in and pet her she tolerates it. Still doesn't seem like she likes it much. I'm hoping as she gets older and more chill shell b more like Boba Fett lol

 

[disturb3d0n3]

Aww <3 I feel special

Glad to hear there's some progress! Eventually the stubbornness will wear off. Dany is now at the point where she barely tries to escape.. In fact the other day after her bath she crawled up under my hair and practically cuddled my neck and fell asleep stick with showing her who's boss. It'll pay off.

 

[serenity516]

so glad to hear that people have been making progress! i think im making some with spyke too, but its very minimal lol she lets me put my hand in her viv and pet her with no problems, so thats a plus...still not as good with getting picked up as id like tho. when i go to pick spyke up, she will only back away from me a little bit, but then i have to actually shimmy my hand under her belly to scoop her up - she makes no moves to walk onto my palm - is this normal? like, should im putting my hand down and im always scooping her like youre supposed to, but she literally makes NO move to get comfortably on my hand until i situate her myself...any pointers?

 

[Oriheme]

I don't really have pointers on handling lol its so stressful not having ur baby like you lol Dragonite is doing good she's not as skiddish as she used to be and I can even hold her for a bit before she gets annoyed. I think I was just lucky w Boba Fett and how he's so can and loves people

 

[Oriheme]

I just thought I'd take a moment to show you guys how much she's improved! She now let's all of us hold her as long as its not too long bc she gets nippy if is more than 15 minutes.

here she is chillin with my oldest son while he does his homework

and here she is lounging on my youngest son. She seems to really like him... he can hold her for hours w/o her nipping at him!