Very aggressive

[dracospike]

This is Draco. I am having a lot of problems with his aggressive behavior. Hopefully I can provide enough information to get some help. He is approximately 3-3 1/2 months old and we have had him for a month. We had him housed with another beardie then separated them a week later. For the first week or two he was great. Allowing us to pick him up and having no real issues with us reaching in to his viv. Then things changed at first he would just try to run away when we reached in but once we had him in our hands he was calm. Then he would run away and and once we had him he would open his mouth and once bit my finger. Now he literally jumps all over his viv when I reach in and once he is picked up will try to jump out of my hands, once actually falling to the floor(luckily on to very soft carpet). After that I kept an eye on him and checked him out. There doesn't appear to be any injury. After reading some other post I placed a piece of my clothing in with him on his basking spot last night. Today when I reached in he jumped and tried to run away then bit my finger twice. If I even got my finger near his mouth he would open his mouth like he was threatening to bite. He tried running and jumping out og my hands several times. He does get stress marks while this is all going on. All of his temps are good, he gets veggies during the day which he refuses to eat, he actually poops in his food dish everyday! At night he gets all the crickets he can eat in 15 minutes. Some days he eats 5 some days he eats 10. I have tried feeding him crickets in the morning but he will not eat them. He just had his first shed last week and he was actually the sweetest calmest beardie during it which is opposite of what I hear about most beardies. I can sometime rub his head and he will remain calm for a few seconds. He has all the lights he needs, he has things to climb to get to the UV and he has a hiding place. Our other beardie we got at the same time was very sick and we lost him. He was very calm and loved being picked up. Now my son wants to hold Draco like he did Spike and I can not let him for fear that something will happen.

So do I continue to get him out and hold him everyday and hope he gets used to it or am I causing him more stress by forcing him to be held? I really want to do what is best for him. He has become my focus since Spike passed and I haate that he gets so stressed from being held. Is there something that I am missing?

Any HELPFUL comments are greatly appreciated. I have had some rude comments from people and stopped posting for a while because I was tired of people harping on one thing and not helping me with my question. Not to seem ungreatful but I came here for help with my new pets not to be made to feel stupid.

Thank you to all that have been helpful with my questions in the past.

 

[bumblebee]

He's very cute Honestly, as he is a baby, he is much more likely to be scared and flighty than an older beardie. You said your other beardie liked being held, but I think it's more likely that he was calm because he was sick. There are some things you can do to help, but you're going to have to be patient and persistent.

First, I would not force him into being held every day, as that will stress him. It would be best if you could hold him only when necessary right now (for example, when you give him a bath or clean his tank). The shirt idea is a really great trick, and it works really well for a lot of people. I recommend switching it out every few days to refresh your scent.

Make sure that when you approach his tank you talk to him, so he knows you're there and you don't startle him. If you need to pick him up, put your hand in from the opposite side of the tank from where he is, and then move your hand toward him slowly at eye level (birds are beardies' natural predators, so anything coming from above a beardie will scare them). If he's gaping at you constantly, try putting your hand in on the other side of the tank and just holding it there for a few minutes every day. After he gets used to your hand being in his tank, you can try approaching him and petting him, and holding him in the tank close to the bottom, so he can get off of your hand if he wants. The key is to be patient. Keep in mind that you are HUGE to him, and he is a baby with natural instincts to flee (or bite you since there's no where for him to really go in his tank). I don't know if this applies to you, but I know that some beardies get really upset by dark nail polish, too.

I hope that helps!

 

[kittenmaster1234]

I would also like to point out that 5-10 crickets a day will result in a starving, angry beardie. If he is that scared / defensive around you, he will not be very willing to eat around you.If you left 10-20 crickets in a shallow bowl that he can see (just break their back legs off so they can't get out) and leave the room, I am willing to bet they will all be eaten once you leave the room. If you want him to grow, he should be fed 2-3 times a day for 15 minutes. This will be anywhere from 20-80 quarter inch crickets a day. 5-10 crickets a day is way too little. I understand he does not want to eat that frequently, if you try leaving him with a bowl of mutilated crickets I am almost certain that will change.

If you want him to eat his greens, make sure that he can see it from his basking spot and it is very close to the basking spot. Diversify it, and keep it fresh. He will smell something that makes him curious.

It can be very hard having a pet that is scared of you, it really make you very very vulnerable and weak. The best thing you can do (in addition to what the poster above me has suggested) would be to give him a little space to grow, don't rush picking him up.

Keep placing your hand frequently in the viv, without attempting to pick them up. Your baby should have some sort of fear reaction to this. Freezing up usually, with a terrified look in their eyes. Just keep your hand in the viv, don't do anything, don't move. When the baby relaxes take your hand out (just look at the eyes). You want to teach them that hand = safe not hand = danger. Keep doing this frequently, until putting your hand in the viv causes no fear whatsoever.

At this point you can move your hand much closer to them, or simply put your hand on the path that they are glass dancing on. They are naturally curious. Eventually they will climb onto your hand, or you will be able to scoop it up without it showing any fear. You want to keep these first handling sessions to the viv. Don't move your hand. Don't do anything, just keep it flat in the bottom of the viv. If it wants to leave your hand it can. This just reinforces that hand = safe. Keep doing this frequently. They are naturally quite trusting.

Once it shows no fear to any of this (again it is very obvious when they are terrified, just look at the eyes) you can move to lifting your hand (which is another terrifying experience). And eventually moving handling sessions outside the cage in a safe area where it can freely roam around. And they LOVE their time out of their cages and exploring. Again though, make sure the beardie is exploring and not finding a spot to hide from you. Oh and putting some clothes that reek of your smell is a great idea (no sarcasm, seriously).

Edit: lol I'm tired , mostly repeated what poster above me said but you get the idea

Hope you two can work this out,
The most important thing to remember is PATIENCE!!!

Another thing, don't stare at him, this will freak him out. Staring = predator = danger.

 

[dracospike]

Thank you so much. All of this is very helpful and I will try everything. I kept picking him up because that is what someone suggested on another discussion but it didn't feel right to continue to stress him out.

 

[bumblebee]

You're welcome! Glad we could help! In addition to what the other poster suggested about removing the crickets' back legs, you might want to look into other feeders like dubia, phoenix worms, and small silkworms. These are a bit slower/easier to catch than crickets, but still active enough to catch your beardie's attention. My boy never ate crickets well for me, but when I switched to phoenix worms, he did much better. And you can leave any of those (dubia, phoenix worms, silkworms) in a dish in his tank throughout the day, so he can eat them when he wants. It's very likely that he's not eating well because he's stressed. I agree about not staring at him, but it would probably help if you could just sit by the tank for a while everyday (and maybe read or work on your computer), so he gets used to your presence.

 

[dracospike]

Again thank you! You two have been the most helpful of anyone on here. Bumblebee I agree he is very cute. I tried feeding him crickets this morning and he devoured them so I will start feeding him in the am again. Not sure I can handle pulling the legs off the crickets though. I ordered crickets when Spike was still alive but wasn't really impressed with where I got them. Suggestions on places to order some of the other things? My girlfriend is adamant that we have no roaches but if it will help him I will get them.

 

[bumblebee]

I use Linda's Gone Buggie (http://www.lindasgonebuggie.com/) for silkworms, and she has really great deals on value packs. I use http://www.phoenixworm.com/ for Phoenix Worms (note: Phoenix Worms, calci-worms, and Repti-worms are all Black Soldier Fly larvae, just different brands; they're also really small, so if you order them, you'll probably want to go with medium ones). I use Ghann's (http://www.ghann.com/) for crickets and have had really good experiences both times I've ordered from them, but there are a lot of really good cricket sites. A trick you can try with the crickets: if you put them in the fridge for a few minutes (no more than 10 minutes), it slows them down a bit, so they're easier to catch. I've never ordered dubias, but check out the For Sale section - there are usually quite a few people selling dubia and other feeders. He looks pretty small, but once he's a bit bigger, you can try small horn worms and butter worms, too. You probably already know this, but never feed meal worms, and he can only have super worms once he's 16 inches long.

That's great that he ate this morning! Most beardies won't eat until they're warmed up, so a lot of people recommend waiting 2 hours after the lights come on before feeding them in the morning. And of course, they need 2 hours after each meal to bask and digest properly. If you can feed him at least 2 times a day (10-15 minutes per feeding), that's great! But 3 times a day will help him grow even faster!

 

[dracospike]

I work during the day at a school so for now I can only feed twice a day. I will check out the suggested sites and order some worms. I actually bought meal worms but fed him them once then read not to so they are sitting in the fridge. Hopefully with all the suggestions he will be a much sweeter boy! I always tell my son patience is a virtue now I need to use mine

 

[dracospike]

I ordered him some Phoenix worms and Silk worms tonight so I am a little excited to get them and see how he likes them. For greens and veggies I havew tried Collard, carrotts, acorn squash, butternut squash, pea pods but as I said all he does is poop in them! NASTY!! I also put some of the food pellets soaked in water but he ignores them too. Even though he won't eat them I keep giving them. I figure eventually he will try some and like it. I will out another sock in tonight for him. So much work to be done! I hope this all works. As I was explaining to all to my son he was worried Draco would never get used to us. I have faith though

 

[dragontamer13]

i personally wouldnt feed carrots or the pellets...carrots are fine every once in a while because they are high in vit A and they can get poisoned from that...and mine never liked the pellets but they do make good cricket food!

*Edit- The pellets aren't bad for them i just dont think they like them

 

[dracospike]

I do try to stick to the greens, pea pods and squash mostly but have been trying several different things just to get him interested. Tonight I tried broccoli, radish and a tiny bit of melon. When I peeked in he was in the food dish but it doesn't look like he ate any. He is a stubborn little thing

 

[bumblebee]

That's great that you're getting silkworms and phoenix worms! They're both naturally high in calcium, so you don't have to dust them with calcium dust at all (but you should still dust with multivitamin powder 2 times a week). If you haven't seen this, it's a really helpful guide to what's good for beardies: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html As he's only about 3 months old, it's not really unexpected that he's not interested in his greens. Some things you can do to get him to try them: drop them in front of him when he's eating his bugs, put some of his worms when you get them in his salad dish, and/or try moving the greens around with your finger. Beardies usually attack anything that moves, so if you can get the greens to "move," you might catch his attention. My little girl actually will spit out greens sometimes if she gets some in her mouth accidentally :lol:, but sometimes she'll eat them without me tricking her. Again, the key with getting them to eat their greens is persistence (offer them everyday), and variety, so switch up what you're offering him, and hopefully you'll eventually find out what he likes.

I've never tried pellets because it seems that most people's beardies won't touch them, and they end up being used for the crickets, but I've heard of some people soaking them in unsweetened juice (like apple juice), so you may want to try that.

And don't give up on Draco! Just give him time, and he'll get used to you

 

[dragontamer13]

Mine started eating veggies when i ran out of crix once...he realized there was food sitting in front of him...hes gotten to where he eats 2-3 salads PER DAY. WITH CRICKETS! Needless to say, he likes his veggies

 

[dracospike]

Draco is pretty stubborn! Nothing like Spike was but great in his own way. I am taking the poop is his food dish every day as a sign that he is mocking me because I keep trying. Eventually he will learn I am more stubborn than him.

 

[dragontamer13]

thats pretty much how it was for me. poop in dish-extra veggies next day