Why does Loki ALWAYS poop when you hold him?

[GoBigGuy]

Hi All,

My male beardie Loki always poops within the first 5 min of holding him and not sure what to do to curb this habit, any idea?

Thanks!

 

[kingofnobbys]

If Loki is upset about being handling , a bowel movement is an involuntary fear reaction.

Maybe you need to back off on the handling until he's more relaxed and has learnt to trust / or even starts to like you.

Otherwise , keep some scot-towel handy and when he lifts his bottom slip it under so he does his poo on that rather than soiling your cloths.

 

[GoBigGuy]

He doesn't seem to be unhappy when we hold him, after about 10 min or so he snuggles up on my chest and ends up falling asleep.

My first thought with the pooping is he was just over excited

If Loki is upset about being handling , a bowel movement is an involuntary fear reaction.

Maybe you need to back off on the handling until he's more relaxed and has learnt to trust / or even starts to like you.

Otherwise , keep some scot-towel handy and when he lifts his bottom slip it under so he does his poo on that rather than soiling your cloths.

 

[Rampagingraptor]

Its possible that you might have accidentally trained him to poop while holding him?
Does he react in any different way?
The suggest for using a napkin or toilet paper seems like the best idea of you aren't doing that right now.

 

[GoBigGuy]

We've learned to get a paper towel and place it on our chest while we hold him and sure enough once we start petting him within 5 min he goes lol

Any ideas of how to retrain him?

 

[Rampagingraptor]

Maybe its when you pet him that he poos? You could try seeing if that's what it is.
Some people have also trained their dragons to poo in a bath, so you could try that. I'm not to sure of how to train a dragon yet, honestly.

 

[CooperDragon]

They respond well to routine so that's the best way to train them. It's easier with older dragons but if you offer a bath at the same time every morning or put him in an easy to clean spot at the same time every day until he goes (within reason) he is likely to get a routine down and just go according to his schedule and that will be it. It does take a while to get the routines down so you need to be patient with it. I've had it work well with several dragons now. Aside from that, I agree with the others in that you should just have some rag towels on hand when you have him out of the enclosure so the messes aren't a big deal.