Extremely agressive Bearded Dragon - help?

[DPranks]

Dragons name- Spike
Type- I am unsure. He his mostly light orange/brown. His beard is dark orange, black and red. He has light brown striped horizontally from head to tail.
Size - aprox. 1.75 feet from head to tail.
Age- 5 years old
Diet- Crickets, Celery, Lettuce (mice, mealworms, hornworms as treats)
Environment - 3 Feet Long x 2 Feet High x 2 Feet Wide. 4 inch deep sand (red and black sand). Large fake tree in the center (top of tree is several inches away from one of his lights).
Has 2 Daytime lights and one Nighttime (red).
Average Daytime Temp- 35 Degrees Celcius

I have had Spike for about a year and a half. When I first got him, he was edgy, but got used to me.

About 3 months ago he snapped. He was sitting on my shoulder (as he always would) and my brother walked past him. (My brother was always very gentle with Spike and had never had any problems with him.) Spike flattened out and bit my ear. I then went to his tank and put him in. Ever since this happened he won't let anyone go near him. Every time I try, he flattens himself, flares his beard and viciously attacks my hand.

Is there anything I can do to make him calm down? Or is it just an age thing?

[Annarose15]

I'm afraid I don't know anything that would help, but I'll give the thread a bump. Your boy sounds huge!

[Neal]

I'm not sure about bearded dragons but my friend fed his Iguana a mouse once for what reason I don't know and there was no sticking your hand in there after that, so hopefully the taste of blood doesn't keep him aggressive.

One thing you can do is try like gardening gloves or something similar so that way when you reach in the tank to take him out and he tries to bite you he sees that it doesn't affect you and perhaps he'll stop. If that doesn't work then I have no idea.

[Expensive hobby]

I've owned a mated pair of Beardies and the male became an absolute hormone induced rage machine lol.

Flatten out, did the beardie sumo wrestler leg stomp, mouth became bright orange, beard fully expanded and jet black and would head bob like a mofo.

I had them for about 9 years and I do remember he grew out of it.

Btw they produced many clutches and each time around breeding season he would get more aggressive...

Hope that helps.

[kameo37]

Could be lots of things. Your husbandry needs some correction and that could definitely be it. Even if you have had him all this time with no problems, they can only stand so much and then the dam breaks...which can show up as aggression. I will try to help!

Cage size: for his length he needs a 4x2x2 (or 18 inches).
Substrate: get him off of that sand immediately! When did he poop last? One of the signs of impaction is aggression. Replace with paper towels, tile (my fave), repticarpet. No loose substrate with these guys.
Diet: no mice. No lettuce. No celery. They need dark leaf greens (collard, mustard, bok choy, dandelion), butternut squash, summer squash, etc.
Lighting: one white basking light and a uvb (reptisun 10.0 tube or arcadia...1/2 to 3/4 the length of the enclosure). No colored lights at all. If it gets below 65 F in your house at night, you should use a CHE for additional heat. If not, just turn off the lights at night.
Temps: You need to measure temp of basking area, and ambient temps. They need a heat gradient of 75-95 (for an adult) with 95 being the basking site.
Baths: You didn't mention this part, but he needs baths. If he is impacted, I would give him one everyday. On a regular basis, at least twice a week.

If he is impacted from the sand, you can give him a few drops of olive oil from a syringe.

My last bit of advice: www.beardeddragon.org

I know it seems like a lot. Everyone makes mistakes. These are easily corrected and you can get him on the right track! I'd love to hear about his progress after his husbandry problems are fixed!

[kameo37]

Oops, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that they do also need insects in their diet. You were already doing that, so keep that up. Adults don't need as much protein so it's supposed to be more like 80% veggies and 20% protein.

[Expensive hobby]

I agree with everything above except the sand. I had mine for 10 years(correction from above, it was early lol) in a 100g aquarium, with red desert sand and they thrived. They mated, had quite a few clutches, and were always properly taken care of and after I sold them they still lived long happy lives as a display at a local pet store(they were huge Beardies.)

I always find issue when people say you cannot keep them on a substrate that is natural to them... Why not? That's how they live in the wild. Aren't we all trying to give them the best care possible while trying to replicate nature on a small scale(heat, humidity, diet etc?)

[DPranks]

Thanks for all the advice. I put on a pair of gloves and he let me pet him. So that's good.

As for bathing, I give him a bath one a month, but most him every morning and in the afternoon.
The sand is special sand from my local pet store which is made for reptiles; it's not like..beach sand.

My vet informed me that Spike is allowed to eat baby mice (not as his primary diet. But as a rare treat.)

The red light is infrared. I was told that he can't see the red.

But I will definitely take everything into consideration.
I think it might have been that when he got really agressive at first, I got scared that he would attack me, so I interacted with him less. So I'm going to start interacting with him more with the gloves until he comes around.

To answer the question about his last bowel movement. It was yesterday. It seemed very healthy (he's been sick before, and his stool was runny) and it was solid.

And yes, he is a very big boy. When I figure out how to post a picture on here, I'll put one up.

[kameo37]

Here's my thing with sand...yes, people keep beardies on sand and never have a problem. Some people have had problems (impaction) with keeping them on sand. Why risk it? I have seen some threads saying that actually beardies don't live the majority of their lives on layer upon layer of sand in the wild, that it's actually rock or forest-ish areas that have a thin spread of sand. I hate to even write that though since I don't have it handy to quote. In the end, it's a risk...not one I would be willing to take with a pet.
On the "keeping it natural" note, I really don't think anyone is trying to keep beardies exactly like they live in the wild. Or any animal, for that matter. Life in the wild is tough! Life expectancy in captivity is much higher. We are actually trying to provide them with ideal conditions, conducive to long, healthy lives. My beardie eats all kinds of veggies and insects that I am positive are not native to Australia.
Anyway, I'm glad your bearded dragon never had problems living on sand. We are all just trying to provide excellent lives for our scaled friends, aren't we? My advice isn't the only way, just one. Take everything with a grain of salt...or sand!

[DPranks]

<sub>I do agree with you on that. Spike likes to climb all over his little tree, on the wood I have in there, and on his rocks. But he does seem to love digging. Sometimes he digs under the tree and makes a small tunnel. That's the only reason I have a few inches of sand in there. He seems to enjoy digging his own little dens. But thank you for all the advice. It had definitely given me a lot to think about.

I love Spike and want to ensure that I give him the best I can and to be the best owner I can be</sub>