4 year old beardy turning aggressive, not eating well either, HELP!

Hello all, My friend has a 4 year old 23 inch beardy named Bandito. He has had him about 5 months now. At first he was standard beardy behavior, didnt mind being held, ate super worms like crazy, and loved having his head scratched.

However for the last month he has stopped eating almost entirely, he might take down 1 or 2 superworms but others he just throws down. He also will not let you handle him at all. I have never heard of this before but he WILL bite! The second your hand comes into the cage he puffs up, sticks out his beard and opens his mouth. If you attempt to touch him he spins and bites. I have never seen a beardy act like this so I thought I would post here.

He is in a 26X46 plexiglass enclosure, I dont have temps since my friend isnt running any but he keeps a 75 watt red light over the basking stump, it was a 150 watt heat lamp but it burned out and he decided that the 75 would do since its rather close to him. Hes useing repti-bark as substrate, a small water dish, and food pellets always avaliable.

I'm starting to worry about this little dude. Any advice? I'll pass everything on to my friend.

Thanks in advance!

During the winter, it's not uncommon for them to slow down or have a decreased appetite. Some beardeds will actually brumate, read more about that here.

Since BDs may brumate even in totally consistant year round captive conditions, the fact that your friend stopped using 150w of heating may certainly be a clue about whats going on.

i have a lot of beardeds. my first guess is to get some damn temp guages in there. sounds like he may be to hot. what is useing for a uv light. beardeds cant survive of of just a red light. they need bright light as it helps them know when it is bed time and when it is time to wake up. no having a daytime light can mess them up mentally that they can go crazy, stop eating. and so on and so forth. get me some temps and some pics of his setup. this is proabbly a lot more serious than he thinks.

Sorry it took me so long, the cold side of the tank is 75, hot side is about 105-100. These are from a dial style temp gauge tho so they arnt very acurite. I found out he has not been doing a day night cycle at all. Which with a red bulb shouldnt be too much to worry aobut but with a 150 it stays pretty bright. Hes got reptibark substrate, a heat rock(I already told him this was bad and to go uth but he has no money) Does this help at all?

Thanks again for your help and concern!

Oh and UV light is done by a 5.0 28" strip..

Beardeds don't need undertank heaters as they don't feel heat well on their bellies, just as snakes don't. They have a light-detecting 3rd eye on the top of their head that establishes if there is enough light.

Heat rocks are dangerous, that repti-bark should be taken out of there and replaced with slate tiles or even paper towels, and he needs a much brighter day-light source.

WalMart or Home Depot has 45 watt flood bulbs that monitor keepers use for their lizards' basking spots. They cost maybe $5, last a long time and create a very warm basking area. I used a red outdoor 85w flood in my room for awhile to keep that corner of the room warmer. He could use one of these in conjunction with a 10.0 fluorescent tube that stretched the length of the tank.

Another thing he might to consider is one of the MegaRays from ReptileUV.com. It's a flood bulb that combines heat and UVB int he same bulb. They run $45 but last longer than any fluorescent. You actually have to keep them further away from the enclosure as the UVB output is very high from these bulbs. It would be worth the added expense. Alot of Zoological institutes use these bulbs as they last longer and provide ample UVB and heat.

Heat winds them up alot. If he's hot it gets them wound up. I put mine outside in the summer and if they are too wound up and acting agressive i wet and cool them down and they calm down immediately. I think he may be too hot and all amped up. Also he may be becoming very territorial in his enclosure and if he senses you are afraid he will be more defensive. Usually if you take him out quickly once he's out he won't be so territorial. Wet/cool him down and see if he's mellow. Are there any other males near him that he may smell, or a snake? He may be responding to that. To me it sound like too many heating elements and he's all fired up. Gloves sound like a good idea until you figure it out. Beardies don't need any heat at night unless they are in a really cold place. He may want to brumate and the light and temps are messing him up.

Well no I'm not particularly scared of him and neither is his owner, we can still kinda catch him and hold him for a few heatbeats till he goes completely nuts.

There is a ball python in the next cage, I had no idea they might react to eachother, maybe its time to move Bandito up to the loft... I'll tell him not to worry about the night time temps.

Thanks all!
I'll keep you posted on the progress.
Would you advise gentle short handling sessions? or waiting till he is calm?

Oh just a update on Bandito, We moved him into a different room and got him some proper temp guages, he calmed down almost immediatly after teh move, it must have been the snake. Well first he slept for about a day then he was his normal chill self again. I had no idea that he would react to being housed near a snake liek that...