Psycho Bearded Dragon all of a sudden.

I've had my beardie since he was a baby, he is now 1 1/2 years old.

In the past week, he has undergone a drastic personality change. He used to be a sweetie, now I can't even reach in to give him food or do anything without him charging at me and trying to attack me, mouth open, beard black and he literally just tries to latch on.

He gets fed enough, every day, salad and roaches.

He appears to be shedding one leg and his tail right now, but he has never acted this way, even while shedding. The only time was when he got brought outside, and as you can see in my display picture, he was not happy. But he calmed down the second he was laying on my leg in the sun.

He is in a 40 gallon breeder, UVB/UVA bulb, 100 watt basking light over a cinder block, and a bunch of stuff to climb on etc..

What is happening...it's really disturbing...I don't over handle him, I actually haven't held him in the last week or two, but normally it's maybe once a week.

If the room got too hot or too cold he can freak, so put a temperature gauge/gun laser in there and check.

He is a lil man now so maybe he is territorializing in hopes that you give him a lil girl

His temps are good, When his big light goes off at night he has a red bulb. But my room stays in the mid to high 70's.

Yeah, if he is going through something sexual like, will he calm back down??

I had a 2 and a half year old male beardie that did the same. He used to fall asleep in my lap while watching football. That was our thing lol. One day I went to change his water and he lunged at me. After That I could never get him to calm down. He was the first dragon I have ever ran into That was that aggressive. My friend bought it from me and he said he is still very aggressive

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I'm trying to be his friend again by hand feeding him fruits...

LOL hopefully the bribes help!

He's sexually mature and wants to get jiggy with it, This is the time of year that they mate in the wild. He is guarding his territory to show that he will not tollerate anything in his territory that he dosen't want there.

Throw a towel over him and take him out of his enclosure, once he is out he will most likely calm down. Try hand feeding him etc, once the winter hits big time he should be your sweet little boy again, hopefully.

My female just started doing this! She hasn't rushed me trying to attack me but she has been black-bearding and running away from me and being quite difficult to handle even just for food or weekly baths, which she used to just love. I've checked temps and everything too but she still acts crazy. She did just start digging holes though so I'm definitely thinking she wants a male buddy...

could he be trying to burmate?

Brumation is when they go into a low activity state. Kind of like hibernation but not put sleeping, with brumation they're still active, just not nearly as active and they don't eat as much. This would probably have more to do with breeding season and that causing males to be territorial like ed4281 said in his post.

my daughters dragon went nutty about 2 years ago and it took her about 6-8 months to calm down again to the point she could be held with out needing the be "held". Happy to say she is back to normal and watch's tv every night with my daughter again.

he needs some lovin!!!

get rid of the red light and use a che. The redlight isn't good for them. Dragons need complete dark while sleeping. The night time temps can drop down to about 65 degrees at night for a dragon. Just remember anything below that would need a heat source no ir lights use a che its better.

Brumation is different for each beardie some sleep allot, some sleep more but still eat (even though it is less)...some you can give a bath to and they still wont even wake up.

As far as your beardie ....yes get rid of the red light. Your beardie seems like it wants to mate...maybe even with you:rolleyes: I think the putting a blanket over him is def. worth a try.

Are you sure they don't like the red light? If it's on at night he always sleeps under it.

I've been leaving him alone because he is shedding now, and is in the process of shedding his tail so I'll try to handle him after he is done fully.

His sleeping habits haven't changed. He is awake pretty much all day, giving me the evil eye and basking and eating. The second his white lighting goes off he finds a place to sleep and crashes haha.

Mind you I have one very very spoiled beardie and have taken care of a few others for friends....so it is not like Im an expert. But...it has been my experience that they like it dark for bed time. If you want to keep the light I might suggest getting yours a little blankey and "tucking" him in. Covering him up totally...that has worked wonders for every beardie in my care. In fact if I don't tuck mine in with her blankey...she is a cranky brat the next day.

Okay, so Beardies are not like geckos, they CAN see the red lighting? Is that true??

I turned it off regardless, but it gets down to 65 at night and I actually picked him up today when I woke up and I think he was too cold to actually act angry haha. He only started to get peeved when I touched his face or petted him in any way, but I kept it short and put him back and then gave him some bugs to kind of, positively associate handling=food.

But...either he is kind of calming down, or he was too cold to maul my hand the second I reached in to pick him up, only time will tell!

He's been laying on my stomach for about 25 minutes and half sleeping so there is hope!!!