Agressive beardie

[midwest_98]

Well story starts off that i got my bearded dragon from a friend that was complete neglagent with him. He never fed him, he was tormented by house cat, never cleaned his cage. Im actually surprised hes still alive to be honest.

Well we got him home, cleaned his cage, feed him, cleaned him up, added all new trees to climb and water dish etc etc.

We have spent around 6 months trying handle him, and he is extremely aggressive trying to bite and jump out of your hand, never likes to be handled etc. We feed him regularly crickets, lettece and veggies.

Any suggestions on getting his temperment down??

[BPelizabeth]

trying hand feeding him some fruit.

Another thing you can do is put him in a box and watch tv with your hand in the box...do this everynight. Don't touch him just let him see that you are not a threat.

You can also get a blanket and put it over him...typically they will fall asleep when covered. At that point just hold him covered in the blankey on your lap.

Those are the things that I can think of at this time. With abused animals it can take over a year till they feel safe if at all. I am working with an iguana right now and it is taxing to get them to be tame. So far I am at 2-3 hours a day (not all at one time) but I have been working with him since July now. He still looks at me like "I keeeeelllllllllllll you!!" No he will sit on my lap now but I don't think he will ever be tame to get out of his cage...and he STILL sneaks in a bite here and there.

[midwest_98]

Thanks! ill definitely be trying these options out for sure!

[Definitions]

another thung you can do is put a worn t-shirt in his enclosure with him every night so he gets used to your smell. I had to do this with my beardie. have you taken him to a vet to get him checked out maybe have a fecal test done? he also might be suffering from relocation stress. I know you said you have been trying for 6 mos. just imagine the poor little guy don't know what to think he is actually getting proper treatment and has new owners that just want to love on him. I don't really encourage hand feeding (thats just me though) allot of people do it. Hand feeding creates a lazy lizard lol try the shirt thing that might work.

[midwest_98]

All great suggestions guys, def trying the worn tshirt as we speak, we have a decent size travel case for him so will try to see if can get use to my hand(as long as dont bites lol)

Thanks again guys!

[dembonez]

i agree the worn T-shirt one is great! and really works!


and something else you can do, is just hold him show him that him acting like that won't get him back into his cage then when he calms down put him back

[maverickgtr]

Rescues take time. When we rescued our husky from a shelter she came from a not so good home. She was food protective, aggressive to other dogs and extremely sick. We got her health problems resolved, socialized her slowly with other dogs, and showed her we're not here to hurt her, and she slowly became one of the most loving dogs. Our beardie doesn't particularly like to be handled. We're working with her and while she doesn't try to bite us, she doesn't like to be out of her enclosure and tries to climb back in despite the fact that she can't walk through glass... She's gotten better since we started hand feeding her mustard greens.

Also, try something other than lettuce. Our beardie goes nuts for fresh mustard greens. We find them for $2-$3 a bunch at the local Whole Foods. I think I've seen them at Tom Thumb and Kroger too but local variety will probably vary...

I think I'll have to try the tshirt trick considering she loves sleeping on the wash cloth we put in her tank...

[maverickgtr]

Oh! I forgot to add:

When we hand feed her the mustard greens, we put some in her bowl, pet her [start on your beardie's back, Isis was very very scared when we first tried to reach for her head and it basically got us two steps back, until we petted her back for a while and then worked up to her head], hand fed her, and put more in her bowl, petted her, then hand feed her. Repeat til his bowl is full. He will probably flinch, maybe run to the other side of the tank, but eventually he'll associate being petted with the good thing of getting food. After a while, back off a bit and pet him when you're not giving them food, and don't pet him when giving him food and basically mix it up after a while of petting with feeding, so it's not every single time that he'll expect food.

Also, are you giving him weekly baths? Our beardie has definitely warmed up to us since we started giving her baths. She looooooves the water. she also started to like getting misted sometimes. She rarely touches her water bowl now, except of course when she poops in it... I think it's her favorite place to poo...

[midwest_98]

Oh! I forgot to add:

When we hand feed her the mustard greens, we put some in her bowl, pet her [start on your beardie's back, Isis was very very scared when we first tried to reach for her head and it basically got us two steps back, until we petted her back for a while and then worked up to her head], hand fed her, and put more in her bowl, petted her, then hand feed her. Repeat til his bowl is full. He will probably flinch, maybe run to the other side of the tank, but eventually he'll associate being petted with the good thing of getting food. After a while, back off a bit and pet him when you're not giving them food, and don't pet him when giving him food and basically mix it up after a while of petting with feeding, so it's not every single time that he'll expect food.

Also, are you giving him weekly baths? Our beardie has definitely warmed up to us since we started giving her baths. She looooooves the water. she also started to like getting misted sometimes. She rarely touches her water bowl now, except of course when she poops in it... I think it's her favorite place to poo...

Im def gna try a bit of this up. ive tried the misting in the past and he has def enjoyed it from what i can tell