allright. im usually a know it all when it comes to beardies, but this is beyond my expertise. we took in a 8 month old male beardie at my store today, the customer didnt want it cause it was visious!! i didnt think to much of it, but this guy has serious issues. ive seen male behavior problems at this age, but, he bites, hisses, flares, and smacks his tail!! is there any particular reason he acts like this? and is there a way to tame him down?
2007-02-17 11:31:29 · 12 answers · asked by Twilite 4 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
they family had him since he was one month old, so that does make sense. he probably was neglected a bit. we have him in a 40 gallon high terrarium with plenty of room, a basking bulb, hiding and climbing spaces. hes a big eater, but we deffinitly will treat him right. hes the most gorgeous beardie i have ever seen, im gonna try slowly introducing humans to him. thanks guys~
2007-02-17 11:42:19 · update #1
It'll take some time to tame him down by the sound of things. If you have a shirt you dont mind useing, wear it while you sleep to get your scent on it. Leave that in his viv if he's overly aggresive so he can get use to your scent.
Another way to help is when he hiss' or gapes at you, have a piece of food in your hand and pop it in his mouth. This'll usually help calm them down, as well as getting him to associate your and your hand with something good, food!
If you want to handle and tame him, handle him when his lights are off and he hasnt warmed up. Since he's still a little cold he'll be a lot less active and aggresive. Once he figures out your not a threat he'll start to calm down.
ANother reason he may be so aggresive, on top of what his past owners did/didn't do is if he's at 8 months of age, that's dragon puberty time. Males are known for aggresive behavior while going through this stage (Teenage angst if you will). My beardie is about 8 months old and can be aggresive, he did manage to bite me once. I've raised him pretty much from a hatchling as well with daily handling.
If you have any questions shoot me an e-mail.
2007-02-17 13:27:06 · answer #1 · answered by Chris 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I agree that it is probrably a mixture of past issues(you don't know how or even if he was handled at all so it will always be a mystery)and possible puberty. I would say that when ever you go to handle him (should be as often as possible)have a treat in your hand. If he hisses pop the treat in his mouth and then keep your hand in the same spot but don't remove it for at least 5-10 seconds, if you do you will end up actually reinforcing his behaviour, remove your hand and get another treat and repeat. Eventually he will come to associate your hand with treats and will realise that he can't intimidate you to get out of his tank and some of the aggression should calm down when you put your hand in. Next, after he gets compfortable with you hand in the tank, and this may be a bit scary but prepare yourself, slowly bring your hand toward him from the front where he can see you(again do the treat thing if and when neccesary). This is a slow process so you are going to have to be patient and persistant. Eventually you will move your hand closer and closer until you are touching him, for some reason once you acheive the touch it goes rather quick from there and you just progress to picking him up while still in the tank and petting him to picking him outside the tank and putting him on your shoulder. As I said this could be a long process so be prepared. Dragons that are aggresive like this are usually that way because of an incident in the past and you are going to have to work to erase that incident from his head or make him realise that his impression of people was wrong. Good luck to you.
2007-02-20 07:46:28 · answer #2 · answered by Dale d 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Its all about interaction. He need s to trust and feel comfortable around you If not handled they can become wild even in a tank. Some can be tamed even after they go wild. The older they are though the less likly to tame them down !
2007-02-17 18:50:33 · answer #3 · answered by conan999 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
In order to tame them down you should handle them more often until it starts getting used to humans.
2007-02-17 11:37:33 · answer #4 · answered by Steven 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
The only thing is that he has been abused from young or was neglected from a young age, and that is his only defence is getting aggressive
2007-02-18 19:55:31 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
he may be stressed by lack of small space or hungry or he is lonely and wants a mate.try to put your hand in his cage very slowly every day an inch more every couple of hours and eventually touch him.
2007-02-17 11:38:34 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
the last owner of this bearded dragon probly didnt play with it so it probly isnt used to humans that much and then when the last owner wanted to play with it,it probly was really mean cause he or she never played with it
2007-02-17 11:37:21 · answer #7 · answered by Badtink95 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I didn't know bearded dragons existed! wow...they sound mean... Uh...gradually work with him. Maybe he's got a bad past. Poor dragon..... I love dragons. But I bet a minute with this one I'll change my mind...Good luck. I hope it works out for you. :-)
2007-02-17 11:44:07 · answer #8 · answered by DragonLady 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
he probably was not handled enough. there really is no was to tam them down after they get so old unless if you Handel them alot which probably is not going to happen if its that vicious.
2007-02-17 11:42:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
He sounds like he was abused maybe and doesn't like people very much!
2007-02-17 11:39:33 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋