Bearded Dragon issues

[pnshmntMMA]

hey guys, i got a 3 week old bearded dragon about 2 months ago and he/she seems to get more freaked out everytime i try to handle it. it always makes a run for it and will puff up and growl at me, im afraid it will try to bite, but i want to handle it when its older. i hear they get used to it eventually or at least dont freak out as much. does that behavior mean anything? i dont have experience with bearded dragons. thanks guys

 

[flamesbane]

How big is he (head to tail?
What temps are your tank and what kind of lights are you using?
How much does he eat, and how often is he fed?

A lot of times young beardies will act tough in their home, but once you get them out they will calm down

 

[GailC]

at that age/size a bite won't hurt at all so don't be afraid. You are a big scary monster and it needs time to learn you aren't going to eat it.
Handle it everyday, never let it scare you away or it could become wilder. It will eventually settle down, its will just take time and patience.

 

[pnshmntMMA]

ok thanks guys. so i guess its normal with the young ones. it eats crickets a few times a week. there is always dry commercial food in there, and almost always fruit and some sort of vegetable. i have a uv bulb on during daylight hours and a heat lamp, cold side is around 75-85 hot is 90+

EDIT also im not looking at him right now but id guess at least 6in. from head to tail

 

[flamesbane]

You might want to consider bumping up the amount of protein he gets, a young beardie can eat 20 - 75 appropriately sized (no bigger than the distance between the eyes) crickets per day (I feed mine all they can eat in 2 15 minute sessions daily). Also, Waldo is right it is best to over come your fears (and your beardies) now, not later. Once he gets over 12" those bites will hurt .

 

[pnshmntMMA]

haha ok thanks. i hear even when theyre grown they dont draw blood of hurt. any truth to that? thanks for the help guys. will do on the protein thing. gonna stop after work and get some crickets. can they eat any kind of meat humans eat? like cooked chicken or anything? raw?

 

[flamesbane]

An adult beardie can draw blood if they get the end of your finger, but it isn't what I would call a painful bite ; more of nip (however with a large adult beardie it can be painful, it can feel like closing your finger in a door). They can eat cooked chicken (as thoroughly cooked as though you were eating it) but no raw meat (or mealworms). Most sources say not to feed meat like that at all. The biggest thing to watch with a young beardie is feeding food that is too big. They can become impacted on large food items just like they can bad substrate. If you think you are going to want more beardies starting a roach colony is the most cost effective way of keeping juvies feed. However, if you are just feeding one you will likely produce far more than you need. Same rules apply with roaches though, no bigger than the distance between the eyes. Here are some links with some info on feeding.


http://www.georgiabeardeddragons.com/what_not_to_feed_bearded_dragons.html
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/pic/article.cfm?aid=824
http://www.dachiu.com/care/abeard.html

And here is an instructable I did on beardie care:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Complete_Bearded_Dragon_Care/

 

[pnshmntMMA]

thanks alot for all the info and links. much appreciated ill keep you updated on how its going!

 

[dtknow]

I've heard that to get them to not bite you are not supposed to put them down when they do, to do that encourages that behavior.

Agreed on not worrying about getting bit.

 

[pnshmntMMA]

he ate about 24 small crickets last night in like 2 minutes

 

[Ariel]

We owned a one for seven years, she just recently passed away due to ovarian cancer, but yes, as far as I know all of them go through a similar stage, my mom calls it the nippy stage, they get over it if you show them the right amount of attention.

also just something to add, I don't know how you have your enclosure, but do not use sand, I know alot of people would reccommend it but they tend to get big mouthfuls of it while eating and it will block them! We had to do sugery on our bearded because she'd gotten so much sand in her.

 

[flamesbane]

Yeah, the reptile carpet isn't the best either, as they can get their nails hung in the fibers and rip them clean off. I never use any kind of pelleted substrate (regardless of what you may hear people recommend) simply because there is a risk of impaction with any pelleted substrate. We use paper towels for the little ones and tiles for the adults.

 

[pnshmntMMA]

I bet the tiles and paper towels make for super easy cleaning as well thanks guys. what about the sand that claims to be healthy or digestible or whatever calci stuff?

 

[flamesbane]

Calci-sand can also cause impaction. Most people don't know this, but bearded dragons do not live on sand in the wild. If you google calci-sand and impaction you will see why it is not good to use. As a rule of thumb I don't use any pelleted or pellet like substrate (such as sand, wal-nut hulls, repti-bark, repti-sand ect.), this is not to say that you can't use them. Many people use finely sifted play sand or alfalfa pellets, but to me it is simply not worth the risk. Even though it may be as few as one in 1000 that will get impacted on "safe" pelleted substrates that is just not a risk I want to take as it could lead to the death of the dragon (not to mention the vet bills). However, if you want to use sand don't use them on young dragons only adults.

Here is a really good link on impaction:
http://www.beardeddragon.org/articles/impaction/

Yes the tile and paper towels are very easy to clean . Also the tiles look excellent especially when coupled with a homemade rock structure that fits your enclosure. Just make sure if you use tile that they are tight fitting or sealed, you don't want your dragon losing a toe in the gaps !