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Normal behavior?

Chris Steele

Chris Steele

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I am new to beardies so I have a question about whether this behavior is normal.

It sets on its rock under the lamp occassionally and opens its mouth slightly. Is this ok?

Is it ok to use a dropper as opposed to a spray bottle to hydrate them?
 
They sit with their mouth open to regulate their temperature, and it's perfectly normal.

I prefer to either bathe them in the sink or spray them with a spray bottle to give them a drink....I would suppose as long as they drink enough from a dropper it would be OK, but someone who has been into Beardies longer than I may have a more definite answer....they may benefit from the moisture on their skin as well from the bathing or spraying.
 
I run the water up to their sides. Other than an occasional bath, the only water mine get is on the greens and veggies they eat. I have misted them since they were juveniles. They are fat, healthy 4 year olds.
 
Still looking for answers on the above question. A vet keeps giving me information contradictory to the caresheets I read so I thought I'd get more input here.

I THINK SHE IS STRESSED
My girlfriends beardie hissed at her when she tried to pick it up today. What might be causing this? I am guessing stress from her dog looking into the cage and her grandmother talking (seems like shouting to me) as she looked at it earlier that day.
 
I would not let the temperate get below 65 degrees at night. Some people say 60 as an absolute minimum.

She may be stressed. You can tape up paper around the edges of her cage to reduce the stress of people/dogs around her.
 
Just a few weeks if that. It won't mind having no outside view? Anyway I am building a shelf to put it on to solve the dog problem.
 
Normally the dragon wont mind. One of my dragons, when i first got her, she wouldn't eat anything if i was watching her and seemed stressed, so i taped up some paper, and gradually took the paper off piece by piece over a couple months. She got used to her cage and then got used to me being around when she was eating. Now she loves people and is so laid back! :)

You should also take the dragon out to interact, but make sure you support his whole body and legs, otherwise they won't feel secure and then wont like to be held. Be gentle and make sure they see your hand before you pick them up rather than just grabing them really quick out of the cage. And dont pick them up from the top...kinda scoop your hand underneath them.

My youngest dragon, Athena, is still a little skittish, but i think that is just her personality. Some dragons adjust better than others...so be patient and he/she will come around! :)
 
The dragon's view has been covered up for about 5 days now, but he is still hissing and running from her hand. Their is no apparent cause of stress, any suggestions?
 
I have several Beardies and have never had one hiss at me. That is srange.(for me at least). Every weekend I give mine a warm bath and let them soak and they love it. Just make sure they have a warm basking spot afterwards. They can get a RA from it. Also, I make sure that I handle them for a little while at least at that time. Something else you can do is use tweezers and hand feed your dragon mealworms or wax worms or even crickets. That will help develope a bond between you and your dragon. It's kinda cool too when they get used to it and see you carrying worms and they meet you at the edge of their tank.
 
So you don't think its stress, just that he doesn't know her that well and is instinctively defending himself? You use tweezers? Do I need rubber tips on them so that he doesn't hurt his mouth?
 
It sounds like it is stress. Keep the paper up to eliminate any stress factors (like the dog, grandmom, tv...). How old is the dragon in question? Its size?
If small, have her hold the dragon at occasionally and consistently. If you have to chase it around the cage to catch it, so be it. Let it fuss, hiss, or whatever. Eventually it will realise you arent going to 'stew' it. With the little ones, it is usually a trust issue. They are simply scared for some reason and the fastest way to break it is to establish a bond.
If larger, do the same as above - BUT be careful not to get bit. A dragon on the defensive can be quite aggresive and will draw blood. Wear a glove if needed.

Whatever you do, do not stop trying. It will only re-enforce the dragons bad behavior. They learn by habit and if they think all they have to do is hiss and carry on to be left alone - that is exactly what they will do.

Best of luck.
 
This is really interresting. I had a female dragon that loved being held and hand fed by me and got this sort af attention almost every day. Then I went out of town for a couple days and left her in my boyfriend's care. Ever since then she refuses to have anything to do with any one but him. I tried handling her and handfeeding her to rebuild trust and ended up getting bit a lot. She refused to let me pick her up and when I did handle her (like it or not) she tended to scratch, bite and jump out of my hands. After about three months of this I just gave her over to my boyfriend since he is the only one she will tollerate. This is the first time I've heard of anyone else having this same problem. I plan on getting a male and seeing how that works out. Maybe in some cases the dragons' personal preferences make it so they don't like certain humans, but don't mind others? I have no idea what the deal is since she liked me just fine before I left. I'd like to hear how things work out for you guys, I'm still stumped about what happened with mine.
 
Well that is weird. I haven't mentioned this, but when I am over there it is more docile than she describes it being.
An update one the situation though, she gave it a bath though it wasn't happy that she'd picked it up. After the bath she said that it calmed down quite a bit and sat in her hand for a while.

Diet wouldn't be a factor would it? I am just asking because its diet is not constant at all. Minimealworms one week, silkworms the next, crickets the next, with constant salad of course. She eats like a pig, but I just wondered if changing her food so frequently could irritate her.
 
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