Reptile & Amphibian Forums

When I first got my Dragon, he was pretty mellow, he would let me pick him up, he would sit on my shirt, it was a pretty cool deal. Now, I guess he has hit puberty, because he hates it when I touch him! He doesnt mind if i feed him, he will eat straigh out of my hand, he doesnt mind me moving stuff around in his cage, or spot cleaning. He just hates being touched. He doesnt just hate it though, he violently opposes it. He whips his tail threateningly at me, his beard turns JET black, he gapes his mouth, he has never actually lunged to bite me, but he looked like he wanted to! I know the bulk of the reasoning behind this is due to lack of handling as a baby. While I did handle him as a baby, it was as frequently as I should have. The only thing that concerns me is that while he never really like being handled, it wasnt until recently that his opposition turned from flight to outright aggression. He used to just run now he stands his ground and fights! The change occured at the same time I re-did his home. I used to keep him on sand, but for all the reasons we all know I switched him from sand to paper towels. As usual when I went to get him out he just ran and I caught him and it was fine I gave him a "bath" and cleaned out the tank, switched it to towels, and put him back in. A week later i tried to get him back out for another bath, and this is when the aggression started. His behavior since the change has been strange altogether though. He sleeps more, even when the lights are on he sleeps a lot. He still eats though, although he is not interested in his Silkworms, or crickets, like he used to be. Just eats a lot of greens, which I know is normal for a dragon his age (just turned a year old), but he used to go CRAZY for insects, and now its like he couldnt care less. Well I am sorry that this post turned out so long, but I wanted to pose the question, Could it be that the environment change from sand to paper towels could have caused my beardie some type stress? I know it sounds crazy, but it seems like these guys have such a personality I almost believe it could be true. Thanks,
Dustin
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1.0 Bearded Dragons
1.3 Fat tailed geckos
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa

sounds like to me he is starting his first brumation. Although i would think that when dragons enter brumation, they wouldn't mind being touched...they kind of are like dead weight.

other thoughts that i have are that:

1- is it possible that you have a female dragon? a females trought can turn black too. maybe she is egg bound, frustrated and uncomfortable. Females stop eating and sleep alot just before they lay eggs. if the eggs are infertile, its almost impossible to tell if she has eggs at all.

2- if it is a male, he may be in breeding mode. although they won't do this without a female around, but i see that you have other reptiles as well. they could be triggering something.

3- he could just be a brat. try working with him everyday. if you think that brumation is around the corner, i'd wait until he "wakes up" from that.

i live in buffalo, ny....and its been quite cold since october. My dragons are in brumation for about 4 months here. Its quite a long time for them to sleep, but they wake up from time to time.

oh...you said that you hand feed everytime? i kind of find it hard to believe that your dragon is acting like this after hand feeding. Usually hand fed dragons are nicer than the dragons that get fed by dumping cricket in. Or is it that now you switched to paper towels, you stopped hand feeding.

sand is ok to use! just not with hatchlings. they will eat it...i'd rather have my dragons eating sand than paper towel.
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a free range dragon is a happy dragon