Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi. My sister just got a bearded dragon last week and I just have a few questions about them. Is it normal for them to go to the bathroom on you when you hold them? He refuses to eat mealworms and will only eat lettuce and crickets. What else could we try feeding him? Also how long does it take for them to get used to people? He always flattens out or moves away when someone tries to pick him out. Thanks.

Hi Gyke!

Congrats on the new baby! Here are a few tips (read more on our caresheet at www.dekeaffexotics.com).

Sometimes little guys get scared and will relieve themselves on you. Try to convince this little guy that you are not going to hurt him by holding him for short period of time and offering him nice food to eat (bananans are like candy!). It will take him a little while to get used to you... once he figures out that you mean food he'll love you. Be patient, remember, you're about 200 times his size, so you're kinda scary!

If he was never offered mealworms before he might not know what they are. Eventually he will figure it out. Try mixing them in with his greens. By lettuce I hope you don't mean iceberg lettuce. That isn't good for them. You want to feed mainly collards, kale or mustard greens (dark leafy greens). Crickets are a GREAT source of nutrients. They are almost the "perfect" insect food. Just be sure to dust them a few times a week with calcium and vitamin powder.

I hope I helped!
Good Luck!
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Kelly Affonce
DeKeaff Exotics
www.dekeaffexotics.com
AIM: DekeaffGrrl

Give your dragon time to settle in and adjust. If the dragon is eating Crickets and GREENS(stressing greens as I noticed you said lettuce and you should be looking towards some other possibly better leafy greens such as mustard, turnip, collard, escarole, and others) that is a very good sign as you only got the dragon a week ago. The bulk of a young dragons diet should be crickets and a good amount of varied greens/veggies offered to them. As they get older they will eat more greens/veggies. You can also feed pellets, I prefer the rep cal pellets. Soak in warm water and mix those bad boys in with your greens. Sometimes reaching from above will frighten the dragon, and a natural response would be to flatten and/or puff the beard and maybe even open their mouth. Usually it is just a scare tactic, and they are more bark than bite. Handling young dragons should be kept to a minimum and as they get older taming is much easier and they are much less skittish. Hope that helps..............chris allen

You didn't say how old your dragon is, but if it is a baby, it shouldn't have mealworms at all.
Mealworms are difficult to digest due to their hard exoskeleton and have been known to cause impaction.
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TheClassyLizard