Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First off let me start by saying with all the reptiles me and my wife own, this year old male bearded dragon named "Shorty" is our family pet. We don't own a cat or a dog. We love shorty and all love spending time with him. My two boys 11 and 9 love him too. The problem is with the kids. His claws are very sharp and scrape the kids pretty good. Is there anything we can do about this? I would never ever cut them or file them without somone with more experience's say so. Any help is appreciated.

Thanks

John

bearded dragon claws can be trimmed, just be careful not to cut too far back so you hit the 'quick', basically the live part of the nail.

Making sure your dragon has some rough surfaces in their cages help to keep the claws down too..ceramic tiles, large flat rocks etc, (always good to put food ontop of a large flat rock or tile, this way they have to run across that rough surface to get to their food).

You can also have your kids wear long sleeve shirts to help protect them against scratches. ALso make sure they are properly supporting the bottom of the dragon. If dragons don't feel secure when held, they will struggle and this increases the chances of getting very scratched up.
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PHLdyPayne

I trim all mine. If you look at the nail you only have to cut off the tip just where it gets wider and you won't have a problem. Once I cut them once I generally don't have to cut them again for a long time. I have slate tiles for a basking area though. None of mine give me any problem when I cut them either.

I just got a 15" sub adult who's nails have never been touched. That together with the fact that he really has never had human interaction should make trimming his interesting. lol. My hands and arms are covered with scratches already.

Thanks for the info. It a help.

John