Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my 7 year old daughter yesterday. Now I need to re-think the family situation and if we are right for our Bearded dragon. He is extremely loved by us and my daughter but now she is to afraid to go near him. He has been showing major signs of aggression by wiggling his tail right before he lunges. Up until this month he has been a very mellow relaxed guy with not to much ever stressing him. Most days he is very light in colour and never a black beard, he just turned a year old. We did just get a new puppy back in January and every one's diagnoses is that he is jealous of the dog?!? I know I have to go into his cage and do daily maintenance but even I am now a little put off especially since my daughter ended up in emerg. What to do, what to do he is part of the family but my kids need to come first.

Sound like the dog may be the problem,not from jealousy though, but it may be stressing him out. Does the dog go up to the cage, can the lizard see the dog? was the dog in the room at the time of biting? My beardies get crazy when they have visual contact of any of my snakes even from across a 20 ft room!! All the other time they are friendly and calm as heck. He has also just reached sexual maturity so that may have something to do with it. I would quarantine him from that dog first(even any visual contact) before giving up. If that doesnt do it you may just have one of those rare aggressive beardies you hear about every now and again.( I am assuming all your temps diet and cage size are correct)
Good Luck

If you guys hold him and stuff daily and this occurs I would for sure say that the dog seems to be bringing him to this point. Just don't have the dog in the room while you are haning out with the beardie.

Thanks for your advice. There is not to much visual contact, we have our beardie up high and the puppy is still little and does not even come close to being able to see him. I would imagine when the pup goes on the coach our Beardie can see him but we are in the processes of braking the pup's habit of this. The Beardie is NEVER out when the pup is in the house, when my daughter got bit she was in her room where it was nice and quiet. He was in the proses of going under her dresser when she went to pick him up and then he snapped and clamped on to her finger. She probably startled him. His husbandry and temps are current and maintained with the best of our knowledge. His basking spot is 105 and ambient at about 85 he gets his daily collard greens and every other day crickets. Flooring is a combo of sand and tile and since I am a stay at home mom his fecal is cleaned immediately. I would say one down side in his cage is that he does not really have a full 'hide' spot.

Any other suggestions or comments are greatly appreciated as it help me think of everything I can do for my Beardie. I am still a little leery of going and picking him up.

I expect the reason the dragon bit your daughter is because she was dragging him out from underneath a dresser by his tail. It was defending itself from what it felt was an attack.

Having a puppy around doesn't make things easy for your dragon either. Even if the doesn't have visual contact he can still hear and smell it. I am also sure your daughter pets and holds your puppy often, so its scent would be all over her too.

Just explain to your daughter the dragon didn't bite her out of meanness...it was scared when she grabbed its tail, she probably hurt it too. So he did the only thing it could, and bit. Dragon's can't say 'ouch'. To your dragon, your daughter attacked it...he is acting aggressively now because he was hurt by 'people' so you will have to reestablish the whole trust thing again.

I don't go with the grab him and hold him no matter what practice of gaining an animal's trust. This is far to stressful for them. Not to mention there is too much chance of injury to the person and lizard. If gloves are worn then its even easier to cause injury to the dragon.

Best thing to do is just leave him alone for a week or two...make no attempts to hold him etc. When doing anything in his cage (cleaning, feeding etc) keep your movements slow and as away from him as possible. Move hands into the cage for his level or lower, instead of from above. If you are really worried he will lunge at you, place a cardboard barrier between you and the dragon till you are done spot cleaning etc. then remove it from the cage.

After about a week or two, offer his favorite treats by hand, talking calmly to it. Slowly establish trust again. Once he stops flaring up when you are hand feeding it etc, carefully pick him up and make sure his feet is well supported. He may struggle but be calm and gentle. As soon as he calms down put him back into the cage. Increase time out longer over a few weeks.

I also advise washing your hands if you have been petting the dog before doing anything around your dragon.

Once the dragon calm in hand again, you can get him used to your daughter too and she as well.

Keep in mind all animals can bite but none will bite out of spite or meanness. They bite accidentally (in play) or because they are frightened or defending themselves or territory. Even human kids go through a phase of biting.
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PHLdyPayne

Also predators in the wild descend rapidly from above. So reaching down quickly could have startled him.

How hot is your tank? In my experience i have noticed the hotter the tank the more aggressive the dragon..

Just a though, you may want to check the temps..

Heidi