Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Once again, thanks to those of you who told me of how bad sand is for beardies, for I got rid of it right away and now use moist paper towels for liner. Doesn't look to bad either. Anyway, my beardie is now 8 months old, and I've tried to tame her with all the methods I have read up on but not work.

One of the things I tried was hand feeding her. Putting her food on the palm of my hand and letting her pick it up with her tounge. Well now she won't eat her food either way. (Spoiled already). My problem is that now, as soon as she sees my hand slowly go down in the cage, she lunges and bites either my hand or finger. I know it isn't out of meaness, but because she has associated my hand with food, she does it.

The only thing I can think of why she gets like this, is that I don't feed her enough, but I feed her as much as I am supposed to according to my vet.

In the mornings, she gets a rather decent sized veggie mixture. Cabbage and Kale are her staple food, then I add a few other veggies like carrots, baby peas, collards, squash, strawberries (only rarely though) to give it variety.

I come home from work and she gets either all the Can O Crickets (2-3 week old size) she can eat in 10 minutes, or all the live mealworms she can eat in 10 minutes. (I switch back and forth, once again to give her a variety so she won't get the runs)

Is that not feeding her enough? I mean she isn't loosing weight, she is gaining weight..GREATLY.

So in general I guess I'm asking is how to get a spoiled beardie to stop lunging at my hand thinking it is food? Keeping in mind she won't eat it from the floor or bowl anymore... >< And is anyone else having or did have this problem?
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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

You shouldn't feed your beardie cabbage, it is very bad for them. It doesn't let them digest calcium properly, and if you are using it as a staple your dragon will end up with a calium deficiency.

I would stop hand-feeding her, she will eat out of a bowl eventually, they really won't sit there until they starve. Then you can try picking her up again and she will stop associating you with food. Beardies tend to calm down as they get older, mine hardly reacts to being picked up, she is like a rock with legs.
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Really? I've read on the website that is constantly passed around on here that cabbage was a good veggie for them. Even my vet said so. O_o I'll check into it again though...thanks for the warning and I'll try the no hand feeding thing, and hope that she will eat in a few days.. thanks a bunches ^^
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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

Ok. I went back to www.beautifuldragons.com and saw that it recommends cabbage as an occasionally thing, not a staple. I must have read it wrong. Thanks so much again for pointing it out though. ^^ I can substitute the cabbage with some romaine lettuce.
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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

Good idea to not use sand. My beardie is 2 years old and I never used sand. Just newspaper and that's it. I use an emory board to do her nails and she's so used to it she even holds are little hands out for me to do them, only takes less than a minute a few times a week.

Make sure your beardie is by itself if you are having a hard time getting him/her to bond with you. Beardies are social creatures. Having others around will make it bond with them more and you less.

Handle her very frequently. but slowly. Talk to her a lot.

Soon your beardie will thrive on being picked up. Mine wants attention every single second she is awake!

Soon your beardie will learn to associate you with fun.

I never fed mine cabbage. Romaine lettuce mostly. In fact that's the only greens she likes!

JadeFox

Hmm... well she is by herself, and she does let me pet her (after she has eaten.. lol). I would have her in my room where she could see me more, and I could be with her more, but I have three cats who can get into anything and everything and since Scamp is still small, they see her as food so Scamp has her own room =D I'll try talking to her though as I am petting her, see if it helps. I do it with my horse all the time, didn't even think about trying it with Scamp. >< Thanks!
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Bearded Dragon x1(Scamp)
Cats x3 (Lelu, Hera, Nite)
Horse x1 (Renegade)

My beardie absolutely becomes bright orange and yellow when I talk to her....her entire face animates and she's very responsive when I tell her how cute she is, how much I love her, how adorable she is, etc etc.

JadeFox