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I purchased my dragon when he was apprx 1 month old. He is extremely aggressive towards me. Normally he will just run away but lately he has been trying to strike me. Is this normal? I have been handling him so I am not sure what to do about it. THANKS!

well a wild dragon if cornered would strike.

so the thing is what has been happening while you have had him?

anything like a cat/dog/child given him any scare?

what is he housed in?

did you ever handle him?

how do you approach him ?

remember that to a BD any large thing coming in from above and or behind him is a possible threat.
in the wild the shape of a human hand would also look a lot like a big snake sticking it's head down to eat him.

so if you have not shown him you are "safe" his natural reaction is to fear the big scarey thing thats trying to have him for a snack.

tell us more about how you handle him and feed him and other stuff like do you have any other small pets etc...
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Keep with it. I have one that has never calmed down, but if I stay on top of handling him for long periods for weeks he gets to where I can pick him up with out a gaping mouth. But with some beardies it does take alot of time.

>>remember that to a BD any large thing coming in from above and or behind him is a possible threat.

That's what my mom tells me when I kiss my bearded's back. But Hades absolutely loves it. When he was a baby I used to hold him while he slept, and I would kiss my finger and then touch it to his back. My mom would always say "maybe he thinks your trying to eat him and thats why he goes to sleep" but I disagree.

My brothers Bearded is aggressive sometimes.

But I've been hand feeding Draco and rubbing her back with my finger and holding her back foot and she likes it. Soon I will be able to pick her up and that'll be the day that makes me feel happiest! The day that I finally calmed down a nervous dragon!

Just keep up what you are doing. Do not back down. With my saharan uromastyx when I first got him, Orion would always tail whip me, so I let him. Now he knows that when I'm putting my hand in the tank it's ok and he just lets me pick him up.
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2 mali uro's-Ares and Apollo
2 saharan uro's-Orion and Iris
2 bearded dragon-Hades and Draco
1 leo gecko-Kalypso
1 tokaye gecko-Sid Vicious
1 tarantula-Peter Parker
1 dog-cheeka
1 zebra finch-beeps
1 african gray parrot-keya
1 red headed parrot-pancho
And some fish

Well, I do have other pets but they are not in the room with him. perhaps he smells them? I have a cat, dog, snake, turtle, bird, and a guinea pig but they are all in a different room than my BD. His cage is a 10 gallon tank with sand on the bottom. He has a basking rock, water dish, some sticks to climb on, and some smaller rocks to hide behind. He doesn't have a hide box because my vet told me that he would hide all of the time if I put one in there. Could that be a problem? I handle him for at least 20 minutes everyday. His diet consists of gut loaded crickets, romain lettuce, carrots, broccoli, etc. Thank you for any advice you can give me. If his terrarium is not properly set up I would also like to know so that I can correct it asap. Thanks!

When I pick him up I set my hand in front of him and sort of scoop him with my other hand. it is difficult since he runs away every time I try. I feed him crickets directly into his cage.

I've had quite a few dragons that seemed to have gone through a phase around that age where they would react the same way with the gaping and jumping to nip. With regular handling, and cage maintenance, just being there daily feeding and caring they usually calm down a lot with time.. I don't have any that took that reaction to an adult age. As long as he his eating regularly, an not getting to stressed keep up with the handling. Don't let him win, and learn that his reaction will stop you from holding him. Get a piece of his greens and when he opens his mouth stick it in an pick him upMight as well get him started on the greens now too
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I am going to try the greens thing. After I get him in my hand he stops nipping but I know if I let go of him for even a second he'd make a run for it. I'll let you know how it goes =)