KINDA LONG....
Hi again 
I had a question on handling. Since it's time for final exam studying and term paper write ups, I have had a less amount of time to handle my bearded dragon. Instead of handling him everyday, I started handling him every 2-3 days so I can clean up the poop and change the paper towels (substrate). Can the lack of handling cause him to get so jittery?
My beardie used to love being handled and love to explore. The other day I was going to give him a warm soak for a few minutes as I changed the paper towels. I hadn't handled him for about 3 days and he seemed a bit nervous. When I came close, he'd kinda duck and crouch lower to the floor and watch my every movement. When I picked him up, he got skittish and jumped back into the cage (my hand was still in the cage and the fall was not big... like a two inch jump back onto the floor).
I picked him up and held onto him so he didn't move and I placed him in the tub of warm shallow water. He enjoyed it, but would kinda back away when I walked toward the tub. I picked him up and placed him into a towel when I was done and held on because he was trying to squirm and jump away. He finally relaxed but kept his eye on me as he sat in my hand when I was moving his basking branch. I placed him on top of the basking spot where he stayed the rest of the day.
During my feeding last night, he seemed kinda nervous and tried to crouch and back up as I opened the cage. But when he saw the crickets and the raspberries, he just ate. Is my lack of handling causing him to be so jittery and skittish?
In previous handling, he was never dropped or anything. Pretty much just picked him up and let him hang onto my shirt so he can climb up to my shoulders or I'd let him explore the couch. Handling lenghts are about 5 minutes - 10 minutes at a time because I don't know if he gets cold. I handled once a day until last week when I started working on papers, projects, and now am studying for final exams. Now it's about once every 2-3 days.
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OTHER INFO U MIGHT WANT:
- basking temp: 105F
- top of hide on warm side: 92F
- cool side: 84F
- shallow rock dish of water available 24/7
- bowl of food with RepCal pellets, greens, & a few crickets (Can O' Crickets)
- he eats several of the Can O Crickets by tweezers during each feeding
- 4 months old
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0.0.1 Bearded Dragon (Cookie Monster)
1.0.0 Crested Gecko (Vas-D)
0.0.2 Fire Bellied Toads (Norman & Forman)
0.0.2 Goldfish (Lenny & Carl)
1.0.0 Black Lab / Pit Bull (Mikey)
