Ok our youngest Bearded Dragon (9 months old) is extremely evil. He is extremely mean, will try to bite you every chance he gets. I have to wear leather gloves to handle him as he will whip his head around trying to latch on to flesh. He is the only one of my 5 Bearded Dragons who demonstrates this behavior. My question, is this behavior learned or innate? I was considering using he at a later date for breeding, but I don't want a bunch of babies from ****. I do have another male I could use. Opinions please!

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Colleen

Hmmm....well I'm not sure if the mean gene can be passed on. I know that dog breeders don't like to breed tempermental dogs for fear of them throwing tempermental puppies but I can't heard anything about it in relation to reptiles. He might grow out of his mean streak....my Bearded Dragon was a complete jerk when he came to me and now i've got him eating out of our hands.

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“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

-Mahatma Gandhi

~Lacey~

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Nine months,,,he should probably be out of that stage by now. Do you have him housed with anyone. I know when I put a friend in with Falcor, he settled down tremendously,,he was a little evil as well. You could always try putting some nasty on the glove and let him bite it. Not sure what to use though that would be safe.

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MARSHA
A man without a woman is a bachelor, A woman without a man is a genius!.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart!

He is all by himself as he is the youngest and the smallest. The other 4 are a year or older up to 3 years. So I really don't have anyone to let him share an enclosure with.

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Colleen

From all the Bearded Dragons I bought from the expo, the two males are aggressive and one of the females is becoming aggressive due to eating anxiety.
They have been mellowing down because I hold them every day and "punish" their aggressive behavior by misting their mouth. It's the safest thing I could came up with to punish them without letting have their way biting me.
So every time I reach inside their enclosure to clean, put some food, etc and they open their mouth as a warning sign, I squish them =)

In the bad days, I also use the "cloth wrapping" technique previously described by Marsha (if memory serves...). You simply wrap him in a kitchen cloth or bathroom towel in a way that he can't move and (of course) can't hurt himself. After a few minutes they calm down and you can take the cloth off and hold them firmly in your hand.

Oh, I forgot! Marsha, what about lemon/lime juice on the glove? The green ones are very acid and should be foul tasting for a Bearded Dragon.

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Wish list: Blue Tongue Skinks and Uruplatus =)

For something to put on the gloves try bitter apple. It is used to stop dogs from licking and birds from picking their feathers. It is harmless if swallowed but tastes really nasty!

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!

Merlin where would you get bitter apple a pet store?

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Colleen

Yes pet stores or grooming supplies should have it.

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Merlin,
What's Life Without A Little Magic!