hey there peps.

I have a 3 month old female Bearded Dragon. She is kinda touchy. When my wife and I go to pick her up she starts to hiss (well the mouth gapes but nothing comes out) and sometimes tries to bite. (well nibble) She also tries to run away from us.. Is this normal? this si the first Bearded Dragon we have owned and my wife and I are kinda concerned that we may have gotten a wild one...LOL

If anyone has any advice I would be open to anything. thanks,
Steve AKA Stryper

hey steve, welcome! yeah some are like that. my new male would puff up and hiss if I entered the room, and if I picked him up went nuts. my training method involes slight pain if you want to know it.lol. to you, not the Bearded Dragon. i would pick my guy up for a split second by the tail and place him in my palm so his head faced my thumb, he would bite if I picked him up or touched him so he bit my thumb which has padding enough so I barely felt it. that was part one, once he got used to my hand I carried him around but never just let him run, and sometime I would give him a bath which freaked him out and he would be still of hours so I could hold him and get him used to handling. just hold her no matter how much she bites and she'll get the idea it doesn't work. my number one suggestion is to not use gloves because they get used to the glove and with some you have to hand tame them all over again if you want to hold them without it. hope this helps. but now when I enter he runs to the glass to get out, and he runs into my hand when I put it in and I tamed him in about a month because I was busy. but now the only thing he hates is flashes. hisses at the zoom lens of the camera he does.lol. once again welcome!

Welcome to hc. I dont have Bearded Dragons, but I am sure that people will ask these questions,

How long have you had her/him?
where did you get him/ her?

They might ask,

Whats the cage set up? lights, temp substrate, food etc..

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Hey Steve,,,welcome to HC. ANd Ace beat me to the punch...as much info as you can supply is best. There's lots of experienced Bearded Dragon members here to help.

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Well first off thanks Ace for the invite. Your mom gave my wife the info to this place for us from you.

Well we have had her about 2 months, she is in a 20 long tank. (will get bigger as she grows). As far as everything else; Calci-sand substrate, a piece of wood so she can get closer to the heat lamp if desired. Lighting is a UVA w/ 7% UVB. Also a 75 watt red heat lamp. Temp during the day is about 90 and at night it gets down to around 80-83. Also have a underneath heat pad and some rocks for climbing on. She only eats small crickets. About a dozen a day. Cant get her to eat anything else yet.

We got her at Tails and Scales in Derby KS.

Thanks,
Steve

Steve,,,start by reading our very own caresheet, but by the looks of things you pretty much have it right (I for one don't like the use of sand and prefer paper towels)
here's the link
http://www.herpcenter.com/showthread.php?t=2735
and he's propbably just skittish cus he's in a new invironment

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Ken
"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world. But, the Marines don't have that problem." -- Ronald Reagan

Hey Steve, welcome to Herpcenter.
First off get her off the calisand, its is very bad and causes impaction. Start off with paper towels as Ken suggested. Her basking temp should be 100-110. You dont need the red light either. It is ok for temps to drop to 70-75 at night. Bearded Dragons need a cooling down period. You can try feeding her veggies in the AM and crickets in the PM. Are you providing her water, ie misting. She might not have been handled that much as a hatchling so therefore she is going to freak out or run from you, doesnt mean she is wild caught. Try putting your hand in front of her to let her climb on, once you get her out use the washcloth method and cover her up while you hold her. This will calm her down. When you do pick her up if she squirms dont put her down this teacher her if she squirms she wins. lol good luch and keep us posted.

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MARSHA

:D I'm smiling because I have no idea whats going on!

yeah, try venus's method, it doesn't involve the letting yourself get bit part (which for some reason I actually enjoy.lol)

Steve, Marsha might misunderstood you (or maybe it's me that is misunderstanding what you said) but if your only heating device is that "red heat lamp" (which I believe it's a IR* heat lamp), you can't ditch it.
Bearded dragons are basking species. They will respond to heat coming from above. Your Under Tank Heater can't generate the necessary temperature for BD's needs. In fact, that's the item you can ditch.
I have a 100W IR lamp turned on all day on my Bearded Dragon's enclosure. I use a rheostat to turn it up or down for the day and night temperatures. Because my tank is smaller than yours, I can use the IR lamp as "general heater" and basking spot at the same time. You might need an extra spot lamp. Read Rachel's caresheet and check your temps. It's all there explained.

From your description, I would check ASAP if your Bearded Dragon is not dehydrated. If she doesn't eat anything else besides crickets, there's a big chance she might not be getting the necessary water, even if you have a water bowl on the enclosure.
A couple of weeks ago I had that experience with my Bearded Dragon (which has a water bowl in his enclosure, eats veggies and gets misted every day, not to mention the bi-weekly baths). Misting my index finger until I had a drop on the tip and gently touching the Bearded Dragon's nose, I saw him drink an incredible amount of water. He was really thirsty!

As for your original problem, here's a few tips.
If you have the enclosure in a secluded area, take it to the place where there are people all day (except the kitchen). Place it in a high enough position so that the Bearded Dragon can see faces and not shoes passing by. As frequently as you can, approach the tank and say hello, stay for a couple of minutes talking gently (you can use that time to check for poop and see if temps are ok) and leave. After she gets used to your presence and don't feel that you are a threat, the hand will be easier to accept.

If the hand brings food, then the hand is good. This idea is easy to "sell" to your Bearded Dragon. I use a little box to drop crickets on my Bearded Dragon's tank. I drop one at a time and wait for him to eat. I leave my hand in the enclosure the all time. If you try this, you'll see that after a few times, your Bearded Dragon will approach your hand to catch the crickets as soon as they fall from the box.

After the above methods show results, you can try to pick her up. You must be gentle and have a lot of patience. Don't pick her from above. Put the hand in front of her and calmly move it forward so that it slides under the body. Give her time to get on and feel safe. Don't rush it and be sure she feels secure while lifting her up, otherwise she might try to jump.
You can also bribe her with a mealworm or any other treat. Someone refer that on another thread. Get her used to the idea of being picked up has a juicy reward and things will be easier.

Some Bearded Dragons are stubborn and refuse the veggies. Marsha gave you the best tip for that, veggies in the morning and crickets in the afternoon.
If after a while she doesn't eat them anyway, cut down on the crickets. Feed her half of what she usually eats and she will start eating her veggies.
At this age the veggies should be cut down in very small pieces but some Bearded Dragons don't eat them like that. Mine was one of them. He only eats fingernail sized pieces as long as they are not stuck to the bottom of the food bowl. One advice about veggies: if the leaf is thick (like cabbage for example), each piece should be smaller.
If you are unsure about what veggies you can feed her, try Veronica's website.

If any of the above don't work, you can always try a whip and a chair like in the good ol' days
Good luck Steve! =)

Ricardo

* You'll find these a lot so here's the explanation:
IR - infrared
Under Tank Heater - Under Tank Heater
This article has the rest of them.

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Welcome to the group!

I've been doing a lot of research on bearded dragons and most people think that the calcium sand is bad, very bad. Sand is really not recommended until they are a year old and even then it is a matter of debate. There is not a universally accepted substrate as all have their drawbacks. I still don't know what I am going to use. Paper is safe but does not let them wear down their claws and looks like, well paper! Sand can cause health problems that can kill. Bark is right out, way worse than sand! I am looking into some ceramic tile that looks like stone but can be cleaned easily. I found some I can get in 2 ft X 2ft squares and cut to fit. Of course I have stone cutting equipment so the cutting is not a problem.

My advice is to find as many care sheets as you can. Start with the one here and look at this site, http://home.comcast.net/~holachapulin/home.html Follow links to others and generally do as much research as you can. Finally, remember that anyone can set up a site or give their opinion! I firmly believe in checking several sources and my sources backgrounds. Look at me for example, I am still doing the research in preparation for my dragons arrival.

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