Need help taming a bearded dragon

[Jevin]

I need help figuring out ways to get my girlfriend's bearded dragon to be nicer. He's around two years old. I've suggested to start by hand feeding, which he does. Three of the four sides of his enclosure are covered to prevent stress.

The main issue is handling him, as soon as you approach him, he black beards and hisses. At least when my girlfriend attempts to pick him up. I did manage to pick him up a few months ago without him black bearding or hissing at me.

Currently his cage is 18"×36"×10-12". From what reading I've done recently, the minimum size is 48"×24"×24". I am in the process of building a large enough enclosure for him. I am however disappointed in Bearded Dragon Obsession, as many people there told both myself and my girlfriend that the current size of cage was large enough for a bearded dragon. Is it likely his aggressiveness is due to the lack of a properly sized cage?

Also, for now, what are some suggestions to make him more open to handling?

 

[Jevin]

Just going to bump this.

 

[funnyCAT140]

I've seen some bearded dragons that just hate being around people. There was one YouTube video that I watched where he had a beardie that was scared and hated people, it took him over a year of gaining trust before she let him start holding her. He said leave the door open to the enclosure and talk to it everyday, and give it treats. Pretty much like gaining the trust of most other lizards. Again some beardies never come around and will forever be fearful of people.

 

[Jevin]

See, my girlfriend's beardie wasn't like this until he started to grow quite big. After he reached maturity, but before growing to his adult size, he was quite sociable and steadily grew more aggressive as he grew and his enclosure got smaller by comparison. I haven't measured him, but I think he is close to 24" in length from snout to tail tip. Bearded dragon obsession, a group on Facebook dedicated to beardies said that an exoterra 36"×18"×12" enclosure would be big enough. I'm leaning towards his behavior being more of a case of him defending his small territory rather than how he actually is.

 

[funnyCAT140]

See, my girlfriend's beardie wasn't like this until he started to grow quite big. After he reached maturity, but before growing to his adult size, he was quite sociable and steadily grew more aggressive as he grew and his enclosure got smaller by comparison. I haven't measured him, but I think he is close to 24" in length from snout to tail tip. Bearded dragon obsession, a group on Facebook dedicated to beardies said that an exoterra 36"×18"×12" enclosure would be big enough. I'm leaning towards his behavior being more of a case of him defending his small territory rather than how he actually is.

If he was fine before then that could be it. I've seen people keep them in enclosures pretty small and they haven't had them be aggressive, but that doesn't mean he couldn't be. I've seen snakes become very enclosure aggressive when kept in the racks and be fine when they're taken out. Do you guys ever just let him come out and walk around a little blocked off area outside of the enclosure.

 

[Jevin]

Unfortunately because of his behavior in his enclosure, my girlfriend is not comfortable with letting him out of his enclosure to free range for a bit as she is afraid he will bite when it is time to be picked up and returned to his enclosure. Although he does want to come out every time the enclosure doors are open it seems.

 

[funnyCAT140]

Unfortunately because of his behavior in his enclosure, my girlfriend is not comfortable with letting him out of his enclosure to free range for a bit as she is afraid he will bite when it is time to be picked up and returned to his enclosure. Although he does want to come out every time the enclosure doors are open it seems.

I bet if you guys will let him free range a little a lot of the aggression will stop. It's like a dog, it seems aggressive in its yard because it's defending it, but when you take it some where new they're more focused on checking it out then being aggressive and defensive.

 

[Jevin]

See that's why I'm thinking it might also be related to the size of his enclosure. He should have a new larger enclosure by Christmas time. After that, it will be a waiting game to see if he mellows out. However, he does suit his name lol, he's called Danzig lol

 

[funnyCAT140]

See that's why I'm thinking it might also be related to the size of his enclosure. He should have a new larger enclosure by Christmas time. After that, it will be a waiting game to see if he mellows out. However, he does suit his name lol, he's called Danzig lol

I think a larger enclosure will definitely help, and I would still try to start free ranging if you ever get a chance. We all get bit at some point, I've had to use heavy duty gloves to pick up an angry chicken once.