Cait
Bearded Dragon Egg
- Messages
- 1
Hey guys! Weird question here!
We have a baby beardie (about 3 months old) who came home to us about two months ago. She's the SWEETEST thing. She loves her enclosure, eats like crazy, and is thriving.
We were really careful about getting her used to us, and she seems to be 85% there with me and my husband (we're still working on developing the bond between her and our kiddo). She used to run and hide when we fed her until we left her alone with the food. Now she runs out to where the food bowl is, and is not at all skittish about us reaching our hands in to feed her. I literally nudged her out of the way today and she didn't flinch or run from me. She lets me pet her, and even runs to the front of her cage when I enter the room and paws at the glass.
Lately, I've been wondering if she's been getting bored in her enclosure. She's been a lot more active lately, and we've seen some glass surfing that we've never seen before. Combined with her pawing at the glass whenever she sees me, and I think she's just asking to get out sometimes. (Her temperature is perfect, measured with an infrared gun in multiple locations -- 80 on the cold side, 104 where she basks, etc. She has a strip UV light. We feed her four times a day. I genuinely don't believe this is a husbandry issue.).
Anyway! I've been taking her out for short periods of time, which she genuinely seems to enjoy. She has never ever bitten me, and when I go to put her back in her enclosure when we're done, she usually clings to me and doesn't want to transfer.
The problem is that we have a standard family living room, and I don't necessarily want her free roaming. She's gotten under the couch twice. I'm worried she's going to get under my recliner and it's going to become a safety issue for her. But while she's usually content to sit on my lap for 2-3 minutes, after that she tends to dart QUICKLY and leaps off furniture like she thinks she's Spiderman.
We purchased a leather harness for to see if we could keep her confined to an area that way while letting her explore some, but she does NOT like it. She's never bitten any of us or shown us her beard, but when I brought that thing out she attacked the crap out of it and we saw her beard bulge out for the first time -- and that was without me even trying to put it on her.
We don't really have a great space for, like, a full-time toddler-gate enclosure set-up like I've seen online, though we might invest in a fold-up one for our kiddo for Christmas so she can sit safely with Annie (our beardie).
But I've seen a lot about people taking beardies out and, like, having them sit on their shoulder/chair and chill with them. Or playing with them on the floor. Is there a way to train Annie so that she can play safely out of her enclosure without us worrying about her getting trapped somewhere unsafe? Is she just too little? Any advice appreciated!
(Note: I know that she needs the warmth of her enclosure. We've been keeping the house warmer, and I've only been trying for like 10-minute outings at a time until she gets bigger.)
We have a baby beardie (about 3 months old) who came home to us about two months ago. She's the SWEETEST thing. She loves her enclosure, eats like crazy, and is thriving.
We were really careful about getting her used to us, and she seems to be 85% there with me and my husband (we're still working on developing the bond between her and our kiddo). She used to run and hide when we fed her until we left her alone with the food. Now she runs out to where the food bowl is, and is not at all skittish about us reaching our hands in to feed her. I literally nudged her out of the way today and she didn't flinch or run from me. She lets me pet her, and even runs to the front of her cage when I enter the room and paws at the glass.
Lately, I've been wondering if she's been getting bored in her enclosure. She's been a lot more active lately, and we've seen some glass surfing that we've never seen before. Combined with her pawing at the glass whenever she sees me, and I think she's just asking to get out sometimes. (Her temperature is perfect, measured with an infrared gun in multiple locations -- 80 on the cold side, 104 where she basks, etc. She has a strip UV light. We feed her four times a day. I genuinely don't believe this is a husbandry issue.).
Anyway! I've been taking her out for short periods of time, which she genuinely seems to enjoy. She has never ever bitten me, and when I go to put her back in her enclosure when we're done, she usually clings to me and doesn't want to transfer.
The problem is that we have a standard family living room, and I don't necessarily want her free roaming. She's gotten under the couch twice. I'm worried she's going to get under my recliner and it's going to become a safety issue for her. But while she's usually content to sit on my lap for 2-3 minutes, after that she tends to dart QUICKLY and leaps off furniture like she thinks she's Spiderman.
We purchased a leather harness for to see if we could keep her confined to an area that way while letting her explore some, but she does NOT like it. She's never bitten any of us or shown us her beard, but when I brought that thing out she attacked the crap out of it and we saw her beard bulge out for the first time -- and that was without me even trying to put it on her.
We don't really have a great space for, like, a full-time toddler-gate enclosure set-up like I've seen online, though we might invest in a fold-up one for our kiddo for Christmas so she can sit safely with Annie (our beardie).
But I've seen a lot about people taking beardies out and, like, having them sit on their shoulder/chair and chill with them. Or playing with them on the floor. Is there a way to train Annie so that she can play safely out of her enclosure without us worrying about her getting trapped somewhere unsafe? Is she just too little? Any advice appreciated!
(Note: I know that she needs the warmth of her enclosure. We've been keeping the house warmer, and I've only been trying for like 10-minute outings at a time until she gets bigger.)
