Good morning! Today we're gonna look at some different ways that you can bond with your bearded dragon.
Hand feeding is a great way to get your dragon to
associate your hand with something positive. If the only time your dragon
ever sees your hand is when you go to pick it up, it can be kind of frightening
because our hand picking them up would be similar to how a predator or a
bird would pick them up. You know it's kind of like a big claw just reaching
down from the sky grabbing them, so it's good to get them associating your hand
with something a little more enjoyable for them. Hand feeding them helps
reassure them that just because you're coming to their cage or just because
your hand is reaching in doesn't mean that they're gonna be disturbed, it
doesn't mean that they're going to get picked up and moved to a new environment,
it could just mean that they're gonna get some delicious little treats.
You can hand-feed them using their standard salads that you would be feeding them
every day, you can also use treat worms if they won't take salads from your hand, or
whatever staple insects you're feeding them. For baby bearded dragons it's really
great to feed them their staple insects because most babies will go for insects over greens.
It's a good way to start bonding with your new baby bearded dragon.
And for adults, since adult bearded dragons you only want to feed
them insects about every two to three days, it's better to hand feed them with
their salads or occasionally you can use treat worms, things like horn worms,
that'll really attract their attention if you have a hard time getting them to
eat salads from your hand. Do be warned though if you start hand feeding your
bearded dragon, dragons are exceptionally lazy and really appreciate food being
brought right to their face so if you're gonna start hand feeding you'll most
likely end up continuing having to hand feed them. Our bearded dragon will eat
salad out of his bowl just fine but he will absolutely not chase his insects.
I have to bring each one up to him individually so he can enjoy them.
Another great thing to do with your dragon is to just relax,
watch some TV, a movie, hang out with your family, read a book, play a board game.
They tend to be really responsive to televisions, they see the flashing colors
and they hear all the distracting noises and it's just something that's really
different from their natural environment and so it interests them.
And because they are so docile, they definitely make great reading partners or study buddies.
If you're in school and you have to study, they can help keep you company and make
all of that a little more enjoyable for ya. These are great activities because
they entertain both you and your dragon and it's not something you have to go
out of your way to do, it's something you would just enjoy doing by yourself so might as
well just kind of invite your dragon along. Sitting on the couch or the floor
also provides a safe place for your dragon to wander around and kind of
explore and you don't have to worry too much about them jumping off of anything.
But always do make sure to keep an eye on them just because you definitely
don't want them jumping off the back of the couch or the back of a chair.
These activities are great for independent dragons or dragons that are kind of
skittish because they're not being restrained in any way. They have that
freedom to kind of move at their own pace, some dragons will walk around and
explore and some will just cuddle up to you and just lay there for a few hours.
If you have a rescue dragon, a new baby, or any sort of skittish dragon,
I recommend trying out any of these activities but allow the dragon to
remain in its enclosure. Again, do the same things like read or grab your iPad,
watch some television, do your homework, write in a journal. Do any sort of quiet
activity that you can in front of them just to get them used to your presence
so that way they can see that whenever you walk by it's not like this big scary
intrusive thing, you have to let them know that "Hey, you know, I'm gonna come by
and I'm just gonna sit here for a few hours" or "I'm just gonna sit here for a
few minutes and it's gonna be fine and you're okay."
The last thing you can try doing is called the Beardie Burrito and the Beardie
Burrito is when you take your dragon and you just wrap them up in something nice
and soft whether it's a t-shirt, some scrap fabric, a towel, a blanket.
And yeah, you just make a little burrito out of your bearded dragon. This method is great
for taking your dragon out in the evening. You want to give them a nice,
soft, dark, place for them to kind of curl up into. It's also great for helping to kind
of soothe and calm skittish dragons. However you end up wrapping them up you
just want to make sure it's loose enough so they can easily walk out of it.
This is absolutely not meant to restrain or confine them, it's just meant to provide
a nice warm cozy thing and for some reason dragons just really seem to love soft blankets.
Our dragon actually fell asleep when I wrapped him up in one, one time and I had him
set on a chair in our bedroom and I just let him stay there overnight.
He slept through the whole night in the chair in his little Beardie Burrito
and then I put him back in his enclosure in the morning when he was still sleeping.
I really hope you guys enjoyed this video and found some useful information in it.
The most important thing to always remember though is every
animal and every dragon is going to be different from each other.
They all have unique personalities which means they have different needs.
Don't try to make them be something that they aren't. Always work with the animal that you have,
be patient, have courage, and be kind.
Thank you guys so much for watching, I'll see you in the next video and I hope you have a great day.
Byeeeee~*