when to handle

[Guest]

i read from quite a few sites that ur not supposed to hold your bearded dragon till its 8 inches.is that true?iv been following this and only holding for a few min a day.

 

[Tattz]

I am not sure what "Experts" say...but we have a baby beardie and an adult. Our daughter holds the baby on a daily basis for various time lengths, and believe it or not when our daughter walks by the front of the babies tank it will start to arm wave and jump back and forth around the tank trying to get her attention to hold her. The adult we have sits in his tank and head bobs when we walk by and paces the front of his tank when he sees us. Which all leaves me to believe that the beardies if handled enough look for interaction and attention.

 

[Guest]

hmm so i guess the theory that holding when young doesnt harm em.which is good cuz not holding em is driving me nuts lol.haha if my dragon did that it would put a smile on my face.

 

[Toby_H]

I don't have much experience with Beardies, but I've talked to breeders of them at reptile shows and they are always holding babies and offering the general public to do so as well. I'd be very shocked to find out holding a baby Bearded Dragon was a bad idea.

 

[Guest]

well i prolly got it from those people who say that having animals is cruel and crap like that.

 

[chris allen]

Alot of times its best to just leave baby dragons be. It not only reduces stress but also baby dragons are very fast and delicate.....that may be where the "do not hold" advice came from. This is not saying its bad to hold them, just be careful and pay attention to them.

 

[Guest]

yup that was the reason but i think hes big enough now that i can hold him.hes till fast tho.

 

[Guest]

i didn't hold my beardie too much when he was itty bitty. for me it was mostly because he was so tiny that if he managed to get away he'd certainly become dog chow. i'd pet him in his tank but i don't think i really started to hold him until he was probably about that size.