The prospective owners of bearded dragons are not very conscious of the fact that bearded dragons bite too, like many other pet creatures. The unawareness is due to its uncommonness as pet. These reptiles look a bit fierce, with the beard and sharp edgy mouth, but they are naturally shy and timid creatures. The name dragon often creates wrong notion on the buyer’s mind though.
Contents
Nature of Bearded Dragons:
Bearded dragons are, as we have mentioned already, quite timid by nature. They take a bit longer to get used to with you and the new surroundings. You can try to spend more time with them and gradually they will act in friendlier way.
Reasons why Bearded Dragons Bite
Bearded dragons are like any other normal creature. Like others they too do have mood swings and bad days. If you wish to own a bearded dragon, you have to know a bit more about their need and discomfort, which may cause them to get angry or vicious.
They get angry when they are hungry. This sounds as simple as the fact. There can be various reasons for which the dragon is not eating properly, and that can make it irritated. Also, you should make sure to feed right food for them. But from your side, the minimum you can do is to keep food at proper scheduled time on its cage. Also if you are feeding them by hand, and at the time when they are feeling hungry, they can mistake your moving finger to be a wiggling worm.
- Also if you have eaten something or your hand smells in a particular way, your dragon can feel like munching on it as the smell will interest it. So if you are handling worms for some time or doing something else with some other component, you should wash your hands with soap to avoid any such accident.
- Bearded dragons are actually prey animal, which indicates that they are defensive by nature. From birds to various other land animals predate upon them. While you are keeping them safe and protected at the terrarium, it may feel unprotected at a certain point of time when you are inserting your hand within the cage, probably just for tapping its head or making some other friendly gesture. On the spur of the moment it will feel attacked and can bite you.
You should know the symptoms of the bearded dragon to understand when it is feeling anxious. At that point of time you should not try to play with it or touch it. When you see the bearded dragon puff up the beard and the beard is turning into black, then you must know something is irritating or terrifying it. You should give it some hours to calm down and leave it at peace.
Bearded dragons are not very friendly creatures, but some of them actually start reciprocating the gestures which you make as a gesture of affection. Most of the dragons usually get adjusted to the presence of their owners and they usually crawl up to the hand and arm or shoulder of their owners.
But there are some dragons, which do prefer to stay aloof and if you try to socialize with them, they may turn violent. Also some owners lack the time to spend with the dragons. After they are brought to a new place, they need your attention and time to be friendly. When it learns to live alone and do not get proper affection, it may start attacking you when one sudden day you try to handle it. Also when you are adopting a dragon from the rescue, there are chances, that the dragon was mishandled or ignored by its earlier owner. So these dragons can become unsocial and can try to bite the ones who try to pet them.
These ones are small creatures and you must know how to handle them. These ones can get hurt easily when you are holding them improperly. If you have kids at home, you must teach them to treat the dragons properly and cautiously. If the children want to be friend with the dragons, they must know which part of the dragon is to be held and which are not to be touched. If the dragon is held by a child in an improper way so it gets hurt, it is natural for the dragon to try and bite the child.
Bearded Dragons Bite How much it hurts:
A baby bearded dragon does not have ample power to hurt a full grown person. Also the juvenile ones do not put so much pressure to cause pain to matured man or woman. The bearded dragons try to bite with their jaws, and being small creatures, they do not have much power in their jaws. Seldom there can be ruptures or breaking on skins.
An adult bearded dragon, however, can hurt little bit more. The pain tolerance power of human is different for different people. Their row of small yet sharp teeth can cause tearing of the skin in the human and also there will be stinging sensation. If the skin is soft or the human is a child, there can be blood. But anyway, this is not a very serious issue. This is a shocking experience and mostly mild cut. If you apply medicine or ointment on the cut, it will cure soon. There is no chance of poisoning through the bite of bearded dragons.
Conclusion:
Being cautious with bearded dragons and not holding them if you are feeling uncomfortable is the necessary thing to avoid bites. For the kids, they should not try to hold it for longer time or from a height. In case it gets hurt, there will be chance of such accidents.
