taming your beardies

[Kaiti]

so, what method do you (as in the person reading this post :) ) use to tame your beardie? my beardie is almost 11 inches, just about 2 and half months old, and rather skitterish. he will eat greens from my hands, and sometimes will sit still for me to pet the end of his tail or his feet. if i try to pet his sides or legs he goes rocketing off into the other end of the cage (or cage side lol ) i always move in sideways when i try to pet him, not from above. i have been told that the force full, "im going to hold you whether you like it or not so get used to it" method will work, but i am afraid of making him more afraid of me than he already is. any tips? what amount of docility (or lack thereof) is normal? btw, the sex has not been decided for sure (hence the whole not handling thing) and i have had him for almost 2 months.

thanks alot

kaiti :)

[eyespy]

Try stroking under his chin, that's a favorite spot for most beardies. I used the "stuff em with treats" method for all of mine and eventually they all became pretty friendly although I have 2 females who make it clear they are really just tolerating my presence. I call them Princess Priss and Missy Mean. ;)

At 11 inches s/he sounds large enough for accurate sexing, although once in awhile you get a boy whose parts don't drop for a little while and can fool you. If you see hemipenes you can be sure you have a boy, if you just see the one central bump it's probably a girl but wait a few months before you go painting the cage pink, okay?

[reptilez]

Actually both males and females have the hemipenes, the males are just more darker and bigger. The best way to tell i find is the bumps near the vent area.
My BDs where used to me handling them every day for about 3 weeks and now they will jump on my arm when im in there ceaning. It usually just takes time!
-Reptilez

[eyespy]

I'm afraid you're mistaken. A hemipene is a combination testicle and *****, which only males have. Those are one type of the bumps near the vent area. A female has one central bump which is her oviduct. A male has 2 bumps towards the sides with a divot in the middle, and those 2 bumps are the hemipenes.

It can take a few months for the hemipenes to drop down into the "pockets" in the tail base where they are kept so very young males' hemipenes will sometimes hang together in the center and look like one central bump.

[eyespy]

oops, got bleeped, I used the scientific term for a male sex organ, you gotta fill in that blank yourself. ;)

[reptilez]

Well my female and male both have the hemipenes and my males are darker and bigger then my females.

[eyespy]

I'd like to see pictures of that!!

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Just handle him a lil more. he'll calm down once he knows your not a threat. Good luck!

[milo]

My 2 male beardies were naturally tame when i first got them as babies mine are about 6 months old now

[fr0glet]

Reptilez: perhaps you've got the wrong idea about what exactly the hemipenes are, prehaps you're thinking that your female's bulges look like hemipenal bulges?

You can't actually SEE the hemipenes unless they're everting or actively mating, otherwise all you see are the bulges.

For taming, I feed my beardie insects from my fingertips daily (though she gets her salad in a bowl), I whisper to her constantly when working around/in her cage, and I scoop her up and hang her on my shirt, stroking her back and whispering to her. She'll ride around on my shirt for ages that way.

[reptilez]

Oh woops....Sorry eyespy I though you were talking about the V-shaped pores between there back legs.:p

Thanx for clearing that up for me fr0glet :)
-Reptilez

[fr0glet]

My pleasure reptilez, and I think those are called ventral pores. :)