Bearded dragons are generally calm and docile pets. But however, sometimes bearded dragons can become aggressive. So why is my bearded dragon aggressive? In this post, we will discuss bearded dragon aggression, reasons for aggression, and how to calm down an aggressive bearded dragon.
Bearded dragon aggression causes:
- Relocation – have you just got your bearded dragon?
- Stress
- Health issues
- Breeding season
- New tank or the environment
- Competition
- You scared it
- Small tank
- Shedding
- Hormonal processes or changes
Bearded dragon aggression signs
- Hissing
- Open mouth display
- Puffing up the beard
- Black beard and stress marks
- Staring
- Head bobbing (especially quick jerks – sign of competitive behavior)
- Running away
- Biting
What can I do about my angry bearded dragon?
First of all, don’t take it personally. Bearded dragons do not become aggressive on purpose, and your bearded dragon doesn’t hate you either. Please look for the reason of aggression and try to make it better.
Don’t worry, your bearded dragon is very likely to become calm and tame. Whether it’s new or has a temporary mood swings, most of these pass within few days or weeks, rarely – few months.
If your dragon is not used to you or is new, place something that has your smell in the cage. Stroke your bearded dragon’s head instead of handling it for the first 2 weeks. If your bearded dragon seems to be in a bad mood, leave it alone until the next day.
Why is my bearded dragon aggressive?
Cause #1: Hormones
One of the common reasons why your bearded dragon might become aggressive is a hormonal change. This can happen in both males and females.
In females, it can be a time when they ovulate. In male bearded dragons, it can be a territorial display for both attracting females or competition. These behaviors can start in bearded dragons as early as 6 months of age.
Cause #2: Changing the environment
Changing the environment, adding or removing new items in the house can make your bearded dragon mad, even suddenly. Various small changes might not seem big or serious to you, but your bearded dragon can react in a negative way.
This can include new accessories, furniture and so on. So if you have recently moves things around, added new accessories in the house or moved the tank to a new spot, this might make your bearded dragon suddenly aggressive.
This can also be when changing your dragon’s tank or moving thing around it in too frequently (more often than once in 2-3 months). If any of these is true, then give your bearded dragon some time to get used to everything again. This can take a week or even two.
Cause #3: You scared your bearded dragon
If your bearded dragon can’t see your approaching or is relaxed when you approach, it might get scared. This can be for example, when you approach quietly from the back or touch your bearded dragon when it’s almost sleeping/relaxed.
Because of this, your bearded dragon might become suddenly aggressive, start running around the tank and injure itself. But don’t worry or blame yourself too much – this can happen.
If your bearded dragon is tame and docile otherwise, take it out and stroke it and speak to it in a soft voice. Or even better, cover the sides of the tank with a cloth and leave your dragon alone for some time.
Believe it or not, your bearded dragon can even get scared and hate the clothing that you are wearing. It could be specific color clothing, head accessories and more. Also, it might not like your perfume as it’s not your regular smell.
What is more, your bearded dragon might be scared of a specific gender – males or females. This could be because of previous abusive owners.
Cause #4: Breeding season
During the breeding season, your bearded dragon might become a little aggressive, but this is not common. Often, bearded dragons get aggressive when fighting for a female – male vs. male. They can bite each other, head bob, run around and more. If your try to handle your dragon at this point, you might get bitten.
Please do not have two males near each other (don’t even let them see each other!) during the breeding season. Same goes with a male and female – if you don’t want them to breed, keep them separate. A male bearded dragon can stress the female out.
Sometimes, owners keep two bearded dragons together, thinking that they are both females or male and female. But later it turns out, that that they are of opposite sex. Females also get aggressive when maturing – around 6-8 months old is when you can start seeing different behavior.
Cause #5: Your bearded dragon is new
When a bearded dragon is new, it will be scared and stressed of many things. Please be patient and your bearded dragon is very likely to become docile and friendly. This is especially true for baby bearded dragons, who can see you as a threat.
When handling your new bearded dragon, don’t put your hand from the top, as it will perceive you as a threat. Also, don’t rush with handling – let your dragon acclimatize for 2 weeks before handling at all.
Start with adding your item in the tank that has your smell, stroking its head and hand feeding (sometimes). Don’t make your bearded dragon used to hand feeding, though.
If your bearded dragon start opening its mouth at you, place a treat in its mouth. Treats really do help to make your bearded dragon associate you with good things.
Cause #6: Different temperament
Every dragon has its own personality. However, most bearded dragons are docile and friendly, but some can remain intolerant to handling.
But never jump to this conclusions – this is not common (unless dragon comes from very abusive past). Even dragons with the bad past can be tamed after few months of work and patience.
If your bearded dragon doesn’t get used to you within 3-6 months and nothing works, then there is an issue. There might be something that is constantly bothering your bearded dragon, so make sure to review living conditions, diet and more.
Sometimes, it can be something causing prolonged stress, that makes your bearded dragon aggressive. For example, if you keep offering crickets that bite your dragon (or if it happened before and you still offer them), bullying cage mates, no handling and other reasons.
Cause #6: Shedding
Your bearded dragon might become quite grumpy few days before and during the shedding. For some bearded dragons, shedding causes mood swings and it can also refuse to eat.
Your bearded dragon might not want much attention and handling during this period. If your bearded dragon is still new, you will lean what the usual behavior around these periods is.
Cause #7: Start of brumation
Many bearded dragons become quite grumpy or even aggressive (rarely) before they start brumation. Just before your bearded dragon starts to brumate, it will start refusing food, getting slow and lethargic, sleeping a lot (even during the day) and hiding.
Bearded dragons often start brumating at the age of 12-18 months, mostly during the winter. If you feel that your bearded dragon has started getting slow and sleeping more, it could be preparing to brumate. This is considering that your dragon has been healthy and didn’t show any other alarming signs prior to this.
Let your dragon brumate, reduce tank temperatures to around 80 F (26.6 C) at a basking spot – and to 70 F (21.1 C) at a cool spot. Your bearded dragon will look for a darker spot to sleep. Do not force feed or handle your dragon if it doesn’t want that.
Cause #8: Wrong setup
Small mistakes in the setup or husbandry can make your bearded dragon upset, aggressive and sick. When something in the setup is bothering your bearded dragon, it might also get mad at you.
This, for example, can be extremely bright light or wrong type of lighting. Make sure that the light is intended for reptiles, is not very high wattage for the tank that you have, and is mounted from overhead. Even very bright light in the room can upset your dragon.
Wrong lighting can be damaging your bearded dragon’s eyes, make it stressed and mad. Do not use lights for plants, coiled bulbs, or any cheap bulbs that might have a higher exposure than required.
Other things that can make your bearded dragon mad are for example, when it can see its own reflection and doesn’t like it. Or when it sees other pets or children that bang on the glass or bother it. This can also be feeder bugs that hide and bite it, no hides in the tank and other things that cause stress.
Cause #9: Sickness
If your bearded dragon is sick, it might feel pain and discomfort. In this case, it might also be uncomfortable with you, act scared or angry. If you start noticing any strange behavior, lethargy, no appetite, spasms, soft bones, constipation or any other, try to look for the reason.
You can read about bearded dragon diseases in this post.
Cause #10: Hunger
Your bearded might be hungry if it tries attacking or biting you. This can especially happen with younger bearded dragons, that love to eat a lot!
Make sure that your young bearded dragon (up to 7 months old) can eat as much as it wants within 20 minutes. Don’t limit young bearded dragons in food, as they are growing and have a high need for nutrients.
With adult bearded dragons, limit the portions of especially fatty bugs and worms. Obesity can and does happen with bearded dragons that are older and overeat. Adults should eat around 30-50 crickets or roaches per week, or only 15-20 fattier worms (in total per week, 7-10 max/per feeding).
Bearded dragon aggressive outside?
If your bearded dragon is calm and docile when inside the tank and completely aggressive when outside, it can be normal. This is especially if it’s the first times when your dragon sees the outside world.
Please do not react negatively to your bearded dragon being aggressive when outside. This is because outside, they see lots of new things – possibly people, planes, trees, bugs, birds, shadows, open spaces and more. All of this is extremely overwhelming to your dragon.
It is a good idea to take your bearded dragon out by holding it close to your chest and then letting it play in a small playpen like this. If it still gets stressed, it can be better to take it inside, unless you specifically want to train it to be comfortable outdoors.
Tips on dealing with an aggressive bearded dragon
- Don’t always open the tank ONLY to handle your bearded dragon. Start opening the doors and offering treats to your dragon. This will help build trust and your dragon will know you are not there to touch it only.
- Start slowly and be patient.
- Keep handling. Don’t stop handling your bearded dragon if it shows signs of aggression. If you stop handling, you won’t eventually tame it or make it comfortable with you. You can wear gloves for handling if your bearded dragon is not scared of them.
- Don’t stop handling either if your bearded dragon bites or stares at you – show that you are not scared.
- You can even use tongs to feed your bearded dragon if it’s not comfortable with you. Offering food and treats is the way to build trust. Soft tip tongs like this are better not to scratch your bearded dragon’s mouth.
- Cover the sides of the tank and leave your dragon alone for some time to let it calm down.
- Remember, in your bearded dragon’s eyes – you are a huge creature!
Thank you for reading this post. If you believe that your bearded dragon is stressed, you can read this post to see signs of stress in bearded dragons.