Many pets are known to be protective of their owners, what about bearded dragons? Bearded dragons are quickly becoming a common household pet here in America. It is recognized that bearded dragons come with amazing characters, but is being protective of their owner one of it?
Bearded dragons do get protective of their owners. They are not known to express their emotions in the ways of other domestic pets. However, if your bearded dragon senses you’re in danger or gets jealous, it would get aggressive.
Bearded dragons are a genus of several species of lizards, also known as Pogona. Since the early 1990s, bearded dragons have slowly gained popularity in being an exotic pet. Given the affection bearded dragons have been known to show their owners, it has made them a popular pet in recent times.
When Do Bearded Dragons Get Protective of Their Owners?
Bearded dragons do not express their feelings as other domestic pets do. However, many bearded dragon owners have enjoyed the fulfilling rewards that come once a good rapport is built with their pet bearded dragon.
As surprising as it may sound, this affection also leads to your bearded dragon getting protective over you. Sometimes a little overly protective that it might hurt the person or animal your bearded dragon assumes to be a threat.
There are several instances when your bearded dragon could get protective over you.
Being Closed to Another Pet
Bearded dragons in captivity have been known to express jealously very frequently. This is especially true if they are attached to the owner and saw the owner playing fondly with another animal.
This makes your bearded dragon jealous and leads to aggression. Given the opportunity, your bearded dragon would threaten and attempt to scare off the other animal.
To justify its actions, you need to acknowledge that bearded dragons are territorial and solitary animals and do not enjoy the company of another bearded dragon or animal.
With the close bond it has created with you, your bearded dragon will not be willing to share your love with another animal or sometimes even a human. The jealousy of a bearded dragon extends beyond just the animal kingdom and includes humans as well.
Owner’s Close Circle
Bearded dragons are also known to get aggressive with humans at times. This is frequently seen when a visitor of its owner turns up. Given the natural bond between humans and between pets are different, your bearded dragon could wrongly mistake your friend to be a threat.
Sometimes, even a silly poke by your friend could be seen as a sign of attack by your bearded dragon and it may attack or threaten your friend as a sign of being protective of you. This is especially spot-on if your friend is a new face to your bearded dragon.
Thus, ensure to properly introduce your close circle members to your bearded dragon first and foremost, so that they can get comfortable in each other’s company. This will help in preventing your bearded dragon from getting protective of you in their presence.
An Actual Threat
This is one instance whereby your bearded dragon getting protective of you is of great importance to you. If you look threatened in any situation, your bearded dragon would immediately get into its attack stance to protect you.
This could be any kind of threat, for example, getting mugged, a snake attack, or even you being afraid of a spider. On any of these occasions, your bearded dragon would step forward to go to war for you.
Bearded dragons would go to the extent of risking their own lives to protect their owners. This protective behavior of bearded dragons is one of the main reasons it makes a great domestic pet.
Therefore, as a bearded dragon owner, ensure that you create a great bond with your bearded dragon. It would not be protective of everyone, just of the people it has a close bond and is affectionate with.
Indications of Bearded Dragons Getting Protective of Their Owners
Even as bearded dragon owners, sometimes we just don’t know why our bearded dragons are behaving in a certain manner. Due to that, it is common for some bearded dragon owners to misunderstand their bearded dragon’s protective behavior to be aggressive and wild.
Less be worried, there are some indications as to when your bearded dragon is being protective of you. Even though your captive bearded dragon is tame, the natural wilderness in it is still deep within its DNA. Thus, to protect you from harm, your bearded dragon can and will bring out its wild nature.
Beard Blackening
The most obvious indication of your bearded dragon getting aggressive is its beard getting darker or blacker. When your bearded dragon is getting into its protective stance, its mood swings to aggression, hence causing its beard to turn dark to the magnitude of being jet black.
When your bearded dragon feels that you are not in a safe position, it would get protective. This causes your breaded dragon to get aggressive as well, leading to the darkening of its beard.
Beard Inflating
In addition to beard darkening, your bearded dragon’s beard will also start inflating. You might have realized that your bearded dragon’s beard looks spiky, however, the tip of its beard is usually not sharp.
When your bearded dragon is ready for a confrontation, its beard will inflate. This is to make your bearded dragon look fierce and scare away its rival. When your bearded dragon is being protective of you, the same applies.
Gaping Mouth
Moreover, to make itself look more intimidating, your bearded dragon would gape open its mouth. In the wild, bearded dragons would adapt to this stance to make it look more terrifying to their rivals.
Nevertheless, even in a captive scenario bearded dragons would find their way to showcase this stance. This is especially true when it feels the owner is under threat by a bigger rival to it.
Thus, to make it look larger, your bearded dragon would get into a stance with its mouth agape to protect its owner and intimidate the threat.
Eye Bulging
Bearded dragons have an interesting set of eyes and are also known to be very dependent on them. However, there is another hidden use of their eyes that may not be so commonly known by many.
Your bearded dragon is capable of also bulging out its eyes to further intimate its opponent. This is another scare technique that your bearded dragon may employ when it’s protective of you.
Head Bobbing
As a bearded dragon owner, I’m sure that you would have at one point or another noticed your pet bearded dragon bobbing its head.
Head bobbing is mostly seen on male bearded dragons. They will start bobbing their head to demonstrate their dominance or to indicate that they’re ready for mating.
When your bearded dragon is being protective of you, it will also start bobbing its head to indicate its dominance.
Hissing
Hissing is something bearded dragon owners are all used to. At any instance your bearded dragon feels threatened or aggressive, the most common indication would be hissing.
Bearded dragons use hissing to attract the attention of their threat and try to scare it off. When your bearded dragon hisses, it is a sign that it’s getting protective of you.
Biting
If all else fails, your bearded dragon would resort to biting to attempt removing the threat. Although it’s not something that is frequently heard of, bearded dragons can bite.
Bearded dragons have a strong jaw but they won’t use biting in combat with their species. However, bearded dragons have been noticed using their biting force when threatened by a different species.
Thus, do let your friends and family know that if your bearded dragon is protective of you. If they were to threaten you in front of your bearded dragon, they should be prepared to face the consequences.
How to Calm Your Protective Dragon Down?
Why is it important to calm your bearded dragon down when it’s being protective of you? For one, it’s for the safety of your close circle.
They have to face the wrath of your bearded dragon when they are just playing with you. Therefore, it is important to get your bearded dragon calmed down. Beardies are not capable of understanding the difference between a real threat and a prank.
Hence, your bearded dragon would take any situation in which it feels that you are being threatened and start getting protective over you.
Take It Away
The best way to calm down the situation when your bearded dragon is getting protective over you is by removing it from the location. Take your bearded dragon away from the person or other animal that it is trying to protect you from.
By doing this, you will essentially be bringing calm to a rather stressful bearded dragon. When you take your bearded dragon away from the scene of threat, you would also be showing it that you are indeed in control of the situation.
Show That You Are Under Control
To prevent your bearded dragon from becoming overprotective, show that you have the situation under control. Prove to your bearded dragon that you are all fine and there is no need for them to be protective of you.
All you have to do is stand up straight, put a smile on your face and just continue being normal while not giving too much attention to your bearded dragon. This way, indirectly you will be notifying your bearded dragon that there is no threat.
However, there is a downside to this method. Bearded dragons could get attached to their owner and by ignoring it and paying more attention to another pet or another person, you might get it to become jealous. Jealousy could also lead to aggression.
Arm Waving
In the bearded dragon kingdom, arm-waving is a significant sign. When another bearded dragon waves its arm, it’s an indication of submission. To a certain extent, bearded dragons accept this sign from humans as a sign of submitting to them as well.
Thus, if a friend or family had to rub you off the wrong way and gained your bearded dragon’s wrath, it’s worth a try to wave their arms towards your bearded dragon as a sign of submission. However, there are no guarantees that this method will always work.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we can agree that bearded dragons are indeed protective of their owners. Much like other pets that get affectionate and start becoming protective of their owners, so does your pet bearded dragon.
Nevertheless, it is all for your protection, as your bearded dragon will put its life at stake to save your life. When your bearded dragon is being protective of you, there are various indications that it will showcase.
These indications are important as it shows that your bearded dragon is stressed and feels you are threatened. If you find your bearded dragon to be aggressive and its protectiveness over you is making the surroundings uncomfortable, then by all means try to calm your bearded dragon down.
It’s best to properly introduce your bearded dragon to your close circle and have them form a healthy relationship too.
