Whats my beardie doing?!

Siman · #1 (**permalink**) 30-06-2008, 09:25 PM

Hi guys,

I decided to research a little bit into body behaviour in Bearded Dragons and thought I'd post my findings here to help out anyone who thinks that the Beardie they own might be doing something out of character. I am currently requesting anyone with beardie pictures doing the things noted to send them me via PM and if i could please have a MOD update this thread to include the new pictures that would be great.

Mouth gaping:

This causes common worry for a lot of new beardie owners when in fact it shouldn't be worried about at all! Bearded Dragons use this as a method for cooling off which could pose a worry that it may be too hot in your vivarium, but unless your beardie is doing it all the time and not after just short intervals everything should be fine. This is usually done in the basking zone, again regulation of body temps, nothing to worry about. Picture below supplied by luke123

Black Beard:

Black beards have varying reasons of why they occur, these can be:

Bad Mood
Cold
Scared

It is said they sometimes even show black beards when hungry, although i haven't found 100% conclusive evidence of this yet. This can also be during breeding when a male is 'showing off' to a female to show how manly he is (Info added by luke123)

Arm Waving:

This is submissive in nature and often seen in younger beardies often babies and juveniles but sometimes seen in submissive adults. Although again I am yet to find 100% evidence for it i have also read in some places its a 'come on' for female beardies to males. This is often shown as a slow raising and lowering of the whole arm and sometimes changing which arm is used.

Head bobbing:

This is basically an opposite to Arm waving, its a case of look who's boss in the beardie world. Both males and females can head bob, but usually its found during breeding that the male will head bob to show his dominance and the female will arm wave to show they are submissive to the male. This can also be done for beardies to humans to show displeasure or even if the beardie feels they 'own' you.

Beard puffing:

This can sometimes be confused with blackening beards as a form of not being happy, but this isn't the case. If your beardie is puffing out its beard without it going black it could just be a case of a morning stretch. It can also sometimes be linked with showing off and how great they look. This can also be loosening shed that may be irritating or need shedding around the neck/head. (added by luke123)

Eye Bulging:

In all research i have done i haven't found a single 100% fact as to why beardies do this. But it is believed to be one of the following:

Stretching the skin during shedding
A "Yawn" to go along with the possibility of yawning with beard puffing
Clearing of the eyes - Possibly done if something such as substrate is in it
Mating ritual - The only reasoning i could find of this was when it was discussed recently in a conversation i listened into, I am yet to find any books or websites which can confirm this.

Tail Curling

I haven't seen this MYSELF but i will add. This is mainly seen during feeding time, the curl can go from the tip to the base of the tail during hunting and eating. I believe it could be related to hunting excitement - if anyone has any other theories i would love to discuss them! (Tail curling added by R0NST3R)

There are also new behavioural body actions which i have yet to have personally seen. These and more information about what i have written can be found here: Exclusive Dragons - Bearded Dragon Body Language

I hope this thread may be able to help some of the new people and hopefully calm some nerves. I must say that almost all of this is from research taken and although some is direct experience with beardies the meaning behind it was taken from research and others opinions. If anyone would like to add pictures of their beardies performing any of the above feel free to PM me a picture and I'll try and get it posted.

Thanks for reading!