What Does My Bearded Dragon Do While I'm Gone

May 28, 2017
7 min read

❓When a bearded dragon is alone❓

This blog is merely a way for me to discuss something I have wondered since I got Mango, my first bearded dragon. If there are other people who are interested in this discussion or are curious about the same thing, this blog may possibly gain a lot of traffic. I am basing this boring beardy blog around the way Mango acts when I am not around. Naturally, bearded dragons are docile, but you have seen movies. Do you ever wonder what they do when you aren't watching? No? Yeah, me either.

Active Morning Activity Here recently, I have been able to sleep in more, so in turn I am able to notice more of Mango's behavior when he first wakes up in the mornings. He is insanely active from the time he gets up and moving, which is usually between 9:30 to 11:00 am. I have a zoo med day and night timer so he generally wakes up and starts moving moments after his day light comes on which I have set for around 10 in the morning. If he sleeps under his heat, his amount of energy when he wakes up is unbelievable. Mango enjoys his tank very much now and he doesn't get aggravated and wall surf anymore due to the fact that I have started letting him out more. When he wakes up however, he is just active and free-roaming. He will sit on his long for a minute and look around, then he will climb his rocks and get on his hammock and run around on it, then he will jump down and get back on his log and most of the time he will keep doing this until he wants to bask. After he gets done basking for a few minutes, he will go back to running around. Now, I know that doesn't sound like much at all and it doesn't sound like anything interesting but for an owner of a generally lazy bearded dragon, it is great to see your dragon being active. The Common Misconception Now generally, a dragon is going to be docile and lazy. Anyone who owns a bearded dragon knows, they are not the most active creatures out there, however, that doesn't mean they aren't active while you are gone. I have come home after a long day of being gone and Mango will still be in the same place he was in when I left that morning, but there will be things that show he hasn't been in the same spot all day. For example I will leave that morning and he will be asleep on his log and when I come home from work, he will still be laying on his log in the same position, but there may be poop in his tank, or his food will be gone, or his food won't be gone but his bowl will be flipped over. He actually has a habit of doing this when he doesn't want the food I offer him. If he doesnt want greens, he will lay in his bed of greens and drag the greens around under his body and make a huge mess. If he doesn't want the mealworms I leave for him, he will flip the whole bowl over and all the worms will spill out and be under the bowl. I honestly have left the mealworms in there the past 3 days to see how many days in a row he does that and ever day Ive come home, that bowl is flipped upside down. I don't believe it because it is almost like he really is trying to tell me something. For most bearded dragon owners who have raised a baby or juvenile, it is easier for you to spot an older, lazy dragon that does not do much when you are gone by the fact of, many times you can leave food and it will still be there when you return whereas a younger dragon is probably going to be so active throughout the day that it will eat the food or play with it before you return home. The common misconception is that a bearded dragon, when left alone for long periods of time, is going to do much at all. This is only true for owners of lazy and obese dragons. Most healthy dragons are going to spend much of their time in their cage free roaming or trying to get out to explore outside the cage. If you were to do the math, like say you were gone for 5 hours, your dragon may move twice or three times an hour unless it has reason to move more such as food or to bask or maybe it just wants to be active. On the other hand, you also have those incidents where the dragon is comfortable where it is and doesn't want to move much at all throughout the day such as if it shedding, or if its fairly chilly and they want to stay under the heat to keep warm. What Can Studying Your Dragon Help You Learn? When we classify a dragon as lazy, we distinguish between young and old, fit and obese, or energized and naturally lazy. The nature of your dragon is going to depend on many things. Where is your dragon's terrarium located? How hot is their basking spot exactly? How warm is the base temperature of the terrarium? Are there other animals in the house? Do you stay home and tend to create loud noises, frantic changes in lighting around, or is there a lot of movement around your dragon? When we ask these questions then study the behavior of our dragons when they are awaking from sleep, eating, and naturally moving throughout their habitat, we get a better understanding of their behaviors when they are alone. Now, if you really wanted to know exactly what your dragon does when they are alone, which I can promise is not going to be anything too exciting, you could always place a 24 hour camera in front of your dragon for most of the day, then go home, speed the footage, and actually see your dragon's behavior alone. This is one way to study their natural behavior alone but generally, when we study their natural behavior throughout the day, we grow a better understanding of how active or inactive they are throughout the day. The purpose of knowing the habits and behaviors of your dragon when left alone will begin to give you a better understanding of how they naturally are in environment they have become accustom to. If your dragon does move at all throughout the day, this is not a big issue. It is when your dragon does not have a want to be active for three and four days straight that you should be worried. When left alone, most dragons are going to have a simple, one track mindset throughout the day. They may periodically think about things like "I'm hungry. Where is my food?" or "Its chilly. Where is my heat?" then move and search for the things they want. Some dragons are constantly wall surfing or scratching at the edges of the tank because they want out and they have made themselves believe there is a way out. Naturally, most of the population of captive raised bearded dragons are going to lay around after they eat, when they feel like basking, and when they generally just want to lay around, which might I add, is most of the day considering how docile natured they are. The habits you help your dragon learn are the habits they will naturally grow to have throughout their life. If you show your dragon being lazy and fat is fine and you constantly feed them fattening foods and hardly show them attention, they are going to become obese. If you feed your dragon correctly and properly and keep them active and healthy by taking them out to roam and explore and showing them attention, they are going to be pretty active most of the day while left alone because they will have the want to explore and be active. No matter how you treat your dragon, they are going to develop certain behavioral patterns and continue to do them daily until they feel as though change should take place. Bearded dragons have the ability to learn and adapt to new surroundings and behaviors not only at a young age, but at older ages as well. Bearded dragons don't come with detailed instructions when you buy them, generally because they are just pets. At the most you may grab a care sheet from the pet store or go online and read up on them before or after you get one. People are going to treat it like you can raise them how you please and as long as they "seem" healthy, to continue the habits you show them from the start. Any dragon, when taught to do so, is going to have a want to active. If you've ever struggled with the question of is my dragon active and happy when I'm not around, you aren't alone. A dragon's natural behaviors when alone are not going to effect their mood, however, too much time spent alone with no attention can often cause depression and lack of will to be active. A dragon, if fed and bathed properly, kept healthy, and given a lots of attention is going to be perfectly fine and happy when left alone for hours at a time because its part of their genetics to be docile and laid back. The amount of things that can cause a dragon to be lazy or active when left alone can range from bugs being in the cage all day, the process of shedding is occurring, if more than one dragon is being housed in the same home, and even things like if the dragon is seeing its own reflection and believing there is another dragon somewhere near it. These creatures have minds like no other. They adaption has become so vast and easy that raising a healthy dragon should be a walk in the park to most owners. Where you stand on lack of energy to just lazy natured is your opinion however. Keeping a dragon healthy and active is going to be the root cause of how their behavior is when left alone. Just remember, no two dragons are the same, but every single one of them require human love and attention to live a healthy and active life. ✌🏻Cease the hate, peace we create✌🏻