Narrator: Taronga Zoo keeper

Okay, so how do you handle the Bearded Dragon?

Like most captured reptiles in Australia this one was born in captivity and grown up as a little fella so he’s a lot tamer if you like or a lot easier to handle than a wild one you’d see like in the bush.

Basically, like any lizard you want to make it feel secure like any animals you want to make it feel secure so you give its front legs to sit on, back legs to sit on and it feels really happy there. If I was holding it by one leg or something it would obviously struggle and feel very uncomfortable and want to get away. So, they’re really easy to handle.

You can actually put them in one hand and just gently lock the thumb if you think it’s going to jump on the ground because you don’t want them jumping on the ground, it’s a long way for a small lizard it could potentially damage itself, break a leg even. So, you want to make sure that if it’s about to jump you’re holding it quite gently but firmly so it can’t escape but this guy’s not wanting to go anywhere, he’s just very happy to sit in my hand all day probably.

And did I mention why it’s called a Bearded Dragon?

It’s probably very obvious but this species has a little beard around the side of its head and if you see them in the wild and they get annoyed they will put down the beard. In captivity they won’t do this because it’s really a threat display it’s trying to show them having a big head, being fierce and scary.

And they’re often called Frill-Necked Lizards but of course the frill-neck’s a different lizard it’s from the northern tropical areas of Australia whereas the Bearded Dragon is from the more central arid areas.

The Frill-Necks’ beard … the frill goes all the way around but the Bearded Dragon has a small beard mostly under its throat and around the sides.

So, he looks like he wants to go back into his enclosure, he’s had enough of me.

As far as handling, a little bit of handling is really good for most of these reptiles. I wouldn’t say every day but certainly you want to handle them from time to time so they do get very comfortable and they’re not at all worried about being taken out of their enclosure like this guy, he’s very relaxed. But, he’d probably want to go back.

Another problem is what would you do if one of your lizard’s not feeding or looks sick or you know started to blow bubbles from its nose because respiratory infection like colds are occasionally found in these species, in these lizards. So, you’d have to bring it to the veterinarian.

So, the easy way to carry a reptile like a Blue Tongue or any other, you can put it into a soft bag and then tie it up gently, be very careful that it’s in the bottom of the bag and then put that bag inside a hard case or a container and take it to the vet inside a cloth bag. And that would be the safe and easy way to bring it to the vet.

Of course making sure you don’t leave it in a parked car or anything silly like that because they are very susceptible to overheating like all animals.

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