Bearded dragons make amazing pets. They’re cool, collected, and harmless little critters that just want to bask and play around with grubs. If you’re wondering what it’s like to get a beardie, or you’re just interested in knowing more about your pet, wondering if they’re smart is a question that you’d most likely be asking.
Bearded dragons are surprisingly smart lizards. They may not play fetch like dogs or bury their poop like cats, but they’re able to survive in the wild avoiding predators because they’re simply smart. They are also intelligent enough to recognize you if you make a good bond with your pet!
After this article, you’d be realizing just how smart your beardie is and how to make it even smarter. This will help you build a stronger bond between you and your pet and assist you in taking even better care of it. Let’s dive!
How Smart Are Bearded Dragons?
Bearded dragons are pretty intelligent pets. Coupled with their great eyesight and hearing, beardies are cunning and pretty aware of their surroundings. Here are the things your smart bearded dragon can do:
Your Beardie Can Identify You
Though this may take a moment, your bearded dragon can learn to recognize you as their primary caregiver under the right circumstances. If you treat your pet with utmost love and respect, it will associate you with feelings that mean well to it and be accustomed to you. Your beardie can identify your voice, scent, and face when you walk close to its enclosure.
Your Beardie Can Solve Problems
Bearded dragons are smart enough to solve problems with an awareness of their surroundings. There are a few cases of beardies using objects as steps to reach their food. They’ve also been known to find places to rest and navigate through finding food in the wild; all of which are examples of your beardie’s problem-solving skills.
Your Beardie Can Be Trained To Follow Instructions
If you train your bearded dragon properly, it can grow to understand simple instructions and follow suit. For example, you can train your pet to walk towards you and to climb your hand. You can even train it to respond to its name. This will take patience and skill, but it’s possible all the way.
Your Beardie Can Feel Jealous
Beardies are highly territorial and they fully understand when they see a threat. If you put another dragon inside the same enclosure, your beardie can identify if the guest dragon is stronger or weaker. In other cases, the dragons will fight to ensure dominance over the other. When the stronger dragon is noted, the weaker one will automatically submit through various gestures and mannerisms. All these are good examples of intelligence.
Your Beardie Is A Curious Fellow
Bearded dragons display curiosity now and then, which is a good sign of intelligence. Curiosity describes interest and the ability to learn new things or to decipher the meaning of something. Beardies are fond of exploring their surrounding and trying to figure out what they see.
Your pet may enjoy the outdoors or roaming about the house a little more than it will enjoy sitting in its enclosure, and that’s pretty normal for its species. Just ensure that you get a leash for outdoor activities so that your beardie doesn’t run out of sight!
5 Profitable Ways You Can Improve Your Beardie’s Intelligence
Bearded dragons are normally intelligent species, but there are things you can do to make your pet smarter than the basic beardie. Read on!
1. Use Endless Rewards
The key to teaching your pet what you want them to learn is by using treats to reward it during the process. Fruits, flowers, special worms, and some vegetables are all treats you can use. You’d also have fun exploring with your pet and getting to decide which treats it enjoys the most in the long run.
2. Engage In Consistent Training
There are several things you can train your pet to do. You can, first of all, train it to acknowledge its name, including other simple words like “come” and “climb”. Beardies will respond to commands or gestures that look like food, and if you associate yourself – the caregiver – or the word with a reward, your pet will easily learn to act accordingly to these terms. As long as you’re consistent in your effort, it will soon become your beardie’s way of life.
3. Get Some Toys For Your Beardie
Beardies enjoy exploring new shapes and forms. They’re highly curious creatures and are in constant awareness of the objects they’re surrounded by. In most cases, they’re seeking new sources of food. The colors and contrasts of certain objects can catch their attention and get them wondering if it’s edible. Still, it’s an entertaining experience to include toys in your pet’s daily life.
4. Allow Your Pet To Socialize
Although beardies are solitary animals, in a few cases, they learn to make friends with other dragons including other pets. However, you must ensure that you practice vigilance during these encounters. If you notice that your beardie is stressed, quickly separate the meeting until the situation is better. Remember that bearded dragons have unique personalities, and it’s possible for yours to simply not enjoy socializing.
5. Play Games With Your Pet
You can improve your pet’s mental work by playing games such as hide and seek or creating an obstacle course in its enclosure. Use branches to create a maze with delicious treats at the end, or place the treats in hidden areas where your pet can find them. Doing this frequently can improve your pet’s problem-solving skills.
Do Bearded Dragons Like To Play?
Bearded dragons enjoy minimal interaction now and then, but most especially with their live food. It is important to feed your pet live insects to stimulate their mental and physical health. Beardies also show interest in playing with their caregivers and other pets.
As long as they’re used to frequent interaction, your pet may just develop a fondness for mind play. During this form of beardie entertainment, you must ensure that you pay close watch to avoid accidents and injuries from happening to either pet.
Can My Beardie Be Bored? 3 Major Signs That Signify Your Beardie Is Bored
It’s highly possible for bearded dragons to get bored. If your pet lacks the stimulation it needs, it can grow bored of everything around it and even fall depressed. Here are the signs that show your pet is bored:
Lethargy
Lethargy is a state of abnormal inactivity or sluggishness experienced by bearded dragons. Although it’s a symptom of several illnesses, it is also an indication that your dragon is bored beyond belief!
Glass Surfing
When your pet is tired of its enclosure, it will attempt to lay on the glass almost attempting to climb it. Usually, beardies act out of character now and then, but if this behavior has become frequent, it’s a good sign that your pet is bored.
Repetitive Habits
If you find your pet pacing around or walking in circles, it has probably almost lost its mind to boredom completely. This is highly dangerous for beardies as it can reduce their inability to perceive their environment and behave accordingly to their mental capacities. If a dragon acts out of routine excessively, it destroys its natural and intelligent instincts causing it to somewhat lag in terms of intelligence.
Wrapping It Up
There’s a common misconception that beardies are unsmart and slow pets that simply want to eat and sleep, which is absolutely wrong! If your beardie is seemingly not bright, it’s possibly because it’s bored and in need of stimulation. After this article, you should be able to engage your pet in activities that can ‘up-smart’ your bearded dragon and improve its way of life. Remember, all beardies are smart. You just have to probe your pet a little more. Good luck!
