Dragon scratching glass a lot

Question

My dragon is a hatchling from the pet store. I've got him in a 10 gallon tank for now which stays 95 °F in hot end and 75 °F in cool end. He surfs glass a lot. I have checked all the sites on this subject to find out why and I even covered inside tank on three sides so he can't see reflection. He eventually goes in his rock a little after I switch to night lamp but when I pull him out and put him on chest he wiggles in between chest and blanket and goes to sleep.

So my question is: is this normal or is there something I'm doing wrong?

Answer 1

I've seen this countless times. Beardies are fairly social with their people. He wants out, give him some cuddle/play time and see if the behaviour reduces after you put him back. If you pull him out after bedtime, it makes sense that he just wants to go to sleep. It's great that he's comfortable enough with you to do so. Keep up spending time with him, he'll learn that scratching glass means he comes out. Downside: You spend so much time playing with beardie, you get nothing else done ;)

Answer 2

This is a pretty common "I have nothing to dig in" symptom. If you aren't using a substrate he can dig in, get a pot or container and fill with some loose soil so he can have somewhere to scratch his digging itch.

Also, please consider getting a bigger tank soon. 10 gal is probably ok for a hatchling, but that's going to get real cramped real quick. And having that large of a temperature gradient over that small of a tank seems like it would be pretty hard to maintain. And of course be sure there are plenty of hides all over so he can hide in a comfortable temp.