My Beardie is really small

This is my first time on this website because I am realizing that my beardie, sunny, seems to be really small for her age, both in length and weight. She turns 2 in a few days and only weighs 371 grams and is 15.5 inches. Is this too small? I have a red heat lamp and a white UV light that I change every 6-8 months. This was recommended by the place we got her, a reptile store, and PetSmart. Im really worried and will do anything to get her size up to a healthy number. She seems healthy and strong however.

Can you post some photos of her? You can upload photos here https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ and post them to your thread using the XIMG button when you reply.

I do advise against using red heat lamp as that can cause visual impairment. It's best to stick with a bright white basking light. Using a high quality UVB light is important as well. Do you know which brand and wattage you have? If you include photos of that as well, it would be helpful.

This is a picture of sunny next to her ruler. Her tail is kinked so it's a little hard to get an accurate measurement, but she's about 15 in. Give or take a half an inch. Her red heat lamp is the same brand, but I don't know the wattage

The 13w is not sufficient for a bearded dragon. How big is your enclosure? A 22'' T5 works well for most setups. http://www.lightyourreptiles.com/22-t-5-ho-fixture-high-output-with-arcadia-d3-12-ho-bulb/

I would also replace the red bulb with a bright white one. Try a PAR38 or BR40 flood light from the hardware store. Start with a 60-70w equivalent and check the surface temps. You want the basking surface to be between about 100-105 and the cool end surfaces should be about 75-80 or so. If the temps aren't high enough you can move up to a higher wattage, maybe 90w equivalent or so and test again.

Hi there, I agree with Cooper's good suggestions on the light situation. And I can see that her tail also has a nip which takes about 1.5-2.5 inches from her length. She is definitely in the acceptable range of bearded dragon growth, a tad short in length and even just a wee bit on the chubby side.

Thank You so much! This is all great information. If you don't mind me asking, why is the red light so harmful? The package said it was suitable for all beardies.

If she is on the chubby side, what can I do to help her maintain a suitable weight? I usually feed her 3 large dubia roaches once every five or six days, and veggies between that, and maybe one fruit day as well.

Update: How would I use the UVB light, is it also suitable as a heat/basking lamp, or should I get another basking light of that build.

It was once believed that BDs couldn’t see red light, that’s one reason why they’re also sold as night lights. It’s now believed they see red just fine, and their eyesight picks up even more colors of the light spectrum than ours. They use their natural vision to spot the best basking spots in the wild. Red lights destroy their ability to do this—everything looks red. Short term, its probably harmless, longer terms can lead to vision impairment, stress, and sickness because the environment isn’t “normal.”

http://beardeddragoncaresheet.weebly.com/lighting.html


Any standard bulb can work for basking. A flood light from Home Depot will work and be much cheaper. For UVB, get a 22 inch t5 10.0 tube. Those pre-made kits they sell are generally junk the stores have trouble selling otherwise. The coil bulbs focus too much into one spot and also lose UVB very quickly. This can cause vision damage and a sick dragon while the owner assumes everything is okay.

Thank you everyone for the great advice! I'm sure sunny will be a much happier and healthier dragon thanks to all this great info!