Beardie Not Growing

I have a 3month old Trans Dunner male who isnt more than 11grams....everything in the cage is fine. Temps for hot and cold are 20degrees difference. 20 Gallon Tank for now. Eats mostly phoenix worms and collard greens dusted. Has eaten the beardie buffet before (just a little bit). Is it normal for a beardie with different genes to grow slower? Do I have to be more patient and wait for it to grow? This is my 2nd Bearded Dragon so Im just a little concerned, since my female is doing so well. Any tips, suggestions, comments are greatly appreciated. Regardless Im making a vet appointment for next week.

Lets review the tank lighting ---- brand and bulb please? How are you taking basking temps? infrared heat gun stick ons or digital probe? What are you feeding?
Karrie

Hi there,

I agree we need some more details about your setup.

What exactly is your basking surface temp?
What is your cool side temp?

And like Karrie asked, what are you using for your uvb bulb?

Can you go over his typical diet each day with us, and include quantities?

I have 2 dunners that are a bit younger than yours and they are both over 50g at this point.

So it's best that we review your husbandry, and your guys diet to make sure there isn't anything you can improve upon.
It might be helpful too if you posted a picture of your setup and your dunner? Is he housed with the other dragon?

-Brandon

Reptisun 10.0 UVB Bulb 18inch, 75 watt heat bulb, temps are 106.3 hot and 87 cool, taken with laser temp gun jusy now. Hes in a 20 gallon tank. 5 days a week gets phoenix worms dusted with calcium. Dusted with multivitamin 2 times a week. 2 days a week shredded collard and turnip greens not dusted. Misting every single day. Runs around very energetic, little skiddish of me still, basks, havent handled too much, just not growing. Cant figure out how to upload pics. Purchased at a Repticon from a "reputable breeder." Housed alone.

Thanks for the extra details!

How many PW's would you say he eats per day? Are you limiting them or are you letting him eat as much as he wants? and is it only 1 feeding per day?

For a baby ideally you'd feed 2-3 feeder insect meals a day. Each meal should be as many as he will eat. And a salad should be offered daily, even if he doesn't eat it. It's good habit.

So, 7 days a week with bugs, 2 times a day, or 3 if you can. You don't need to dust the PW's as they are already high in calcium.
And a salad every day.

reppintilians":2qn8dt4i said:

taken with laser temp gun

Click to expand...

What exactly is your basking surface? Is it a log, brick, rock..? I ask because temp guns can be innaccurate depending on what material they are measuring.
The temps sound perfect if they are accurate, although the cool side is a bit warm. I don't like to see it over 85. 75-80 is preferable IMO.
That's one of the downfalls of smaller tanks - it's harder to get an ideal temp gradient.

To upload pictures you can use the user image uploader on this site and then just copy and paste the XIMG code of your picture.
Here is a link to it:
User Image Uploader

Who was the breeder, if you don't mind stating.

-Brandon

I rather not say because I think the person is on these forums. I can email you or something to let you know who I got it from. In a week Id say roughly 150 phoenix worms per week. Some days better than others. Rarely eats in front of me but food disappears. Drinks water in front of me all the time. The substrate for right now is newspaper, one small hide and a small pyramid thing for basking spot. Wrapping paper to cover glass walls. Ill try and upload some pics...(technologically challenged). Like I said Ill make a vet appointment regardless but through all these Beardie fact websites and forums, I have read the more genetics could hinder the growth but still doesn't make sense. I have a ton of Beardie Buffet, should I feed more of that to him? Praying that he grows...

I was just curious was all as I have dunners (my favorite morph) and have bought from 2 different dunner breeders. Was curious if who you bought from is also the breeder of one of mine. You can message me if youd like, or if youd prefer not to say that's fine too.

150 a week is an ok amount but they definitely can eat more. Have you tried other insects with him? Dubias and silkworms would be great choices. Even crickets. He might just need some other bugs in his diet to really kick start his appetite.

-Brandon