Healthy weights ?

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Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
Good evening fellow beardie parents! Our baby is in between 5 and 6 months her name is Freyja. I was just wondering what do you think a healthy weight is and how much would you guys feed your dragon at that age? I would love to hear opinions? I feed dubia, hornworm, bsfl, and a few supers here and there. However this week she will be doing crickets instead of dubia I don’t like too but hey **** happens. Also at this age should I worry if she doesn’t poop for a few days or so when should I start worrying about impactions (how long in between poops) ? Please tell me what y’all think how many of each of those bugs at a time (or a day) the margarine of weights at this age and when to worry about poops. I have no reason to worry about impacting due to my good husbandry but still do. Thanks for your time. Best wishes to you and yours
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KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
She looks really good - a good weight for an adult is 300+ grams -- Freyja is big for a 5-6 month old -- I would not worry about impaction unless your feeding her insects / food that is too big for her -- it is not uncommon for them to not poop every day -- some can go weeks w/ out pooping -- keep feeding her salads every day and her protein -- at her age she should be getting mostly protein but w/ the way she looks I would feed more salads and keep up w/ the insects too its just if she is still hungry I would offer salads -- some others on here can chime in and see what they think for diet wise
Karrie
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
im not sure if my scale is broke or if she is just above average size because we have weighed her several times over the last few days and shes in @ 310 grams and she just pooped so its not a full tummy. :shock: Yeah i give her access to her salads and a variety of greens and veggies all day. Been aiming for 20-30 bugs a day she is eating med dubia, about 10 a feeding. Hornworms pretty ok size 3-4 a feeding. She also gets bsfl i let her eat those till she stops due to the size. Supers too but aren't they fatty? she eats crickets med-large this week I'm not use to crickets i don't care for them but times are tough at moment. Does all that sound good? how many of each one of those feeders would you feed a dragon at her age? Dubia at a time? Crickets at a time? hornworms at a time? supers ? btw how is Blaze?
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
those 20-30 bugs are two feedings, few hours after she wakes and in the evening
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
Blaze is around 17 months-- I would cut back on the super worms- feed them once - two times per week same w/ the horn worms- dubias I would feed what she's eating and cut the crickets out--- do you know how many bsfl she's eating? She is a big girl- she needs exercise - get her out and let her run you LR--
Karrie
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
we have to do crickets this week, we have no dubia and my colony is taking awhile to get going. Just short on money so we have to feed her what we have at moment and that's hornworm and crickets. How many crickets and hornworm a day you think?
 

KarrieRee

BD.org Sicko
Beardie name(s)
Hiccup he is 6 and Blaze is 4
I am not sure we need Tracie or ahbd to give their opinions- let's see if they chime in here
Karrie
 

MissCutiePatootie

Hatchling Member
Is Freyja a she or a he? For some reason her physique looks like a he to me mostly in the head because it looks similar to my boy when he was younger! LOL I mean no offense saying that! She is a very pretty dragon, I love her colors! She looks like a big dragon (not really fat to me just doing quite well!) Have you double checked her gender? I'm curious now haha!

As for the poos, I remember my dragon going up to a week without a poop before with zero issue. Although, I think it is more normal to go up to 3 days-ish. Just make sure to pay attention to how they look when they do come. And if you think she's looking a bit bloated and wanna try to encourage her to pass a stool try soaking her in a lukewarm bath. Same temp as you'd do with a behbeh.

For the feeders, hornworms can be quite filling depending on their size and are great at hydrating our dragons. I don't suggest feeding them to your dragon if your dragon is a bit bloated looking already because it may cause discomfort if she hasn't passed a big stool in a while. If you're feeding them on the larger size I wouldn't do more than 1 or 2 a day and take care they don't latch onto your beardies eye/lid! I had one do that once and he stopped taking them for quite some time so I think it gave him a good pinch. For the dubia my boy was eating anywhere between 20-60 small dubia a day at that age. For superworms, think of them as a side of french fries. Each one is a small fry. Lol. Also important is to start Freyja on salads soon if you haven't already! The younger you start the easier it is to transition them in adulthood.

If you'd like something to compare to, this is what I managed to keep track of for my boy.
7 weeks old // 12 grams // 6.5 inches
8 weeks old // 13 grams // 7-1/8 inches long
9 weeks old // 19 grams // 8 inches
10 weeks old // 8.5 inches // 27 grams
11 weeks old // 9 inches // 31 grams
12 weeks old // 9 3/4 inches long // 42 grams
14 weeks // 72 grams // 11.5 inches
15 weeks // 12 1/3 inches // 77 grams
16 weeks // 13 inches // 91 grams!!
18 weeks //126 grams // 13 1/2 inches
19 weeks // 133 grams // 14 1/2 inches long
5 months 1 week // 181 grams // 15 1/2 inches long
5 months 2 weeks // 204 grams // 16 inches long
6 months old // 18 inches long // 258 grams
6 months 1 week // 301 grams // 18 inches long
6 months 3 weeks // 310 grams // 18 inches long
7 months // 338 grams // 18 1/2 inches long
9 months old // 457 grams // 20 inches
9 months 2 weeks // 500 grams flat!!
1 year 7 months // 553 grams // 20 1/2 inches long
21 inches // 2 years 11 months

After that I stopped recording it lol. Just thought it was a cool thing to look back on and maybe for others to compare growth rates! He was fed mainly salads and BSFL, Silkworms, Dubia, Crickets, hornworms and some Supers growing up. I hope this helps!
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
Yes this is great to go off thank you very much. She is a great salad eater matter a fact and I just know what the breeder told me I got her on morph mart. Mile high Dragons, Colorado. Her hatch date was June 28 2020. I trust the dude I got her from so I’m pretty sure she’s a dame lol. I have been actually feeding her med dubia do you think that’s too big? Do you think she struggles to digest? She does poop about every 3-4 days and According to your chart she’s actually a good weight. Thanks again and great looking dragon.
 

MissCutiePatootie

Hatchling Member
Thank you, your girl is very very pretty too! That is always great to hear she loves her salads! They can be so stubborn sometimes and more than likely will go on a salad strike at some point in their lives. She is an impressive size for a female at her age! I don't think my girl looked like her at her age. When I was measuring my boy weekly, I searched online for other peoples growth charts just for fun and he was always bigger compared to them so it is impressive that your girl is keeping up with my boy in size! Just goes to show how individual they are! If you want to for fun, you could check the base of her tail with a flash light and see if there's any hemipenes or not. I believe you that she's a girl but it would be funny if she was a he afterall!

You're with her everyday so trust your gut! If you think she is backed up, lay off the bugs a bit and just offer salads and baths until she passes stool. It won't stunt her growth or cause her any harm if she goes without insects and only offer salads until she poos. Healthy dragons won't starve themselves to death.

I doubt the dubia you're feeding her are too big, you would just feed her less of them than I did. I remember at one point with my boy, he started to slow down his consumption and holding out for bugs like superworms or waxworms and they're really bad as staples. So instead of letting him eat to his hearts content like before, I actually limited how much he got of everything but his salads so he would still be just a little hungrier for his next feedings.

You could lower the amount of food you offer until it only shows on her belly a little bit and then again when her belly has gone down. That would probably help with digestion. If I found a larger dubia that had just shed and was still white I would feed it off to my dragon for the ease of digesting it unless it was a potential breeder female dubia lol. I got pretty good at sexing and counting my breeders and the rest of my feeders before feeding them off haha.

I fed the smaller dubias to my boy because I just happened to have more of them at the time and was slowly building up the adults in my colony by purchasing them. But the dubia chitinous shells are softer when they're smaller too so it would be easier to digest. No harm in that! Especially as a staple.
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
Yeah I might do the flashlight sexing during her bath tonight just for the hell of it. I think she is trying to tell me she wants more bugs lately because she hasn’t been eating as much of her salads but yeah everyone says she’s a big gurl for her age. Do you have any recommendations on feeder sites, most my vendors have shutdown for the holidays and well into January and the pet shops around me are no bueno and never have anything.
 

MissCutiePatootie

Hatchling Member
I'm so curious if it will be the same as what your breeder predicted! Lol let me know!

And yes I highly recommend Rainbowmealworms.com
They have amazing customer service, Gillian is amazing dealing with orders! They have a points program that is worth signing up for to save some money too. Their prices are also very fair I think and all my orders the last 4 or so years have been stellar! They also have a subscription setup for orders which is nice. They have bundle packages too for different reptiles. I personally like the chameleon bundle for my bearded dragon. The bugs I've received have always been healthy and well fed. I don't think I've had any DOA issues that I can remember.
 

Longfellow777

Sub-Adult Member
Original Poster
Beardie name(s)
Frey'ja
Hell yeah I’ll check it out thank you! And yes we will let you know the sex
 
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Clapton is acclimating okay I think. He's quick as lightning so I'm not sure how much I should bring him out of his house yet. He's not at all interested in his salad though. I wonder if I should change what I'm giving him. Least he's eating his crickets.

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