Fat beardie

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My beardie is only a juvenile but her gut is VERY large. (I tried taking a picture but no pictures really do her size justice). Her body seems to be proportional with the exception of her legs. I think her legs may be a little too small. I am thinking this is probably from lack of exercise but I am not sure how to excercise my beardie. I have seen videos of people's beardie swimming so I tried to put mine in a bath tub of 94 degree water. It was only 2 inches deep but she freaked out and her beard came out, her tail stood up, and she scrambled to jump back on me. Does anyone have any other suggestion about how to excercise a young beardie?
 

Mysty

Juvie Member
Show us a few pictures. Beardie may not need exercise. They are quite rotund lizards.

Time outdide the viv and climbing provide exercise.
 

ejuncker16

Member
Original Poster
These aren't quite the best pictures.. you can see her belly the most when she's stretching but she hasn't done that when I was around.
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EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
She looks to be exactly the same size as my new boy Dee Dee Ramone, who I adopted at barely 4 weeks old. A couple I met had driven 3 hours to rescue 3 clutches of eggs that a breeder was going to kill because he decided he was done with breeding (should have figured that out BEFORE breeding them). He was sooooooooo tiny when I got him, I was worried that he would have issues, but I took him early because this couple ended up with over 70 baby beardies at one time and we're going broke. Now Dee Dee is just over 3 months and is growing like a weed and perfectly healthy, but he has the biggest, fattest belly I've ever seen on a baby/juvenile beardie...Until seeing your guy, lol!

I feel a little better, though just yesterday he was sitting on the couch with me watching TV, and I swear I looked over at him and said "Oh my god Dee Dee, your legs and head are shrinking!!!" I think their legs (and head in Dee Dee's case, ?) just look small because you're looking at them in proportion to his big belly. His legs aren't actually small, they're just small compared to his big, round belly! I'll take a photo of Dee Dee and post it here in a minute so you'll feel better, I'm pretty sure that Dee Dee is fatter than your little guy...I don't know why, I've fed him exactly the same diet I fed my prior male who lived to be just under 13 and my current 9 month old female, and neither of them were ever overweight, if anything my girl started out a bit underweight until she had a massive growth spurt at around 6 months old. I was actually worried about her having parasites at one point until her fecal test was negative.

I think your guy is fine, again his legs look too small only because you're looking him as a whole, and his legs are out of proportion to his big belly...What is his diet? I'm just trying to compare to make myself feel better about my little fatty, lol..
I'll take a pic in a minute...
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Okay, here's some photos of my 3 month and 1 week old male, Dee Dee Ramone...His belly should make you feel much better about your 4+ month old girl (sorry I called her a him in my first post, just now saw that you have a girl). Dee Dee doesn't actually look too fat in these photos, until you get to the last photo of him in his feeding tank on the basking branch, then you'll get to see what I'm talking about, lol. He's definitely got a beer belly...Or a BSFL belly as it were.

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And the belly shot (I don't overfeed my beardies, really I don't); He's just big-boned....?

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EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Just for reference, here are some photos of my 9 and a half month old female, Izzy. She actually came from my local Petco (has never once been sick and did not have any parasites the week she came home from Petco, so they aren't all bad) Izzy has been on exactly the same diet as Dee Dee has been from the day I brought her home at about a month and 1 week old, according to my friend who is the animal manager at that local Petco (she told me that their vendor sends them as soon as they are 4" long and don't care about age, not good). She was only 4.7" long when I brought her home, even smaller than Dee Dee at only 4 weeks. She didn't grow as quickly as I thought she should, based on my prior male's growth, and I was concerned. My certified reptile vet said she was perfectly healthy, he did x-rays, blood work, fecal, everything I asked him to do, and she was fine. This was done when she was 5 months old. At around 6 months old she just blew up, and has been growing ever since. This is why I think your girl is fine, even if her legs are a bit small, which I really don't think they are, she's only 4+ months old and she's going to have a lot of growth spurts coming up within the next 6-12 months, so she'll no doubt slim down a bit in her belly and bulk up in her legs, head, and tail. Izzy's tail was scrawny and it worried me, she had no girth to the base of her tail at all, it was skinny as a pencil, as we're her legs. But at 6 months everything just filled out, and now at 9 months her tail is nice and wide and meaty, as are her legs.

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hibutan

Member
Her belly looks like a normal chubby beardie!
My eldest has that gut too.
I don't think that it's anything to worry about :) The best beardie is a fat beardie.
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
hibutan":1gjzykb5 said:
Her belly looks like a normal chubby beardie!
My eldest has that gut too.
I don't think that it's anything to worry about :) The best beardie is a fat beardie.

I agree!!! Who wants a skinny beardie? The big bellies are better to cuddle with!
 

ejuncker16

Member
Original Poster
Wow thank you and your beardie a are beautiful!! I really do feel much better lol! I feed Rhaegal (my beardie) all crickets and wax worms. I feed her a ton of crickets a day because I don't ever want her to feel hungry. Probably feed her around 15 crickets a day.. and I give her wax worms as a treat every now and then but not every day. I always have fruit and veggies cut up and put in her bowl but she doesn't seem very inerested lol
 

EllenD

Gray-bearded Member
Well 15 crickets a day isn't much at all really, I used to use crickets, and Izzy would eat up to 50 or more a day, so we switched to BSFL and occasional superworms and Butterworms as treats... Izzy has never been fat at all, she's now filling out, but Dee Dee is going to be a fatty, I just know it!!! He is only 3 months old and he eats everything, all his greens, veggies, fruits, it doesn't matter what I give him, he eats it. That belly of his cracks me up!!!
 

ejuncker16

Member
Original Poster
What is BSFL and where are you getting all of these different worms from? Are they typically expensive? I always get my crickets from petco and they only have waxworms and mealworms there but I won't feed my baby mealworms.
 

NinaAmbroshia

Hatchling Member
They are black soldier fly larva, I've heard good thinhs about them. Not sure on their price level, I use Dubia roaches myself and plan to use hornworms as a treat. Hornworms tend to be expensive, but are very good for beardies and they seem to go crazy for them.

Dubia roaches, i don't consider that expensive and i just throw my veggoe scraps to them for food and they are perfectly fine.

You have a cute beardy.
 

ejuncker16

Member
Original Poster
I've been wanting to try out the dubia roaches. I was just worried about them possibly getting out in my apartment and stuff. Do they escape easily? And I am going to go out and get some hornworms!
 
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