Tiny 9 month old dragon... why?

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TinyBlue

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I have this dragon. I got her since she was a few days old, from a friend, along with two of her siblings. They all shared the same cage, they all eat their greens and their worms and crickets regularly and with great enthusiasm. They all grew well... except for her. Blue is a leatherback trans female, with a lovely colour and a lot of personality. But she's 15 cm long, and 17 grams. As I said, all my dragons live in the same conditions, they are all healthy and the other two have grown well. Is there anything like "dwarfism" among dragons? Could it be that she's stressed? Parasites?
The vet said she's fine, just small, and put it down to the variety of life.

---This morning, for the first time, she looked scared when I went to pick her up to say hello (as I usually do). She opened her mouth and hissed. I wonder why. Of course, I let her be.
 

TinyBlue

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Not anymore... I have Blue on her own now, in an effort yo ser if It was stress what was keeping her small. But that was two months ago and, although she has kept slowly growing, there isnt any visible change. They also spend most of the day in an outdoor pen (divided). They are all females, by the way, and rather mellow Girls...
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
I think this is because she is sharing with her larger siblings and is being dominated. It's called failure to thrive.

She needs her own tank, she needs not to be able to see the other two all the time.

She wont catch up growth-wise but will very likely have a growth spurt once she adjusts to having her siblings moved to another tank and still has 15 - 16 months of potential growth in her and can literally double in size in that time.

If you are monitoring their growth REGULARLY , this is best done by weighing each dragon at the same time once a week before it's first daily meal.
This is the kind of spreadsheet I have used for years for several groups of dragons and skinks :
caesar-and-cleopatra-growth-data-first-5-weeks-with-us-3may2019.png

and my charts look like this :

caesar-and-cleopatra-growth-chart-A-first-5-weeks-with-us-3may2.png


caesar-and-cleopatra-growth-chart-B-first-5-weeks-with-us-3may2.png


If you are interested in rate of change each week
the comparison calc = diff(week(i+1)) / mass(week(i))

caesar-and-cleopatra-growth-chart-c-first-5-weeks-with-us-18may.png

this will give a way of seeing if , when all else is the same , there is an issue with one of the three , ie not growing a similar rate in a normalized se

Separate time out is a good idea too for the dragons.
 

TinyBlue

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Well, I never thanked you for your replies. Yes, they were separated, but they could see each other (by the way, the third sister died suddenly a few weeks ago), so that is probably why Blue wasn't showing any signs of growth after the separation. Now her other sister is away, probably for good (I asked a friend to look after her for a wee while to see if there was any change in Blue), and yes, in the last few weeks since I last worte here she has put on about 10 g and her head shape has started to change, she looks older. I need to post a photo, mostly because she's a beauty, :wink: but also to show the change.
 

kingofnobbys

BD.org Sicko
TinyBlue":26xqlqvp said:
Well, I never thanked you for your replies. Yes, they were separated, but they could see each other (by the way, the third sister died suddenly a few weeks ago), so that is probably why Blue wasn't showing any signs of growth after the separation. Now her other sister is away, probably for good (I asked a friend to look after her for a wee while to see if there was any change in Blue), and yes, in the last few weeks since I last worte here she has put on about 10 g and her head shape has started to change, she looks older. I need to post a photo, mostly because she's a beauty, :wink: but also to show the change.

The issue of separated young dragons being able to see each other can be an issue , they can still stress each other.

The solution that's easiest is to stack the rearing tubs / tubs one above the other.

Very easy to set up.

All you need is 4 lengths of thread bar, some suitably sized nuts and washers, and two planks of plywood each with a hole in each corner to put the threadbars through.

Tighten the nuts at the desired shelf separation .
Makes two shelves, and the two tanks simply slip on and you are done.
 

TinyBlue

Member
Original Poster
Well now. Blue has been growing a bit, has certainly put on weight and is enjoying the sunmer, but this week ive noticed one of her eyes looks swollen. Not puffed out the way they do, but the supercilliar arch (?!) looks higher on one eye than on the other. The eye itself looks a bit sunken actually. Ive done nothing yet and the vet, although I dont exaclty trust him, is on holiday. What could this be? It was more noticeable a couple days ago but it's still visible.
 

TinyBlue

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This morning I saw your reply, Karree, and I went to take a picture of Blue, thinking she was probably ok because the issue with the eye was a lot less noticeable yesterday evening. And the bit over the eye was ok, but she was not. She'd been spitting blood,she had blood on herlips and she was lethargic. Her body looked swollen and she would gasp loudly for air every 5-10 minutes, opening her mouth wide, which let me see that there was blood in her mouth. Then she died.
The whole thing took less than an hour (since I saw her, it might have been going on all night for all I know). We are all sad, we loved our tiny Blue. She was a leatherback hypo trans so she looked blue when she was very young, but lately her colour had evolved to a lovely dark gold when she was "light" to a dark blueish grey with red stripes when she was "dark". I'll post some recent photos so you get to see her at least.
She had a lot of personality. We buried her in the garden and then we planted a little lavender plant that she liked to sit on on top of ther grave, to mark it and remember her.
 

TinyBlue

Member
Original Poster
Yesterday she had turned 10 month old. She weighed 25g and was about 20 cm in length. So maybe there was something wrong with her all along. God knows what took her.
 
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