Hi ya every one
My worry is with my jodie , I've only had her since Tuesday this week . And shes 17 weeks like her big sister, but shes tiny... I got her from a private breeders, she was housed with her other siblings .
I'm just a little concerned because of her size and weight .
She's 51g and only 7inches long but she has some of tail missing .
As stacey same age but I've had her about a month now weights140g and about 11.5 inches some of tails missing to .
For got to mention they are sisters same mum and dad . There are a clutch or 26 x
Any advice would be lovely . X
Hi there, some dragons do grow more slowly but is she housed with her sister ? If so it would be good to get a separate tank for Stacey. Pics pf the set up + of both girls will be very helpful , here's how to post them.
As the average clutch size for BDs is 16-24, I'm a little skeptable that they came from the same clutch. Same father, sure, but they could be slightly different ages. :dontknow:
That said, Bearded Dragons are virtually all fraternal/dizygotic twins (unless they hatched from the same egg), so there can be considerable differences in size, appearance, and growth rate. It's also possible that the smaller one was lower on the "pecking order" and didn't get as much to eat as her larger siblings. Now that she's got less (and hopefully no) competition for food, that should improve.
Hey
They are housed together but only until jodies glass turns up . (Stupid glass shop)
I wouldn't keep them together but jodie need a home .
This is stacey viv but it's being doubled in size so it will be a lot higher and more space for her to clime and jodies will be the same . At the mo it's a 5ft long by 1.5 ft high .
They are not feed in there. Both girls are hand fed bugs because of the substrate they only thing they have in is there kale and cabbage .
I wasnt expecting to take on another dragon, but how do I put this , she was going to get a bop on the head and I couldn't allow my self to let that happen .
This pic gives you the size difference same age
I've been told same mum and dad .
So it's all go here making sure both have what they need lol
Wow, big + beautiful tank ! Poor little Jodie, that was so nice of you to save her from being killed ! She may do better once she's in her own tank. BTW, average clutch sizes are in the 20's. All my girls laid big clutches, one laid an average of 35 per clutch, she was a big girl. Here's a pic showing only part of a large clutch hatching.
They look like little jelly beans with their popping out . ????
So you can see my concern, shes so tiny and the last thing i want is any thing to happen to her . Shes shedding at the mo all her front including her legs . . I'm just wondering apart from putting her in her own tank (stupid glass place ) is there anything I can do ? X
You can actually separate her now if you just get a few items. One medium plastic tote, one basking light + one uvb light. A piece of egg crate and/or a couple of climbing branches [ furniture] will make for a simple set up. Here's the set ups I used to raise babies :
She may end up just being a smaller dragon like Mr. Spectrum said but may also take off once she's on her own. BTW, here's a bonus pic of actual twins hatching just for kicks, one coming out of each end of the egg.: https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30043/full
] wanna say thank you for not yelling at me for keeping them together for a few days . I didn't even think to set up a small tank like that . I've got lights and heat light I'll see what I can make up .
And that twin egg was adorable. Its amazing really with out sounding like a total plonker lol ??
Stacey is a big girl and shes gonna be a big girl. She also loves the camera lol.
No yelling here, most everyone is friendly + gives good advice on this forum. It would be good to set up the temp. tank right away so the bigger dragon does not go after Jodie's tail, that is how it ended up like that and if Stacey was a nipper she will definitely do it again and can easily bite an entire hand off ! A few more tips. Cabbage is not too good for them but O.K once in a while, collards are great as well as kale and if you can get turnip, mustard greens, dandelion, arugula. If you set Jodie up in a plastic, leave the floor bare or put down a small section of paper towel. When you feed her insects , shake them up pretty hard in a glass jar with a lid on and a pinch of calcium powder. Trey about 4 at a time, the shaking makes them weak + dizzy and easy to be eaten as they wobble by when you drop them in. Baby beardies are attracted to slow moving prey. Repeat as long as she will continue eating.
I've been feeding both girls spratly , because I know how much of a pig stacey is and can be . So I though take one out at a time and feed them . Which is working but stacey eats locusts medium size which I order on line and keep in small pen at home , i know what they have eaten and when before she gets them . .
Jodie has eaten about 4 since tuesday but lots of kale .
Stacey is very beautiful + healthy looking ! Jodie may get a growth spurt but there's no way to tell until time goes by. She can still be healthy though, even if she's smaller. They look like some of my babies as they grew.
This may be changing due to breeders selectively breeding to produce larger clutches for higher profitability; that's a whole 'nother ball-o-worms... :roll:
I agree, the first clutch of a young dragon may be as small as 14-16 but successive clutches are larger. So the young first time clutch is small , it fits in the average , but is not the case with most of the clutches. My dragons averaged around 25 per clutch with one female laying eggs in the 30's every clutch. Huge clutches may be attributed to females that had the G.Giant lines somewhere in their background as my one female had , producing her size + large clutches. So it hasn't been changing, these dragons have existed all along the years from the early 90's on laying clutches in the mid 20's to over 40, no can of worms involved but plenty of worms + other insects involved in their growth. :lol: There's a wide variation in clutch sizes though.
This isn't the time or place (let's not hijack the thread) but the academics (vets and people who've done serious research) don't agree. You may have outliers, and you may have females with a propensity for larger clutches, but the averages still remain.