Adopted Beardie...small for age.help!

[infinite]

Update. I think he is getting bigger. Here is the little guy resting in cool area of viv.

 

[Tonja]

How are you measuring him? If from snout to tail base then he may not me to small. I got Emmett Dec 28th and he is 5 months old, measuring from snout to tail base he is just under 7 inches or right at it, he wiggles a lot when being measured. Now if I measure him from tip of his snout to tip of his tail hes 17 1/2 inches long. Just keep doing what you are doing and he will get a growth spurt, Emmett just went through a major growth spurt.

 

[infinite]

How are you measuring him? If from snout to tail base then he may not me to small. I got Emmett Dec 28th and he is 5 months old, measuring from snout to tail base he is just under 7 inches or right at it, he wiggles a lot when being measured. Now if I measure him from tip of his snout to tip of his tail hes 17 1/2 inches long. Just keep doing what you are doing and he will get a growth spurt, Emmett just went through a major growth spurt.

Good question, I should have clarified. My measurement is the std nose/ tail. He is only a tad over 7in. snout/tail. Sounds like your dragon is why bigger and that unfortunately kinda confirms my concern . I can notice some growth and filling out though...so positive.

 

[Tonja]

They all grow at different rates. I would not worry about it. Just keep doing what you are. He has a nice round belly and appears to have grown from the first pictures. I would be concerned about when they got him. He looks a lot younger than 7 months. By looking at him I would say 3-4 months old. He will grow, just be patient. Another thing to remember is that you are with him all the time and you wont notice small growths and all of a sudden you will wonder how he got so big.

 

[infinite]

They all grow at different rates. I would not worry about it. Just keep doing what you are. He has a nice round belly and appears to have grown from the first pictures. I would be concerned about when they got him. He looks a lot younger than 7 months. By looking at him I would say 3-4 months old. He will grow, just be patient. Another thing to remember is that you are with him all the time and you wont notice small growths and all of a sudden you will wonder how he got so big.

Thanks again for the reassurance Tonja. Unfortunately they confirmed their purchase date and it was the end of Oct. 2013. So he has the look of a 3-4 month old but is over 7mos old . I will be truly overjoyed when that growth spurt does kick in already! But for now... I am happy with the small bit of progress.

 

[infinite]

To put it in perspective. I am 6'4" with big hands... to me he probably always be kinda small... but I can't help but look at the pics of these really large dragons and hope that mine will someday get so big . My family has a 80lb dog a big and fluffy kitty and my 2 year old son is 100percentile for his age at 34" height lol. Kinda of a big family and I know I am like a giant to him LOL All good tho!

 

[Tonja]

I would not stress over it, as long as she is healthy and happy. I also wouldn't measure her constantly if you are. I would get some graph paper and mark where she is from snout to tail base, make sure she is in a straight line. The 2 weeks later take another sheet and mark her from snout to tail base and compare and I bet she would have grown in those two weeks.

 

[kbro]

First of all I want to say welcome to the fan club :lol: dragons are such wonderful creatures. I'm sure no matter how big he gets you will be so in love you won't care anymore. Was he getting calcium and a multivitamin before? Did they say how much they fed him at all? Unfortunately a lot of people are misinformed. I fed my first dragon as many crickets as he could chow down in about 10 minutes or so. I miscalculated a lot which meant a bunch of trips to the store. He definitely looks bigger (maybe another pic with your wife holding so we can compare from her hands) he looks healthy and is very handsome (or beautiful lol). I love the last pic on the log. He does seem a little small for his age but your doing great, he is still fairly young and will grow quite a bit more I'm sure. Graph paper is a great idea, I measured with a soft measuring tape and marked that on a paint stir stick so I could keep track of growth. Kind of like kids on a door frame I guess, I had to tape 2 together though.

 

[infinite]

First of all I want to say welcome to the fan club :lol: dragons are such wonderful creatures. I'm sure no matter how big he gets you will be so in love you won't care anymore. Was he getting calcium and a multivitamin before? Did they say how much they fed him at all? Unfortunately a lot of people are misinformed. I fed my first dragon as many crickets as he could chow down in about 10 minutes or so. I miscalculated a lot which meant a bunch of trips to the store. He definitely looks bigger (maybe another pic with your wife holding so we can compare from her hands) he looks healthy and is very handsome (or beautiful lol). I love the last pic on the log. He does seem a little small for his age but your doing great, he is still fairly young and will grow quite a bit more I'm sure. Graph paper is a great idea, I measured with a soft measuring tape and marked that on a paint stir stick so I could keep track of growth. Kind of like kids on a door frame I guess, I had to tape 2 together though.

Thanks for the warm welcome!! I will definitely give your tips a try. As of late, I have not been measuring him just noticing changes through glass and how he appears on his furniture. For instance the log he was perched on is about 8 inches tip to base. His tail now hangs over!!

Looking back at the pics when we first got him, he has grown significantly. Crazy. Last night when he came up to me while putting phoenix worms in, I was like oh my have you grown . And he is in shed again which is awesome and just 2 weeks from last shed.

 

[kbro]

Your welcome! I used crickets back then since they were so easy to get and cheap, my guy chowed down 100+ some days on growth spurts. But if your able to provide a variety of crickets, roaches, Phoenix worm etc. That would be even better. Also of course greens and veggies, he may not eat many of them but it's good to keep them available so he can get used to them as their diets switch when older.

See he is growing now, he just needed someone to do some good research on his needs and take good care of him. Or maybe your just such a giant to him that he thought man I need to catch up with this guy :lol:. He may just shed non stop for a while now that he is growing right. Keep an eye on toes and tail to make sure they shed right or circulation can get cut off there. I'm sure he is so grateful you researched and found this site, you have a buddy for his lifetime now.

 

[Tonja]

See, I told you with you being around him a lot that it would be hard to notice small changes in his growth, then all of a sudden you wonder where your little one went to. He will grow up and be a handsome dragon.

 

[BlueMorpho]

He's definitely growing, bit by bit! Such a striking fellow, too! I'm glad that you took him home; seems like you're giving him lots of love!
His tank is incredible, to!
What's his name?

 

[infinite]

See, I told you with you being around him a lot that it would be hard to notice small changes in his growth, then all of a sudden you wonder where your little one went to. He will grow up and be a handsome dragon.

Indeed indeed! I took a trip to my local shop, Eastbay Vivarium if anyone is local to Berkeley Ca. yesterday and was able to gleam a bit more perspective. They had hatchlings that hatched 4/16 that were super tiny (cute as all get out) and they had some older dragons that were HUGE. It made me see how far my lil guy has come AND how far he has to go . lol

 

[infinite]

He's definitely growing, bit by bit! Such a striking fellow, too! I'm glad that you took him home; seems like you're giving him lots of love!
His tank is incredible, to!
What's his name?

Thanks! In fact, I just got my new fancy thermostat for the Viv direct from China yesterday and it is making my temp management tasks super easy! Here in Northern Cal we are experiencing a heat wave (90 degree weather lol) so the adjusting the dimmer manually was killing me. I work from home, but that was a job in itself! Will post pics once I am happy with the layout. BTW, I absolutely scored on Craigslist for the VIV. It was completely FREE, I just ordered up some glass and purchased the UVB light/Fixture (only because I wanted full coverage of the viv considering the health concerns I had)

Funny you ask. We have just been calling him Beardie for now. I can't say that I have had the opportunity to really/truly bond with him. To be honest, a part of me has been holding back bc if he were to pass away...Silly, but just being honest. Each day it seems that both he and I grow more confident and I will soon get to see his personality to apply a more suitable name . For now, the lil bugger is Beardie!! lol

Side note: I now see why folks here recommend feeding wax worms occasionally. I have never seen him eat so fast... got to store that junk food in the cupboard for a while

Fred

 

[BlueMorpho]

Wow, what a lucky find for free! Looks like he loves it, too, and it has so much room for him to grow into!!
As long as you keep feeding him well and keep him healthy, he'll keep growing. I've heard they grow well into their second year.
That's reassuring for me as well, because my Eri is a smaller dragon, too.
Tonja said her Emmett is 17" at five months, whereas Eri reached 17" about January this year and has stayed there. He's one year and seven months old next Sunday.
Some dragons are small, some are big, and some have sporadic growth spurts.
I've taken pics to track his growth, always posing him with the same object to really notice the difference. I look back at them every once in a while because seeing him every day it is hard to notice how much he changes. If I could do it again, I'd take these photos more often.

About a week after I got him, apx Nov 20, 2012, apx 5 weeks old. Just under 4".

March 22, 2013, aprox 5mo, 9 1/4"

May 14, 2014, aprox 1y 7mo, 17"

(Sorry if you don't want these pics here, I can remove them)

As for the name, I totally understand, lol. As you get to know each other, I'm sure the right name will come to mind.
Glad to hear he's got a good appetite (especially for worms)!
Can't wait to see more pictures of 'Beardie' and watch him grow up!!