Bearded Dragon Questions

[ttenness]

I have had my bearded dragon for about 2 months now. We got him when he was 6 inches and now he has grown to a little longer than 8. He is about 34g, weighed him earlier today. Is this normal growth for 2 months and does anyone have an idea how old my dragon is? The pet store did not say how old he was when we got him. He eats either around 100 phoenix worms a day or about 30 crickets a day.

Another thing is he shows a little stress marks throughout the day, not full on black but not pale either. We recently traveled to my parents house and brought him along with a travel enclosure, instead of the normal breeder sized tank. During the stay he was quite pale with hardly any signs of stress. His travel enclosure was in a room by itsself, while his current vivarium is in the main living room, as we only have a one bedroom apartment. Could the amount of activity in the room cause the stress marks?

Thank you very much!

 

[kjinxx2]

Hello, every bearded dragon grows at different rates, so it's hard to tell age based on that - we can go over your setup to make sure that everything is ideal for growth.

How do you measure temperatures in the tank?
How hot is the basking spot?
How hot is the cool spot?
Do you use a UVB light?
What type of UVB?
What type of substrate do you use (sand, tile, paper towel, wood chips)?
How frequently do you bathe him?
Is he housed alone? How many are in the tank with him?
Do you offer veggies?
Do you dust with Calcium? Vitamins?


That should start us in the right direction

 

[ttenness]

How do you measure temperatures in the tank? I use a zoo med temp gun
How hot is the basking spot? Around 107
How hot is the cool spot? Stays around 82
Do you use a UVB light? Yes
What type of UVB? Reptisun 10 tube
What type of substrate do you use (sand, tile, paper towel, wood chips)? Slate tile
How frequently do you bathe him? Usually every other day, sometimes every third.
Is he housed alone? How many are in the tank with him? He is housed alone
Do you offer veggies? I offer veggies occasionally. I will forget sometimes to put some in the tank.
Do you dust with Calcium? Vitamins? I do not dust with calcium as I heard the Phoenix worms are sufficient. I will try to dust with vitamins twice a week.

 

[jacody]

hard to say on the age if you don't know the exact hatch date.. my male was 7-8 weeks @ that size and my female was 12 weeks at that size.. really depends on genetics primarily coming from the parents..

 

[kjinxx2]

Are his bm (bowel movements) daily?
Have you had a fecal test done for parasites?


Also, how frequently are you feeding? 3x per day?

 

[ttenness]

He has a bowel movement everyday usually and they are normal constistency and not that smelly though I have not done a fecal test. For the phoenix worms, I normally just leave some in his food bowl throughout the day, filling it when needed. When I feed crickets, I usually do three feedings though sometime only two.

 

[kjinxx2]

Hmm, everything is spot on - as long as his eating/bowel movements are normal. I would chalk it up to genetics to be completely honest - somebody else can chime in if they'd like