can someone help me figure out my beardies age?

[hoeseG]

we got him in a north american reptile breeded expo something like that but i didnt get to know his age if any of you may help i will apreciate it thanks

 

[vampy]

Can you measure him and let us know how long he is and how much he weighs, that should help get more of an accurate guess as to his age, though size at a given age can vary widely depending on how the dragons are kept.

I would guess that he is small for his age cos his head looks very skinny with sunken fat pads, so he might be smaller than he should be due to lack of food. Or it could just be the angle of the photo, or the fact that I'm not used to seeing 'teenage' dragons on a daily basis, only babies and adults.

 

[hoeseG]

hes 10 1/2 inches 27cm his weight i dont have a scale to weight him eating wise he eats his greens and crickets and worms ginna get started on dubias soon

 

[troyncindy]

if fed right, i would guess between one and two months old. when did you buy it?

 

[vampy]

My babies were between 7 and 10 inches at 6.5 weeks of age, so I'd guess he's a couple of weeks older than them if he was growing at the same rate, but his head looks really skinny, so with that in mind I'd guess more like 3 months. Your best bet is to call the breeder you got him from and ask.

 

[vampy]

I did some googling and it seems maybe my babies are just greedy piggies. Here's a link to a few growth charts:

This one says 10.5 inches is about 11-12 weeks: http://reptile-parrots.com/forums/showthread.php/531-Bearded-Dragon-Growth-Chart
This has it at about 5 months: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=141462&start=30#p1141367
This says 12-13 weeks: http://www.dachiu.com/beardeddragoncare/growthcharts.html
There's a few charts here with that size at 3.5-5 months: http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Growth.html

So yeah. Could be any age from a couple of months to 6 months+. As I said before, his head looks skinny to me, so I'd probably err on the side of older rather than younger.

 

[TheWerewolf]

Hmm, judging from my Nim's growth your baby looks about 3 months old. Perhaps 2 because his head is so skinny. I thought babies had the skinny looking heads and juvies and adults have triangular heads. That is what I get from looking at baby and adult pics. Not just from my Nim either, from other correctly fed beardies on this site.

 

[hoeseG]

ok than im gonna start him on some roaches soon since ive read their better than crickets so how many should i feed him a day as i said before he gets his greens in the morning with some raspberry and grapes than around 2 hours later he gets crickets around 5 medium crickets and 5 meal worms i sometimes give him a wax worm when i get home from work. thanks you guys i didnt know he was so unfed i thought it might of been since he was small but im gonna fatty him up a bit more.

this is a pic of him today with my lil girl and her dog

 

[vampy]

Aww, he looks so cute with your daughter!

There really isn't a set number of feeders he should be having, just whatever he will eat in 10 minutes, twice a day. That will probably work out to about 10-20 crickets each time or maybe even more. I don't know how many roaches he'll eat, but it should be on the same schedule...no bigger than the space between his eyes, as many as he will eat in 10 minutes, twice a day. As the roaches don't jump or climb, you can leave them in his bowl after the 10 minutes is up for him to snack on throughout the day. These guys get through a LOT of live food!

And please stop feeding him mealworms, they aren't especially nutritious, and have a hard chitinous exoskeleton which can cause impaction.

I'm not sure if you've seen this chart, but it's a very good one for working out what your beardie needs. Greens are great as a daily staple, but raspberries and grapes shouldn't be fed daily. If you want to add some colour to his salad, you could try some butternut squash. http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

 

[hoeseG]

Ok will do I didn't know that but now I know are pheonix worms better or buutter worms and will just onnly give his greens with some squash thanks so much you were such great help I would of never known all of this I'm new to beardies I'm more familiar with birds and dogs but I'm trying to learn more and more each day on these great reptiles

 

[vampy]

Ok will do I didn't know that but now I know are pheonix worms better or buutter worms and will just onnly give his greens with some squash thanks so much you were such great help I would of never known all of this I'm new to beardies I'm more familiar with birds and dogs but I'm trying to learn more and more each day on these great reptiles

No worries, I'm glad you're here trying to learn what's best for your baby. As for butterworms, I'm sorry, I don't know, as I've never seen them in this country. From looking at the chart on the beautiful dragons site, they aren't listed as a staple, and phoenix worms are, so I'd probably stick with the phoenix worms in the first instance, then maybe get some butters for occasional feeding to give him some variety.

Edit: You don't have to only ever give him greens and squash, just that those are excellent staples so you can give them to him every day. The odd small bit of fruit in his diet isn't a problem at all, and he'll probably enjoy it, it just shouldn't be an every day thing. Variety is good for them, so long as the majority of the diet is made up of the staples.

 

[hoeseG]

so today he ate a total of 20 crickets all his greens gave him blueberrys today and 1 wax worm as a treat eventhough i wasnt their to watch him eat his feast my wife took one for the team and gave him his crickets eventhough she hates them with a passion!