Hatchling or juvenile dragon?

[Hjballinger]

My beardie is 2 1/2 months old, is about 9 inches in length, and weighs 28 g. Would he be considered a hatchling or a juvenile dragon? And is he a good size for his age? Let me know what you think!

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

I'd consider him a hatchling/baby bearded dragon up until around 4 months of age or so, then he'd be a juvenile. At around 12 months he'd be considered a sub-adult or yearling and then once he's 24 months old he'd be considered an adult.

 

[Hjballinger]

Ok thank you, and is he a good size and weight for his age?

 

[VenusAndSaturn]

He looks fine to me from what I can tell.

 

[Hjballinger]

Ok thank you

 

[AHBD]

He is a young juvenile . A hatchling is the equivalent of a newborn. Once they are past a certain size , at least 8" they are young juvies,but can still be considered babies as well. Then older juvies in the 15-17" range , then getting near sub adult size.

Here are some fresh hatchlings :

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30000/full

https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30072/full

 

[kingofnobbys]

hatchling ( until about 6 months old when he is regarded as a juvenile ) .. no firm or fast rules here, different people have different cutoffs between hatchling/juvenile, juvenile/subadult , juvenile/adult.

I use body shape and headshape development and behavior , and growth rate to define the stage of development for a bearded dragon.

 

[Hjballinger]

Yea, I think he’s defiantly at least starting to mature a little. He arm waved when I first got him but he doesn’t anymore, I’ve seen him head bob a few times, and when he was smaller, I took him outside and he got really dark stress marks but now he’s just fine being outside. I’m not sure exactly the signs of maturing but those seem to be some small ones

 

[AHBD]

The definition of hatchling is an animal that has newly emerged from it's egg. Just like a newborn baby is not a newborn for many months, a beardie is only a hatchling for a very short time. It can still be called a baby, but at 3-4 months many of them are over 12-16" long already, nowhere near a hatchling and few people would call it a baby.