I thought Spyro was 5 months old but...

[Spyrosmom]

So I was told my baby was between 8-10 weeks old when I got him. That was September 25th. So he should be around 5 months old now, but he is HUGE compared to videos of other 5 month old beardies I've seen.

these are pictures of when I first got him vs now. I don't have an estimate on how long he is but he's definitely over a foot long. Is it possible he's just a big boy, or could it be that he's older than the breeder said?

 

[AnueBeardie]

What have you been feeding him? I know a lot of owners who just feed their beardies a lot and it causes them to grow really fast. It could be that the breeder just fed him a lot and he is just a big boy, or that the breeder doesn't know his age and is just guessing.
And yea, my juvenile is less than a month or so and she (or he, not sure yet) is about the size of a hefty gecko.
Also, I don't think the size would really affect him, as long as he is still active and eating and heated. He should be fine.

P.S: I love that name, and also love that game.
My beardie is named Gordy.

 

[Spyrosmom]

He eats mainly escarole, but also loves carrots and other veggies. Now he occasionally eats crickets (but was eating them every day up until about a month ago). He also has 2 different types of pellet foods (one has dried mealworms and other veggies). I also give him mealworms that I breed myself every couple of days. So I guess I spoil him a little. His heat is definitely good, I catch him basking and gaping his mouth all the time at the hot end and his cool end is about 70 degrees. He's happy and healthy, and I wouldn't call him fat but he's definitely meaty. Maybe I just feed him a lot so he grows a lot haha

 

[AnueBeardie]

Yea that sure sounds like you feed him a lot. I am going by petsmart rules (yea I am one of those people who bought mine at petsmart) and feed him 5-6 medium crickets each day, celery on the side when they don't dry out from the lamps, and sometime meal worms for a treat.
What is his general diet each day? It seems like you just feed him a lot, which isn't bad at all. :lol:

 

[Spyrosmom]

Every morning he gets fresh escarole (sometimes with carrots thrown in), and every day he gets a full bowl of the 2 types of pellets mixed. I try not to do crickets anymore as they're smelly and difficult to handle, but the mealworms are about an every other day thing. He LOVES his vegetables. Eats about a full leaf of escarole every day, if not more. I like him to have a variety ?

 

[Spyrosmom]

PS I think you should give more crickets than that. About as much as he/she can eat in 10-15 minutes. Mine would eat about 25-30 a day when he was young. I've read on here that's what most people recommend.

 

[AnueBeardie]

Jeez thats a lot of crickets :shock:
As much as I would love to feed him those many, I just simply can't afford it right now, being a younger fellow and such. I also don't have enough room to store about 150 crickets ( I buy mine every weekend for the whole week because it works with my schedule).
But as my beardie gets older I'll work on getting bigger crickets and a bigger container for them.
I just recently upgraded his crickets from small to medium not even a week ago :lol:
I also try to make him more of a veggie eater. It seems like it certainly made your beardie grow up big and strong

 

[Lpsouth1978]

Jeez thats a lot of crickets :shock:
As much as I would love to feed him those many, I just simply can't afford it right now, being a younger fellow and such. I also don't have enough room to store about 150 crickets ( I buy mine every weekend for the whole week because it works with my schedule).
But as my beardie gets older I'll work on getting bigger crickets and a bigger container for them.
I just recently upgraded his crickets from small to medium not even a week ago :lol:
I also try to make him more of a veggie eater. It seems like it certainly made your beardie grow up big and strong

25-30 small crickets is not really that unusual. My guy, Yoda, is now 210g and 15.5" and will eat 20-30 large Dubia a day plus his greens. When I give him crickets, I will get about 40 of them and he will devour them ALL in about 2 minutes.

You really want to feed young dragons as many bugs as they want. They are growing and hungry and should get 80% of thier diet from nutritious bugs, like gut loaded crickets, phoenix worms, or Dubia roaches. I feed roaches before and afer work, and leave a plate with his greens in his cage all day. He will pick at the greens thrughout the day, and still devour the roaches every night. once they reach adulthood, 12-18 months, the diet can be changed to 20% bugs and 80% greens.

If I was in your place, I would get a cricket keeper, or a storage bin, and order crickets online. You can fit several hundred in a large cricket keeper, feed as many as your guy will eat, and save money in the long run. f you get a small sorage bin, you could get a couple thousand crickets online and feed your guy for several wwks with them.

 

[JessPets]

5-6 A DAY?!!! You really need to bump that up. Buy online in bulk. My baby goes though roughly 1500 dubia a month, so he would be eating about 2k crickets. eBay has some good sellers where you can get 1k for about $20

 

[jayce82]

Yeah mine is roughly 5 or 6 months old, he just went through 1000 crickets in a little less then a month.

 

[JessPets]

Yeah mine is roughly 5 or 6 months old, he just went through 1000 crickets in a little less then a month.

It's crazy how much those little guys can eat!

 

[AnueBeardie]

Jeez
Ok, I shall get a storage bin and upgrade his cricket amount slowly.
Once I get the bin I am gonna give him 10 a day.
I'm nervous to buy online, just because I am untrustworthy about online shipping and such.
And I would have no where to put 100 crickets.

 

[JessPets]

No, you don't understand. He needs 20-70 crickets a DAY. You need to feed him more than 10.
Just go to walmart and get a 18 gallon tub. You can get them for like $5. And while we're at it, what other PetSmart advise did you follow?

 

[Gormagon]

No, you don't understand. He needs 20-70 crickets a DAY. You need to feed him more than 10.
Just go to walmart and get a 18 gallon tub. You can get them for like $5. And while we're at it, what other PetSmart advise did you follow?

Ya, they have misinformed dragon owners for years, leaving the unsuspecting wondering why their dragons are ill or dieing. My son had one that eventually died because of bad advice from petsmart.

You are not feeding nearly enough bugs. What he is getting will barely sustain him. You need to feed him as many crickets as he can eat in a ten minute period. At his age he's not going to be real interested in veggies though you should offer them.
Those coil type uvb lights they (petsmart) push so hard are not a sufficient uvb source and can cause eye problems. You really need a long tube type uvb bulb, either a reptisun 10.0 t5 or an Arcadia 12% will do the job.
Substrate is another thing they seem to miss lead folks on. Solid substrates like tile, non-adhesive shelf paper or paper towels are better than ANY loose substrate due to impaction problems and bacteria. Impaction can cause paralysis and worse.... Death.
This is just some of the bad things that petsmart advises folks to use and do.

 

[AnueBeardie]

Just some of the lighting issues, but I am working on fixing them as soon as I can get a lighting fixture.
I can up her feeding to 15 crickets per day, but thats as much as I am going to be able to get into my feeder.
I can work on getting a storage bin, I just don't want them to jump out when I open the lid to scoop up the crickets. Whats your solution? Keep the lid halfway open or just get a big enough container to keep them from jumping.