Is He Small?

[Adam805]

OK i posted in the picture section and i got a responce (Thankyou Ethelia for telling me.) that he is alittle small. I have UVB and he eats alot in the morning. (like 8 mealworms and 13 crickets). But he is still kinda small. He just sheded and is sheding his head right now. Heres some pics.

 

[Jiffy]

How old is your beardie?

 

[Ethelia]

Hi there, I thought I would move my post here away from the photo topic as it is more appropriate ^_^

Apparently Jiff this little guy is the same age as Ruben, however Ruben is pushing 18 odd inches.

Some dragons are on the small side genetically but could you run through a couple of things with me please just to check you have your enviroment correct


What size enclosure do you have your dragon in?
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank?
Do you use UVB lights?
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb?
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)?
How old is your UVB bulb?
How close can your dragon get to the UVB?
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage?
What are the basking temps?
What is the cool side temp?
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun?
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps?
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific.
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)?
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc?
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them?
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)?

Holly

 

[Adam805]

What size enclosure do you have your dragon in? 16 gallon at the moment. trying to get a bigger one.
What type substrate do you have on the bottom of your tank? paper towels
Do you use UVB lights? yes
If so, Is it a coil, compact, fluorescent tube, or Mercury Vapor bulb? fluorescent tube
What is the brand name and number of your bulb? Wattage (if MVB)? i dont know the brand but an 60 watt
How old is your UVB bulb? over 6 months trying to get a new one as soon as possible
How close can your dragon get to the UVB? hes in perfect distance
Do you use a separate basking bulb? What kind and what is the wattage? dont know the name and 60 watt
What are the basking temps?gonna get a new bulb today because the cage is 94 degress
What is the cool side temp? around 75
Do you take the temps with a stick on thermometer, a digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end or a temp gun? digital thermometer with a wire and a probe end
Where exactly are you taking your basking temps? On his log he lays on
What do you feed your dragon? Please be specific. lettece,meal worms,crickets dusted and gut loaded
How often do you feed and what time do you feed (morning, afternoon, night)? morning
Do you gutload (feed) your crickets, worms, etc? only my crickets
Do you use vitamin or calcium supplements? What brand(s)? How many days a week do you use each of them? i use t rex bearded dragon calcium plus and once a week
Is your dragon having regular bowel movements (poops)? He poops fine like once or twice a week. But it is half the size of him!

 

[Adam805]

ok here is a picture of him on my hand next to a ruler.

i just hope it is just an genetic thing and nothing bad

 

[Ethelia]

It may well be gentics, but there are a few issues with your set up.

First of all the 16 gallon tank. I know you realise something needs to be done about that but unfortunatly that is just not room for him to grow and may well have slowed his development.
Its a very serious issue and needs to be dealt with right away.
If money is a big issue then try your local CraigsList. You can get great deals on there.
Remember when you buy a tank you dont want a 50gallon LONG you want a breeder tank.
Breeder tanks are much much wider than regular tall thin fish tanks.

You also need to have a check for me on the actual brand of the bulb. It will be stamped on the side of the bulb somewhere.
There are some seriously poor and even dangerous UVB bulbs out there so we need to sort this one out right away aswell.
Basically the only one you need is the Repti-SUN (NOT REPTIGLO) 10.0
or Arcadia 12%
or JBL Reptil- Sun

Dont let the store talk you into anything else.

Feeding wise you need to stop the mealworms. Mealies are 90% hard shell and have very little protien. They are actually more of a menace than a feeder because they are known for causing impaction issues with dragons.
In terms of veg here is a great website which can tell you what to feed:
http://www.beautifuldragons.503xtreme.com/Nutrition.html

I swear by it ^_^

Holly

 

[Adam805]

ok thankyou. i if i can might buy an 40 gallon either tuesday or wensday. it is a 40 g breeder and do you know where i can get anything like silkworms or anything good for him? please *edit* it is a reptisun 10.0 forgot to mention. trying to find a website that sell them cheap ATM

 

[Elora]

Petmountain.com has the reptiSUN for 20 dollars. or you could get the reptisun 5 for cheaper until you save up more money.

 

[Elora]

He should also be eating WAY more. more like 60 crickets a day! you can get 1000 crickets for only 20 dollars at lllreptile.com! thats 2 cents a cricket. it may seem like a lot of crickets but if hes eating enough it will only last you a couple weeks! you can put the crickets into the tank you have your beardie in now (once you get a new tank for him) make sure to gut load your crickets or they will be more like empty shells. put in some chopped apples and cricket feeds are pretty cheap I use flukers cricket food with calcium and the crickets also eat the pellets they make for bearded dragons!

dont forget to offer healthy greens to your baby every day. Mustard greens, turnip greens and collard greens are very cheap at any large grocery store! he may not eat them at first but keep trying.