I got my bearded dragon at the beginning of August last year when he was 2 months old. That means that he is 12 months old. He hasn't gained much weight in the last 4 or 5 months and it kind of worries me. I know his weight gain should slow down around this time, but every other adult dragon I see is about twice his size. He's currently about 15 1/2 inches, which I think is about right, but his body is smaller than all the ones I see in the store. I don't have a scale small enough to weigh him. His head is considerably smaller than the ones on the adults in the stores I go to, and he isn't as gurthy either.
I do let him run around my office while I'm working, and I'm pretty sure his chest is a little buffer than the ones in the store, could the exercise cause him to be skinnier?
I have a strip light for UVB that the owner of the reptile store in my area recommended. I also have another light that is a UV light. I have a red heat light that stays on all day and all night too, so I think he's getting the proper light and heat that he needs. He can get right under the heat and all the way out of it. During the day, the warmest area is about 100 degrees and the coolest is about 70 degrees. At night, the warmest is about 80 degrees, and the coolest is about 70.
I have crickets delivered to my apartment by the thousands, and I feed him about 30 or so a day. He usually doesn't eat them all, so I'm pretty sure he's eating enough. I shake the crickets in a bag with calcum power every day. I skip the calcium once every couple weeks or so. Right now I'm giving him collard greens every day as well. He used to eat mostly carrots, and he gets zuccini every now and then. I don't dust with a vitamin powder though. Could that be a problem? I feed him in the late morning.
His poop is not a solid either. It's pretty diarreah-like. I took him to the vet in mid March to see if he had some sort of parasite, and the made him poop, and said they were worried that he might have pin worms, but when they checked the poop they said that he was fine, and that he just had a lot of flagellates in his poop. (I'm pretty sure she said flagellates) Anyway, she perscribed Metronidazole for 10 days, which made his poop more solid, but now it's back to runny. It's been runny most of his life, and I don't think it's normal, but other than that and his weight, he seems fine. He used to poop a lot for his size, kind of like the food was going right through him. Do you think that's a sign of a problem?
When I first got him I had him in a 10 gal tank with a felt type bottom for a couple months, then I bought a 125 gal tank and now I use calcium sand. He doesn't get to use the whole tank yet because I give him more and more room as he grows and I think he needs to grow more.
I don't bathe him, but I did put him in a large tupperware thing with warm water in it once when he was on medication for his poop. It wasn't too deep of water, and he didn't really like it. I used to mist him with a water bottle all the time when he was a baby, but as he grew up, I didn't mist him as much.
He's my first reptile, so all the lights, and food supplements, and live food are all new to me, I'm getting better at it, but I still think something is wrong... it just doesn't seem right and I can't figure out what it is. Does he seem like he's growing normally, and healthy?
I do let him run around my office while I'm working, and I'm pretty sure his chest is a little buffer than the ones in the store, could the exercise cause him to be skinnier?
I have a strip light for UVB that the owner of the reptile store in my area recommended. I also have another light that is a UV light. I have a red heat light that stays on all day and all night too, so I think he's getting the proper light and heat that he needs. He can get right under the heat and all the way out of it. During the day, the warmest area is about 100 degrees and the coolest is about 70 degrees. At night, the warmest is about 80 degrees, and the coolest is about 70.
I have crickets delivered to my apartment by the thousands, and I feed him about 30 or so a day. He usually doesn't eat them all, so I'm pretty sure he's eating enough. I shake the crickets in a bag with calcum power every day. I skip the calcium once every couple weeks or so. Right now I'm giving him collard greens every day as well. He used to eat mostly carrots, and he gets zuccini every now and then. I don't dust with a vitamin powder though. Could that be a problem? I feed him in the late morning.
His poop is not a solid either. It's pretty diarreah-like. I took him to the vet in mid March to see if he had some sort of parasite, and the made him poop, and said they were worried that he might have pin worms, but when they checked the poop they said that he was fine, and that he just had a lot of flagellates in his poop. (I'm pretty sure she said flagellates) Anyway, she perscribed Metronidazole for 10 days, which made his poop more solid, but now it's back to runny. It's been runny most of his life, and I don't think it's normal, but other than that and his weight, he seems fine. He used to poop a lot for his size, kind of like the food was going right through him. Do you think that's a sign of a problem?
When I first got him I had him in a 10 gal tank with a felt type bottom for a couple months, then I bought a 125 gal tank and now I use calcium sand. He doesn't get to use the whole tank yet because I give him more and more room as he grows and I think he needs to grow more.
I don't bathe him, but I did put him in a large tupperware thing with warm water in it once when he was on medication for his poop. It wasn't too deep of water, and he didn't really like it. I used to mist him with a water bottle all the time when he was a baby, but as he grew up, I didn't mist him as much.
He's my first reptile, so all the lights, and food supplements, and live food are all new to me, I'm getting better at it, but I still think something is wrong... it just doesn't seem right and I can't figure out what it is. Does he seem like he's growing normally, and healthy?