Is my Dragon growing normally?

[Ralph9090]

Hi all, i'm new here but i've been lurking for a while now.

So around March I bought my bearded dragon and he was around 5 inches at that time.

She's shedded a couple times during the first few months but has not shed since then.

I thought she would have worms hindering her growth but her fecal matter would say otherwise

Here are some pictures

I also don't suspect her to be a rankins as she does have a beard and her heads got a crest on it

http://imgur.com/a/JKx6W

Any help is appreciated

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....she sure is a sweet looking baby ! What do you feed her and how often ? I see pellets there, if you are using those in place of a feeding of insects [ they need insects at least 2 X a day for optimal growth ] then she will not get as much protein as she needs. Then again she may have been a runt....they can be healthy, too but smaller. Can you also list the exact type/brand of lights you have as well as picture of her tank ?

 

[Ralph9090]

The pellets you see in the picture are when i had just gotten her. I feed her crickets and dip a few of them in calcium powder.

Shes in an 18 gallon tank right now, as for lighting, she has a SolarGlo MVB for uv and basking. and on the cool side is an LED bulb

Is she a rankins?

 

[AHBD]

That's a nice set up. No , she is definitely not Rankin's. They top out at only 10-11" as adults and look much different, plus they don't get the orange tones. Rankin's are a specialty dragon and are not sold to stores wholesale [ they cost much more ] , there are VERY few breeders of them and when sold on line are labeled as Rankin's.

So how many crickets do you give her a day ? And is that MVB a 125 or 160 ?

 

[Ralph9090]

Thanks for clearing it up if it was a rankins.

she eats around 8 crickets, i've given her even more but she doesn't go after all of them.

The mvb is a 125watt

 

[AHBD]

She has a low appetite for some reason. Most babies will eat at least 20-40 insects per day [ and even more ]. If you haven't tested her for parasites, it might be good to do that. It's good to have an experienced reptile vet to check her out if needed.

You might also try Phoenix worms to see if she'll eat more. If she were eating larger amounts of insects she would grow faster. What is her length , about 8-10" ?

 

[Ralph9090]

She's 8 inches, i have not yet fed her any worms but i will start today.

 

[AHBD]

That might help, but don't use mealworms....it's tempting because they're cheap and lots of stores carry then but they are not very nutritious and they can cause impaction. See about getting Phoenix worms or silkworms, ordering in bulk is the cheapest way.

 

[Ralph9090]

what about hornworms? I've seen them but haven't bought any yet because their pretty big

 

[AHBD]

They're good, but you only get a few and they cost an arm + a leg.

 

[Ralph9090]

Yeah, petsmart is selling them for 1.29