Is my girl fat?

[dragonlady79]

I have a little girl, around 5-6 weeks old. I am wondering if I'm giving her too much to eat. She has a pudgy belly, or could be normal idk how the belly is supposed to be shaped when they're standing on all 4's chasing food. She's VERY fast when she eats, darting around like her pants are on fire or like she's PacMan from the 80's video game gobbling up as much as she can as fast as she can.

I dust her crickets with calcium with D3 in the mornings and multi vitamins in her nightly feeding but is she getting too much? I count about 10-15 crickets in the am and another 10 at night. It isn't like she's sluggish or anything but her belly is round...and idk if this is normal or should it be flat when she's standing up?

 

[AHBD]

Sounds like a normal, healthy baby dragon. Any pics ? And what size are the crickets ?

 

[dragonlady79]

I have lots of pictures... don't know how to post them

 

[AHBD]

Here's how :
https://www.beardeddragon.org/useruploads/ Then use the XIMG to upload

Post pics of the crickets as well, next to the dragon if you can.

 

[HippieLizards]

Hello,

Your dragon sounds pretty normal to me.

If You start noticing her jowls drooping down a lot or her skin around the armpit starts getting droopy, Then you should cut back on the crickets and feed her more greens. If you are worried about her weight, Just make sure she has lots of exercise. When Cisco got too fat, I actually took her on walks and she would happily walk alongside me. Just take them out more because, In the tank, there's not much to do but bask.

How much does she weigh? What Is her substrate? What brand UVB light? Coil or tube? T5 or T8?
and How old is it?

-HippieLizards.

 

[dragonlady79]

The bulb is an Exo Terra 13 W UVB bulb. Just got a new one 2 or 3 days ago. She's swift on her feet so out time is run around the bathroom. She doesn't like the greens I give...and I have tried a few.

 

[CooperDragon]

I advise upgrading that 13w coil. They aren't powerful enough to provide adequate UVB for a bearded dragon at a safe distance. It's great that she's active and eating but it's best to correct this sooner rather than later because it will affect her growth and overall health. How big is your tank? How far above the basking area does your UVB light sit? I will be happy to help you find a good fit for your setup if you'd like.

 

[kyleena29]

Just wanted to answer your other question. Calcium should be 5x week for 1 meal and vitamins the other 2 days on 1 meal.

 

[dragonlady79]

Her home is a 20 gallon reptile tank. I had it from back when I had a frog and intend to upgrade asap. Her UVB bulb is about 1.5 feet from bottom of the terrarium/vivarium bottom and sits off to the right of her basking lamp which temp wise keeps a steady 41-42C.

 

[dragonlady79]

I'll get a photo of her next to food when she's eating. BTW that's just how she sleeps or relaxes with the back legs. They work just fine.

 

[CooperDragon]

She looks quite healthy in those photos =). With a 20g tank what I recommend doing is pick up a 24'' T5 fixture and use a ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia 6% bulb in it for now. That will have optimal output at 6-8'' below the bulb. Then when you upgrade the tank to a larger one, you can use the same fixture and just upgrade the bulb to a ReptiSun 10.0 or Arcadia 12% which will wind up saving money in the long run and provide higher quality light. This kit comes with a 5.0 bulb installed and should be ready to go in this case https://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-26053-Reptisun-Terrarium/dp/B00AQU8F2O