Is my Lizard okay?

[Niexist]

Hi I have a pet bearded dragon named lizard. He is about 7 or 8 months old. I think he has grown since I got him, but I'm around him everyday so it is hard for me to tell! One of my roommates says he has grown the other says that he is the same so I'm not sure.

Anyway I began to become concerned he wasn't growing. Right now I would say he is about 10" long. I just bought a 5'x18"x17" enclosure for him and I feed him salad and crickets. I have been told by a lot of friends that there enclosure determines the size that they will grow to and friends have told me when buying a bigger enclosure they noticed growth rather quickly.

Okay so someone help is lizard okay?!

EDIT: Also can someone tell me about what age there heads get all big and freaky?

 

[DistDrag]

If your dragon is not growing it is not likely due to the size of the enclosure. With that said the new one you have is a step in the right direction to providing proper care. There are many aspects to proper husbandry that will affect the growth of your dragon. Take some time to look at some of the posts regarding proper set up and compare to what you have. Most important in my mind are proper lighting (UVB), basking temp, and nutrition. The UVB is important to help your dragon produce vitamin D3 which is necessary for processing calcium. Proper basking temperatures ensure your dragon will be able to digest the food it does eat. The food must have the proper balance of nutrients.

If those aspects of care are correct then you have to consider other issues like the health of your dragon and possibly getting a fecal test done.

I'd go into more detail on this but am short on time. Just wanted to be sure you got some response. I'll check back later.

Kevin

 

[ScooterBlenny]

If he is only 10" long at 8 months old, I would guess that he is not getting enough food and/or is not getting proper light. A beardie that age can easily eat 100 crickets a day.

 

[Niexist]

Well I went out and bought some of the stuff to dust the crickets in today and some fluker's juvenile growth food and I'm going to stop letting him eat iceberg lettuce. I also bought a UVB light today to go with his normal light that was recommended when the pet shop sold him to me.

So my question is will he grow up be normal size or is he stunted? I hope he can still grow to full size.

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General Discussion to Health

 

[jortiz9758]

Wait....you just got a UVB bulb? I take it he never had one?> That is one reason why he has not gotten any bigger. What type of bulb did you wind up buying?