Is she too small for her age?

[abbyxelizabeth]

I was going to post a thread with pictures of my Lily, but as I was looking through someone else's thread and saw how big their dragon was at 4 months, I'm getting a little worried. Lily's not nearly that big and she's approx. 6 months!

Here is a photo of when I first got her at 4 weeks old. I do not know how long she was then as I never measured.

Here she is now. If you need me to get measurements I will.

 

[Sauzo]

Awww such a cutie. She has filled out and is definitely bigger. I would take what you read about other peoples beardies size with a grain of salt. All beardies grow different plus parents genetics play into it too. You can get a rough guideline to size per age but it's just that, a rough guideline. As long as your husbandry is right and you are feeding them enough and they have good fat stores in the right places, I'd just take it as that's how big she is. Some grow fast, some grow slow. She might have a growth spurt for the next 3 months and become Godzilla :wink: And really without knowing the cage setup, feeding amounts and types and a length/weight now, it's kind of hard to really judge but she does look alert in that bottom picture.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

Thank you so much! I am a bit more reassured that she's okay now. I was, at first, surprised at how much she was growing. Then I came on here and saw another beardie at 4 months and I looked at Lily's comparisons and I was like...wow...she hasn't grown much at all compared to that beardie! But Lily seems healthy and active to me. I love her to death and want the best for her.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

I am still worried about Lily being too small for her age. She's a bit over 6 months and she's 9 or 10 inches. What do you all think?

 

[Sauzo]

That is a bit on the small side but as I said before, if she is eating good, pooping good, has good fat stores, alert and overall just happy and content looking, I wouldn't really worry about the size unless you are specifically after a large dragon. Harley is 8 months old and 15 inches which is about average. She is very filled out, I'd almost say to the point where she kinda seems fat but she is very happy and content. But again, as long as your dragon is happy and content, I wouldn't worry about the size. And they all grow at different paces. Some are late bloomers. Maybe your dragon will peak from 8-12 months and grow like a weed, who knows. As long as your dragon has good fat stores, then she is growing at her pace.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

I'm not worried about size. If she turns out to be a small dragon, that's no problem for me. My only concern is her health. I have a friend telling me she's way too small...

 

[Sauzo]

Well does she have a thick and rounded tail where it meets the body? Are her arms and legs thick and meaty? Does she have jowls and a rounded beard down by the neck? Does she have fat pads on top of her head behind her eyes? Does she have the infamous beardie potbelly? All those are signs that she is well fed. If she is skinny and her arms and legs are like toothpicks and she has a thin scrawny tail, that's usually not a good sign. 10 inches at 6 months isn't way too small though. At 6 months they average about 11-18 inches according to http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/. It is a bit on the small side like I said but that could have been she was underfed when she was born till when you got her. Nothing you can do about that now. But like I said, if she is active, happy, content and has good fat stores in the spots I said, then she will resume growing although she will always be a bit smaller since she got a late start. You can also take her into the vet for a checkup if you are really worried or she is acting weird. Regardless though, you will want to do yearly checkups anyways.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

I wanted to update this thread in case anybody was interested.

I am super worried about Lily. It's like her growth was stunted or something. I think I'm going to take her to the vet. She's still not growing it seems, and Noah (my other dragon) is. They are given the same proper care so I can't imagine why in the world Lily isn't growing. She is still fairly small and is close to a year old I believe.

Ugh, I hate this. She's such a sweet little girl, I really hope she's okay...

 

[sue09]

Can you measure her from nose to tip of tail and weigh her it might help the ones that know on here,they are a knowledgable lot,,good luck with your beardie.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

I would if I could find a darn ruler or tape measure, LOL! I also need to get a new scale. Mine doesn't work right...

 

[AHBD]

Abby, can you post a pic of her on a notebook or phonebook to show her size ?

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

That's her next to a tape measure.

 

[AHBD]

Aw, what a sweet little girl, and she is truly tiny. She will never grow to be a large dragon, I don't think she will grow more than a few inches more....maybe 3-4, but hopefully she might prove me wrong. I'm not sure what a vet could do....please be sure that if you take her, it's a very experienced vet. Otherwise they can do more harm than good. You might ask for some Critical Care supplement, it's high calorie + loaded with nutrients. You might try other feeder insects....small hornworms, Large Phoenix worms, small butterworms. Other than that, just take the best care of her as you can. She's a special little girl.

 

[sue09]

Awww she's so tiny,,bless her and sooooo cute,,lol best wishes for her.

 

[abbyxelizabeth]

Thanks for your replies, guys. I just feel like I had to have done something wrong. D: I hate that feeling. I love her to pieces; she was my first dragon. I really hope she improves a little bit. I weighed her, and, I don't know HOW accurate this is as my "fancy" kitchen scale has been messing up quite a bit and isn't reliable, but I put in new batteries and it's acting a bit normal-er and says her weight is 46 grams. That's severely underweight, isn't it?