My baby beardie is not growing??

[Moburger]

I have a baby beardie who was hatched in early October. So she is almost 4 months old. I got her from a friend who has a bearded dragon shop so I know she comes from good lines. She eats gut loaded crickets and greens. I also feed her mangos and other fruits of baby food beechnut naturals. Which is nothing but the fruit or vegetable. I also have 2 other very healthy dragons. Who I feed the same way. All have lights the other 2 are older and from different clutches. Well this baby is almost 4 months and only about 3 inches from nose to tip of tail. Why is she not growing. I am doing all the same things I did with my other 2 dragons and they are great. Same start up set up and new uvb bulb. I just don't understand.

 

[Mctoste]

Has she been checked for parasites? A heavy load of those can slow or stunt growth if severe enough.

 

[Drache613]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[kingofnobbys]

Are they all housed together ?

Dominance and overcrowding stresses where people are told by pet shops that they can house multiple similar sized hatchlings together is a common mistake and is likely to result in one or more of a group failing to thrive, entirely because it is submissive, not as aggressive an eater , and because it's tank mate / s get the lion's share of the live insects , and deny it access to the best basking and sleeping spots.


If they are housed , you need to provide each hatchling with it's own INDIVIDUAL rearing tub ( I use 100L clear sided stackable tubs with clip on lids for my young lizards and it is very successful ). Let the "runt" keep the original tank, it can't afford another dose of relocation stress , and make sure it can't see the other hatchlings (put up partitions (bits of cardboard say between their tanks if side by side.)
I also suggest you hand feed extra gutloaded bugs to the runt from now on to help it grow faster (this way you will know it is getting the insect protein and dietary calcium it needs to grow and develop properly, it'll never catch up with the others, but it will be a lot happier and become stress free and will promptly begin to thrive and grow and develop.

 

[Moburger]

Are they all housed together ?

Dominance and overcrowding stresses where people are told by pet shops that they can house multiple similar sized hatchlings together is a common mistake and is likely to result in one or more of a group failing to thrive, entirely because it is submissive, not as aggressive an eater , and because it's tank mate / s get the lion's share of the live insects , and deny it access to the best basking and sleeping spots.


If they are housed , you need to provide each hatchling with it's own INDIVIDUAL rearing tub ( I use 100L clear sided stackable tubs with clip on lids for my young lizards and it is very successful ). Let the "runt" keep the original tank, it can't afford another dose of relocation stress , and make sure it can't see the other hatchlings (put up partitions (bits of cardboard say between their tanks if side by side.)
I also suggest you hand feed extra gutloaded bugs to the runt from now on to help it grow faster (this way you will know it is getting the insect protein and dietary calcium it needs to grow and develop properly, it'll never catch up with the others, but it will be a lot happier and become stress free and will promptly begin to thrive and grow and develop.

The baby is NOT with my big dragons. All of my dragons have their own enclosures. They all have their own heat lights and uvb lights. All are hand fed. Gut loaded crickets. Greens and beechnut naturals baby food. Beechnut neutrals is baby food made only from for example if it's mangos the ingredients is just mangos. Nothing artificial! My dragons eat better than I do. Lol

 

[Gretchx713]

We used to have a beardie who did not grow. She was 3 years old and the size of a 6 month old and yet, up until she got sick and passed away (we aren't sure from what) she was eating a LOT and happy and healthy. We think she may have had a form of dwarfism, even though all of her bones seemed developed normally so maybe your beardie is naturally small? I would check with a reptile vet to be sure, but if your beardie is eating and doesn't seem to be in discomfort it may just be a naturally small bearded dragon.