So we bought our Beardie back at the end of December. They said he was 3 months old. So that would make him about 6 months old. How big should a 6month old Beardie be?
Mine is about 16” long from head to the end of his tail. Everything that I have read says he is a juvenile at 6 months should be maybe 12“ long. He is killing my wallet on food. We are trying to start a Dubia colony but have been unsuccessful. So we’re feeding crickets. People say to feed him everything he will eat in 15 minutes. That is not possible. He never stops eating. We have not found his limit. And he will eat anything. Veggies/ crickets/ mealworms.... anything.
So how much should I be feeding him and what size food. The websites say to order small to medium for juvenile, but they are also saying he should be 8-12”. Maybe he is older than they said. Any thoughts? Here is a picture he of cours turned his head as I took the picture so the top doesn’t look right but when he looks forward he is 15-16”
Hes a big boy-- what does he weigh? You can weigh him on a kitchen food scale and weigh in grams--- my guess he will plateau out at some point --- feed him more salads than protein -- it takes a while to get a colony going --- you can feed silk worms as a staple feeder as well --- that will slow down on the cricket consumption - you can order them from here https://reptilianarts.com/ if you order a large amount make sure you get food too - they eat alot -- you can also get them from here http://www.mulberryfarms.com/ but I think all they have now are smalls so you would need to grow them out - make sure you have food for them - and you will need to clean the frass poop out everyday or every other day along w/ any food that is in there ---
Karrie
At 6 mo., mine was 16½", 260 grams. Yours doesn't sound too far off to me.
IME, those age categories are generalizations, can vary, and every dragon is different due to genetics, growth spurts (some earlier--some later), diet, and other factors.
Dubias are expensive. To reduce the impact on my budget, I'm sticking to med. (½"), 1000 at a time, regardless of recommended/suggested sizes. He eats a few more, but the next size up (¾") cost twice as much. Doesn't seem proportionate, but I'm not raising them (yet).
I had 2 3 month olds that were 14 inches long, although they were only 150~grams each at that time.
They can go through growth spurts, or they can grow in a more linear progressive fashion. And sometimes they have a growth spurt real young, and then take a bit longer to reach their full size.
Diet plays a huge rule. They will grow really quick when fed copious amounts of food. But, there really is no rush to have them grow so much and so quickly. IMO, slow and steady is better for the health.
I actually typically order from DubiaRoaches.com there's also rainbow mealworms. I recently (yesterday) found a breeder for roaches near my home and ordered 1000 small/medium for $50 including shipping. He told me he's getting another 15,000 in soon. Let me know if you may want his info.
What part of the country (state, region) are you in?
There are a LOT of feeder vendors; most have some kind of bulk quantity options; some have automatic re-ordering, and offer discounts for that. I've had better experiences with vendors closer to me, especially during times on inclement weather.
Fortunately, that's not one of the states where (to my knowledge) dubia roaches are illegal. Doing a cursory search, I don't find any vendors in AL, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. You may have to extend your search to surrounding states or the region.
Hey sorry for the late reply been working a lot this weekend. If you send me a PM I'll provide the sellers info. Got the roaches yesterday all nice and healthy from this seller!