My rescue, we are calling him Oscar. Weight question.

[lisa127]

Ok, The beardie my husband brought home 4 days ago has been doing good. Eating real good and poops look to be good as well. As I said before, he is thin. I haven't trusted him to sit on the scale until today. I figured he was stressed the first few days and might panic and take off or something. Today I measured and weighed him as best I could. Length was a bit difficult so I don't know if it's dead on, but best I could tell is he is a total of 19 inches maybe, from nose to tip of tail. Weight is low I know, he weighed in at 262 grams. My question is what weight range should he be in for his length and age? Oh, he is 4 years old.

I'm thinking I'll weigh him once a week and if I do not see steady weight gain I will have a fecal done. Otherwise though, everything looks and seems great so far.

 

[lisa127]

Anyone have input on what he should weigh for his length and age? Having never kept beardies before I'm not sure what normal is, but I'm thinking over 400 grams is what he should be?
I'm attaching a couple of pics taken this morning.

 

[AHBD]

Hi Lisa....Oscar is quite thin, but he looks alert + not [ visibly ] too unhealthy. You're correct, he should be in the 400 -500 gram range. Don't try to pump his weight up too quickly, offer lots of greens [ turnip, mustard, collard, arugula, dandelion as well as grated squash ] This will help with hydration as well as lots of vitamins + minerals. Offer insects every day as well, superworms, hornworms, silkworms ,crickets, dubia. Go easy on the superworms, that should only be part of his insect diet....6-7 at a time at the most may be best since he's not used to lots of protein + fat. He should [ hopefully ] do well as long as there are no serious hidden health issues.

 

[lisa127]

Hi Lisa....Oscar is quite thin, but he looks alert + not [ visibly ] too unhealthy. You're correct, he should be in the 400 -500 gram range. Don't try to pump his weight up too quickly, offer lots of greens [ turnip, mustard, collard, arugula, dandelion as well as grated squash ] This will help with hydration as well as lots of vitamins + minerals. Offer insects every day as well, superworms, hornworms, silkworms ,crickets, dubia. Go easy on the superworms, that should only be part of his insect diet....6-7 at a time at the most may be best since he's not used to lots of protein + fat. He should [ hopefully ] do well as long as there are no serious hidden health issues.

Thanks for your input. He seems to be a good eater. So far he is eating a salad of mustard greens as the base (he likes those) with different toppings each day. Sometimes grated carrots, chopped grean beans, peas, and chopped strawberries. I hope to pick up some collards and others next time I shop. Some days he doesn't seem to touch the salad and some days, like today, he eats quite a bit of it. So far he has been eating six dusted superworms per day. He has gotten on a schedule of pooping daily, about an hour after his lights go on. I plan on ordering some butterworms and reptiworms as well. The Reptiles 2013 annual article lists earthworms as a good food as well. What is your opinion on that? I'm talking about nightcrawlers from PetSmart, as I always have those here for my box turtles and blue tongued skink.

Also, is the 6 superworms per day enough protein for him at his age? Or does he need more?