New beardie. Too small? HELP

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This is Max! We purchased him in early April at Petsmart. The lady who sold him to us said he was around 2 months old. If this is correct he should be a little over 4 months. He weighs 7g and is about 6inches. He has not grown at all since we purchased him. Took him to the vet and is currently being treated for parasites. He eats 4-6 Phoenix worms maybe 2x a day. Refuses to eat any greens, but we still offer them to him. Tried crickets and he enjoyed them for a while, but doesn't necessarily prefer them. He is in a 50gal tank with UVB and UVA lamps and a basking lamp which gets up to 105°F and the "cooler" spots are about 80°F. He pretty much just basks all day long or sits under the UVB/UVA bulb.

I dont know what else to do besides wait for the treatment to end. We are thinking he could be a pygmy bearded dragon?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
Hi there, he is not a pygmy dragon, they are rare and a specialty order [ plus I can tell by his body structure ] He is just a slow grower and may still be settlng in. Some pet store dragons can be pretty healthy. others come from overbred females and may not do well for that and other reasons. Just keep taking care + feeding him as much as he'll eat. At least he looks alert + healthy . :)


Most stores sell the wrong bulbs, so post pics of your set up including the lights, and list the exact type + brand of bulbs you have. What type of parasites does he have, what meds. is he on and how long will he be taking them ?
 

VenusAndSaturn

Sub-Adult Member
He's not a pygmy dragon, either they lied about his age (most common) or he's very stunted in growth with the terrible care he has. Not your fault really... you didn't know any better to not listen to such a terrible place, most new owners don't realize how bad petco/petsmart are.

At only 7 grams he's very underweight if he was 4 months old. Most dragons are well above 30 grams by then.
If i were to guess his actual age I'm gonna say 2 months old not 4 months. The lady most likely lied and he was probably just a few weeks old when you got him.


Make sure he has the following,

UVB - Reptisun T5 HO 10.0 22" UVB bulb and reflective fixture with either nothing or only screen blocking the bulb, bulb replaced every 6 months.

Heating - Bright regular basking bulb that isn't colored (red, blue, green etc).

Proper substrate - Tile, paper towels, non-adhesive shelf liner or repti-carpet. No sand or any loose substrate.

A proper way to monitor temps - This can be a temp gun or a digital temperature gauge with a probe. Stick on gauges do not work at all and can not be used.

The temps sound good as long as they are being monitored with what I listed above.




At his age he should be eating 3x a day, 10-20 bugs at the very least every feeding.


Here is a feeding guide.
Do note the 10-20 bugs a feeding is a minimum, most do how many bugs they will eat in a 10-15 minute time frame.

All life stages eat 10-20 bugs a feeding.
1-4 months 3x a day.
4-12 months 2x a day.
12-20 months once a day.
20+ months twice a week at the least, every other day at the most.

Staple feeders - Crickets, locusts, grasshoppers, silkworms, black soldier fly larvae, dubia roaches, turkish roaches.

Treat feeders - Waxworms, hornworms, superworms, mealworms, butterworms.
Wax worms - once a week, 4-5 max.
Hornworms - every other day to every two days, 4-6 max.
Mealworms - every other day to every two days, 5-10 max. Only for beardies above 6 months.
Superworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max. Only for beardies above 12 months.
Butterworms - once or twice a week, 3-4 max.

Daily greens- Turnip/collard/mustard greens, endive, and kale if added to a mixture of the other staple greens mentioned.
Fruit once or twice a week - Banana, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, red raspberries.
For more food items -
http://www.thebeardeddragon.org/bearded-dragon-diet.php
http://www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html

Supplementation -

You want two supplements at the very least, a calcium and a multivitamin.
I recommend the Repti-cal brand but zoomed is also good.

The supplements should be lightly dusted on all bugs.

Generally, beardies below two years need calcium 5x a week and multivitamins 2x a week.

However, beardies above two years or at two years of age need calcium only 2-4x a week with multivitamins 1-2x a week.
This does depend on how your beardie is with diet, health, just laid eggs, is laying eggs, etc.



Did you guys do a fecal test to comfirm he had parasites or did he just give him the meds?
 

NikkiSmith2796

Member
Original Poster
I'll have to get back to you on the brand of lights but we got them from petsmart. A friend told me about Dubia roaches so I went and bought a few and he loved them and ate about 10 small ones, but now it's been about a day and a half and he refuses to eat any at all! He doesn't chase them when I put them in front of him, or he close his eyes when I feed them to him with a tweezer... I dont know what else to do. We do plan to purchase the reptisun bulb online soon because none of the stores around here sell the 10.0 in 22".

We did take him to the vet for a fecal and he came back positive for a parasite. They have us giving him 0.05 ml of 5% Albon?

Here is a picture of his home.
99968-6599332969.jpg
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
You have his tank set up very nicely ! :) Be careful as he gets bigger, many beardies will eat the fake plants so you'll probably need to take those out. The Petsmart bulbs are almost certainly going to be the wrong ones.Do you have a long tube uvb or is it a coil,compact bulb in the black dome.

How many days did the vet want you to give him Albon ? Your little guy is too small for Albon, it is a very harsh med., some vets don't use it anymore and it can make your little guy much sicker. More progressive vets DO use Ponazuril or toltrazuril for coccidia. You can but it here :

http://www.beardeddragon.co/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=246
This drug works in just a few doses.
 

NikkiSmith2796

Member
Original Poster
The light is a compact bulb I believe and I'm going to give the vet a call today then because that is not good. How much do you think he should get in a dose?
 

AHBD

BD.org Sicko
The toltrazuril will come with dosing instructions. Order the 2.5 % , not the 5% strength.
 
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