Normal Size?

[Shy4nn3]

I received a Beardie about a month ago. The previous owner told me that he was about 8 months old and also explained to me how to take care of him. The way he explained the care to me was to feed him 20 crickets a week and powder calcium on them once a month. He also fed him a gel food every other night. I now know the right things to do and feed him an average of 20 crix a day and i powder calcium about 5 times a week. I still feed him the gel and I am still working on him eating his greens since he has never been offered them before. I am afraid that he was malnourished and it stunted his growth or something.

I just measured him and he is 10 inches long. Do we think that his growth was stunted or that the previous owner was wrong about the age (even though he said it with certainty)? Any advice?

 

[joelgriz8124]

Is the tail nipped at all ? Also if it was only gettin 20 crix a week maby it wasn't getting enough protein to grow. I have a female now who is about 6 months old and she dosnt eat enough and she is growing very slow. I actually have to force feed her some food my vet gave me. But I'm not positive on ur situation. There are other breads of bearded dragons that are smaller. Does it have all the proper uva/ uvb lighting ?

 

[Shy4nn3]

There is no tail nip and he eats about 20 crix a day right now. Before me all he had was a basking/UVA light so I am leaning toward that he was just not taken care of properly and because of that he is small for his age. He has grown a bit in the month that I have had him so I am hoping that he is recovering and will begin growing at a regular pace. I hope no complications come up in the future from the treatment of the previous owner because he was also definitely not getting enough calcium either.

 

[Shy4nn3]

I still have not found a vet that is knowledgeable on reptiles yet or i would have taken him for a check-up. I think that the nearest vet will be about an hour away which will not be good in an emergency but it is better than nothing.