Not growing stuck at 9.5 inches

[EAGOLD23]

So late march early april i purchased a bearded dragon. My tanks is perfectly set up, basking spot as i look at it 103.4 with proper uvb and proper dosage of calcium. I know nothings wrong with the engclosure because also inside of it i have a 4 month old (male) in there with her that i got from a breeder. The 4 month (Reptar) in the last 3 weeks has grown all the way up to 10 inches, when i bought him he was only 7.5-8. He has grown about an inch a week. Now the other female that i have is probably about 6 months if i were to guess. I bought her from a pet store and they didnt know her exact age. Shes only 9.5 inches. She eats ALOT very energetic loves to play very very friendly. However while the other one wont stop growing and seems to be a lot younger, this one is stuck. Any ideas?

 

[Seven65]

Well for starters you should probably seperate them.

But that aside, it may be because of the conditions of the pet store. The pet store where I bought my Nef did everything wrong and he was 5" when i bought him and he was over 6 months old. He is growing steadily but it took awhile for the growth to start. he's doubled in size in 2 months.

I don't think you gave enough information to compare growth rates and I'm kinda confused on when you got which dragon. When did you get each dragon and have you been measuring them both every week? If so how do they compare?

Also, what kind of uvb do you use? and you may want to bring the basking temp up a bit for younger dragons, between 105 and 110.

 

[EAGOLD23]

I use a uvb bulb 10.0 im trying to find the brand, i tossed the box. I bought one about the 3rd week in march, from a breeder, that is the male. WHen i got him, he was a little under 8 inches, closer to 7.5"... it took him a little while to start growing he hit about 9 after two weeks, and than in the last week he was grown a full inch, pushing a little bit over 10inches.

I got the female, the one who is not growing, a week after i got the male.
This is her

she has grown if anything a 1/4 - 1/2 an inch if anything and has already shed twice.

Still havent found the link, however i am purchasing a new bulb, im running a 75wt for a 40 gallon, and will be buying a 100wt this weekend.

Found it. Using a 10.0 26wt uvb coil from reptiglow.

I didnt think i had to separate them, i was told a male and a female could live together fine. THey seem to get along great, sleep and bask on top of each other almost every time i look at them and no apparent competition for food.

I could be wrong but how often should i be dusting with calcium? I do their greens and meal worms every 3 days. I was told that was right, but please tell me if i am wrong, im new to this whole thing if you havent noticed. And they have been pretty moody lately with crickets they are both in the process of shedding so their number of crickets consumed fluctuates daily.

if you have any more questions that could help please dont hesitate asking, more than willing to provide more information.

 

[shimmeriing]

I'm new to this whole thing as well, but one thing I've learned that is a BIG no, no. Coils. Do not use ANY coils. They cause lots of problems..

 

[Seven65]

I'm new to this whole thing as well, but one thing I've learned that is a BIG no, no. Coils. Do not use ANY coils. They cause lots of problems..

Yes. You want either a mercury vapour bulb or a reptisun 10.0 flourescent tube. Coils have been known to do more harm than good.

And as I said before you will most likely prevent a lot of problems by getting an additional tank and seperating your dragons. It's possible that your male is taking the better basking spots and greater portion of food causing it to grow faster. It seems the most of the time there are dominance issues where one will bully the other it can result in one being healthier than the other, and possibly injuries like hungry/agressive dragons eating the others limbs.

She's a pretty colour btw.

 

[LJean]

Found it. Using a 10.0 26wt uvb coil from reptiglow.

OH, coil and compact bulbs have been known to cause health issues in dragons. You may see them stop eating, becoming lathargic, have eye issues etc. The reptiglo brand isn't very good either. You may want to quickly change it out for a ReptiSUn 10 (long tube) linear flourescent.

I didnt think i had to separate them, i was told a male and a female could live together fine. THey seem to get along great, sleep and bask on top of each other almost every time i look at them and no apparent competition for food.

Male dragons will be ready to mate before a female is old enough. If you do not seperate them, he may constantly harass her trying to mate. That is only one of the things that can happen when housing more than one dragon together.

As for dusting with calcium, it should be done daily.
Dust one feeding a day for five days with calcium, and dust one feeding a day for the other two days with multivitamin. Also meal worms are not very nutritious and can cause impaction because of the chitin shell.

 

[EAGOLD23]

what kind of multi vitamin?

 

[LJean]

I use Rep-Cal's HERPTIVITE now. It is has the blue label. This one doesn't have vitamin A (supposedly) so we don't have to worry about vit A toxicity.

Pretty dragon you have!

 

[chadwick757]

Most of these pet store people must never have lived on a farm. You should NEVER have a male and female animal together unless you want and are prepared to care for babies. This seems like common sense but apparently some pet stores are still confused about where babies come from. I would definitely separate them unless you are prepared to care for 30+ little beardies.

 

[EAGOLD23]

well they are juviniles, about 5 months, i didnt think they could mate that early...

 

[LJean]

I know it doesn't seem possible, but there are a few on here who have had their 7 month old girls with eggs. This is dangerous to her because she isn't fully grown herself.

It surprised me to hear of one so young.

 

[EAGOLD23]

http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-light-fixtures/513079/zilla-desert-series-low-profile-t5-fixture.html

Is that a good deal? Are those the proper bulbs?

 

[chadwick757]

No. and no. http://www.petmountain.com/product/reptile-fluorescent-bulbs/504983/zoo-med-reptisun-10.0-uvb-bulb.html these are the bulbs you want and you can get a cheap fixture at lowes or home depot. Just try and bring the bulb with to size them up. Someone should be able to help get a good fit at the store.

 

[EAGOLD23]

Well the bulb that you put up was the one that i had in my cart and am going to buy, i just didnt want to hit purchase without checking.

how much should a fixture cost? Is $80 for a 48" fixture a good deal?

 

[Seven65]

Well the bulb that you put up was the one that i had in my cart and am going to buy, i just didnt want to hit purchase without checking.

how much should a fixture cost? Is $80 for a 48" fixture a good deal?

Seems a bit costly to me, I got a plain 24" florecent fixture from canadian tire for like $19

Is your viv big enough for a 48"? You dont need to go overboard I think they only have to cover half of the length of your enclosure. A smaller size should save you some money which would be better spent getting 2 of everything so you can seperate your dragons. Unless you want to run 1 fixture over 2 tanks, that's another option.