One year old dragon only 9.5 inches

[11treboR]

hey guys, i recently "adopted" this dragon from a man who stated the dragon was a year old. i assumed he was off by a few months, but i am not sure now. i have had him for a month now and he doesn't eat a whole lot. i provide greens everyday and when he eats the crickets he only eats 5 or so. i dust them with calcium every other day. i have a 100w Reptisun Powersun UVA/UVB bulb too. he is 9.5in 1.7oz. why is he not growing? here is pictures:

 

[Ethelia]

Hello there,
Firstly, what a sweet little face your new dragon has. Does he have a name?

He is definatly small for a year old. Are you measuring him from nose to tip of tail?

How much do you know about his previous husbandry?
Do you know if he had UV lighting?

Lack of UVB can definately stunt the growth of dragons, but there can also be genetic factors or dietary issues.
Even if he is a year old he does have the potential to grow.

How is he besides his size?
Does he have regular bowel movements? Is he active or does he seem lethargic?

Are you supplimenting his diet with calcium and vitamins?
Have you tried giving him a bath?

All my dragons are rescues so I have had some experience with growth issues.
My first dragon Dex recieved poor care and she was stunted in her growth but was nevertheless a very happy and active dragon.

I suspect that the growth may have some baring on the amount of protien that he's ingesting. 5 crickets is no where near the levels he should be consuming.
Now unfortunatly I know this all too well. I have a rescued baby named Miso, who is a happy healthy baby... who doesnt eat bugs! Due to this Miso has remained at 10inches long for two months (she should be pushing 12-13 inches now). For the first 3 months at home with us she was only interested in salad, and it has literally only been in this last week that she has started to willingly eat bugs.


It may be that your dragon is not used to eating more than he is.
How are you feeding him? In a bowl? In his viv?
I ask because Ive found the manner of feeding can very much be the determining factor.
I tried my baby on butterworms, phoenix worms, mealworms, roaches, crickets locusts, you name it i tried it. She would just look at them.
She wouldnt eat crickets or locusts in her viv or in a seperate feeding bin, she wouldnt eat worms from her clear bowl or silver bowl either.
Until last week I brought home a little brown bowl on a whim (it was only £2) and to my absolute SHOCK she started to hunt. She would see them scurrying around this new bowl and start chomping!
It still amazes me that she went from being bribed/tricked into eating one or two worms a day to hunting down and eating 20+ on her own... all because of one bowl.
She will now eat anything i put in there, phoenix's, roaches, mealworms. Bizzare!

So there is definate credence to the idea of trying to feed him in different manners.

Have you tried different feeders yet?
Some dragons are much more inticed by worms over crickets.
Both Ruben and Dexter will not eat crickets, but offer them worms and theyre gone in the blink of an eye.
Feeders like butterworms, pheonixworms and superworms (if he is over 13 inches long) make great feeders.
Butterworms carry a little more fat than normal feeders aswell which makes them ideal for rehabilitating dragons who need a little extra weight.

It may be that your little one's appetite needs a little nudge in the right direction.
I understand that members here have seen some great results with appetite stimulants such as
Jump Start by Zilla, Avipro Plus or Rept-Aid.

All the best.
Holly

 

[Adam805]

my beardie is the same. I got him from some guy at the mall and he was growing but then stoped and now he is only 10 inches(he grew a half of an inch) and now just stoped. I feed him greens crickets mealworms and he still will not grow. He is very actice so i guess that is a good sign.

 

[crazymum]

your beardie could actually just be a Lawsons/Rankin Dragons...
go look at this forum and post in there viewforum.php?f=70

 

[Ethelia]

Thats an interesting idea.
Hmmm.
I must say that all the Rankin dragons that I have come across myself online do have very distinct patterns on their back which dont seem to match your little guys.

Although saying this Im really not sure HOW diverse the back patterns can be, but to my knowledge they seem rather uniform.
Perhaps a more telling feature would be your dragons beard?
Rankins do not have the slightly droopy/jowely beard that "bearded dragons" have. The scales under their chin is quite fitted to their face.

Holly

 

[11treboR]

man holly... i had written you this whole response thing and went to submit it, but something happened and it didnt work.

but anyway, thanks for the help guys!

Holly: his name is Kono, and the funny thing is i was going to name him Miso before i sexed him and saw he was a boy! He is 9.5 from nose to tip of tail. The guy i got him from said he was using a UVA/UVB Zoo med Powersun, so i bought the same bulb. i give him supplements such as calcium dusted food, and these small cubes from nature zone for vitamins. he is pretty active, he never naps. i also give him baths in the sink which he seems to enjoy.

When i picked him up, the guy had just thrown in a bag full of crickets, which is why he might not like them. He eats mealworms and wax worms but still doesnt eat a lot, and i dont like to give them to him due to the chiltlin level and fats in the wax worms. I cannot even imagine if he ate 20 of those things cause i see him barely eating. i tried a different feeding container, but it just stressed him out, so i partitioned the cage into a little feeding area. it makes it easier to collect the crickets too.

i hope the appetite stimulants work!
thanks for the help holly, adopting is a lot more work.

your beardie could actually just be a Lawsons/Rankin Dragons...
go look at this forum and post in there viewforum.php?f=70

to address crazymum. i thought he was a lawson's dragon, but he doesnt carry the traits. I am concerned that he might be a vittikins dragon though, which is a beardie(vitticeps) X lawsons (rankins). and i have no idea how to tell

 

[Ethelia]

Well its definatly a good sign that he is an active little monster.
I do hope that as soon as his protein levels increase he starts to grow (fingers crossed for my little girl too!)

I really would try him on some soft-bodied worms (butterworms, pheonixworms & silkworms). The wriggling can often intice the fussiest of eaters. I believe most of our american members order them online reasonably cheaply. I certainly do in the UK.

What I also forgot to mention was that it'd be a really good idea to get a faecal test done whenever you bring a new dragon home to check for worms and paracites because they are so easily picked up.
A faecal isnt expensive and should only set you back about $12 from most vets. You dont need to pay for an appointment, just call up and ask if you can drop a sample in for a paracites screening and you get the results in a few days time.

In regards to the Lawson/Rankin debate Ive dropped one of the moderators a line who might be able to shed a little more light on the situation.

Best of luck and welcome to the forums.
Holly

 

[vickson420]

Doesnt look like a Rankins to me.There are some characteristics that your guy does have that are similar to them however.Could you post a picture of his tail from the back?Rankins have a distinctive spike pattern on the tail in and almost circular fashion.In theory he could be 1/2 and 1/2(vittkins) but what I really think you have is just a microbeardie that hasnt had the appropriate care in the first part of his life which would ultimately stunt his growth potential.I am thinking thats the most likely culprit.Rest assured however even if he doesnt grow to his full potential with proper care he can still lead a long,normal and happy life.I agree with Holly a fecal should be done to rule out any parasitic issues.
For those unsure of what a vittkins looks like here is a pic of one.You will notice that like the Rankins they have a very distinct spike/scale pattern:
http://www.thelizardwizard.co.uk/pogona_vittikins_002.jpg

 

[11treboR]

hey vickson, here is another picture. i dont think he is a lawsons/rankins either. possibly a vittikins or half, but how rare is it to find a vittikins in the U.S.? and is there anywhere that can tell me how tell if it even is a vittikins, just by physical traits. if he is just stunted hopefully he can still be healthy.

 

[Adam805]

to tell you the truth my beardie looks exectly the same. Just a little but darker

 

[vickson420]

Thanks for the pic.It helped a great deal.I can fairly confidently say that he is neither lawsons or vittkins as both have a fairly distinct spike pattern on the tail and top that with the fact that vittkins are not very available here in the US I think he is just a small normal AKA Micro-beardie.We have a few floating around the forum and they have all done quite well in every aspect regardless of their small stature.I think the only thing I would recommend you not attempt to do is to breed him other then that I see no reason why he cant live a very happy life and there still is time for some more growth with the proper husbandry.He is a very cute little fella btw

 

[Seven65]

I'm having the exact same problem with Nef. The pet store had him in poor conditions and it stunted his growth greatly, he was 4.5" when I got him at about 7 months old. He doubled in size within a couple of months in his new viv but his growth has slowed. I'm pretty sure it's because when I designed his enclosure I didn't know that the UVB bulb had to be as close as it does, it was 2 feet away from him. I just lowered it this weekend, it's on an angle temperarily, with the lowest point being 6 inches above his basking spot. Hopefully it helps. What are the chances of a dragon with such stunted growth growing to a near normal size? He's about 10" and about 9 months old. He's most definatley not one of the smaller breeds, at least i've never seen a picture of one with such highly developed spikes and a citrus colour.

 

[11treboR]

well i was reading this site that said rankins/lawsons dragons like to dig. does anyone elses dragon sleep like this? cause he does this often

 

[Seven65]

Wow, i've never seen that before. It's almost like he's trying to use his tail as a blanket hehe.

 

[crazymum]

our 11 month old female will dig into the sand to make a nest so to speak when she goes to bed but she does not use her tail like that... that is so adorable