Past for y’all, present for me

[Genofdistinct]

Hey all, still somewhat new here with this being my third post, and the first one not being a total hypochondriac about my lil man, but wanted to get a conversation going about size and age. My man jerald(will post pics soon) just turned 8 months, and is a whopping 14 inches. Lottsss of energy and still has that juvey look to him, just wondering what size were your guys at at 8 months?

 

[AHBD]

That's a decent average size at 8 months. Some dragons will be a bit smaller, some larger. I've raised more than a few and some were about Jerald's size, some bigger. Some reached 18- 20 " by 8 months but did not grow much more than 21-23" as adults.

 

[Genofdistinct]

I always thought he’d be on the smaller side so that’s not a superise, plus he has enough healthy traits I’m not worried about his size. Also in your experience did dragons get brighter as the get older? Jerald’s got “basic” colors but with each shade this subtle shade of orange gets brighter on his accents, so if they do it’s super exciting to know how much color he could have, I’d much rather have a “drab” brown dragon with subtle orange accents than a sand fire lol.

 

[Genofdistinct]

Speaking of the last super worm run we did, we saw a full on sand fire leatherback baby with the fancies which was insane cuz, ya know pets mart. Really weird seeing such a high quality morph in a chain store haha.

 

[MrSpectrum]

Also in your experience did dragons get brighter as the get older?

They can go either way: some start out "regular" looking and colors/markings come out later; others start out bright & colorful, and mute with age.

Kinda like a box-o-chocolates... :laughing6:

Most chain stores seem to have "regular" & "fancy". With that dichotomy, someone has to put them in one category or the other--probably based on how they look against the average of a batch.

YMMV

 

[Genofdistinct]

Regular and fancy are just bs most of the time. They choose bearded dragons and call them fancy to make more cash. If they get a breeder dragon it does go into the fancies but most times it’s just a regular ol beardie

 

[Claudiusx]

I agree that is within a reasonable range - size wise.

If you want, we could go over your setup and feeding details to make sure everything is A-OK. But it sounds like if he's been growing with you that he's doing just fine

Too many people get caught in the mindset of "grow as quick as possible!" When the mindset should be "be as healthy as possible" and a lot of times, the two don't coincide.
Personally, I love the baby phase. That's why I can't go to reptile expos, I have no self control :laughing6:

-Brandon

 

[Claudiusx]

Moved by Moderator from General to Health

 

[Linzloohoo]

They all grow at different rates. For example my guy is 3 months and pushing 12”, but my nieces beardie who is only 2 weeks younger than mine is about 7-8”. Both with the exact same lighting/diet. As long as he’s healthy I wouldn’t worry about size.

 

[MrSpectrum]

Regular and fancy are just bs most of the time. They choose bearded dragons and call them fancy to make more cash. If they get a breeder dragon it does go into the fancies but most times it’s just a regular ol beardie

I don't believe there's any such thing as a regular ol' beardie anymore. Think about it; all CB BDs are selectively bred--there's no such thing as natural selection CB (Somebody put them in together).

It's not entirely the shops' doing either, and it partly depends on who sets the price. Many/most breeders breed for maximum profit, and that means rarer and rarer morphs, with little regard for sensible breeding practices. Don't read into this that I'm dissing all breeders--I've said no such thing--but I've been looking (and grading), and from what I've seen, the better breeders are in the minority.

"Regular" and "fancy" are purely subjective terms. Personally, I prefer the "wild" look--as if they were just caught in the outback, but that's getting more & more difficult to find (I've been looking for months, at reptile shows & pet shops). Some of the blame/responsibility must rest with the demand half of the supply/demand equation (i.e. the folks buying BDs as pets). I'm--admittedly--an outlier, preferring the wild look over the "cool" fashionable look. Kinda like preferring to adopt a mutt/mixed breed puppy/dog over a purebred (Don't even get me started on the whole designer/Labradoodle thing, but I digress... :roll: )

YMMV

 

[Genofdistinct]

Oh definitely same. I like breeder dragons for their variety but nothing beats that ol dusty brown with a little yellow, it just looks more natural to me. I would pay so much for a leatherback with those colors.

 

[AHBD]

I agree, the pet stores usually label a highly colored dragon, a hypo or a leatherback as fancy. As for not finding wild or natural looking dragons, they are in the minority now but can definitely be found. Red dragons are found out in the wild so the stock was used years ago to breed the red/orange [ and yellowish tinted ] dragons. Here are pics of a wild dragon changing his color due to temps. or other stimuli. Then a few pics of a couple of my reddish-brown dragons that look very similar. The biggest difference is that the wild ones are always more lean. But captive born dragons that many pet stores sell do look like wild dragons mostly the ones that are normal scaled + either brown or greyish. Here are the wild dragon + a couple of my dragons.

http://australiangeographic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Bearded-dragon-Copy.png


https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/29959/full
https://www.beardeddragon.org/media/30071/full

 

[Claudiusx]

To me, the term normal or standard simply means a dragon without any genetic mutation deviation from the wild.
So if they have none of those, to me they are simply standard or normals.

Outward color is just that to me, color. And wild dragons do come in many different shades and colors. So I base my interpretation of the term on the mutations, not the color.

But that's the confusion most likely, everyone has their own thoughts on it.
I'd say just get the dragon that makes you happy and dont care about what it's called or how to describe it.

-Brandon

 

[AHBD]

I agree 100% Brandon, I made that exact statement in another recent thread. What we call normal/standard is just one lacking the obvious genetic mutations that are popular today.

 

[Genofdistinct]

Jerald was actually a fancy. All the other dragons were being lazy and chillin(one was sleeping). Except for two guys, jerald was glass surfing trying to get to us and we fell in love with him. I do kinda regret tho there was this one beardie who was climbing all over the place, including on the top of his cage, which I just found out recently is not normal. But Jerald is a lot of fun and very energetic and quirky. Suprising considering I got him from a chain ?