Query over beardie size

[GhettoNed]

Hi all

Mister Meeseeks is the third beardie I have had the honour of having in my family. My other two were rescued as adults but he was my first I had as a juvenile (approximately three months old). I keep measuring and weighing him and he seems to be on the large side and I was wondering if the averages for the sizes online are anywhere near correct?

He is 11 months old (nearly) and 20” long and weighs as of today 505g.

Is this a normal size? Online seems to state 400g is average and also that he might have another 9 months of growth in him.

Photo is from around a month ago

 

[ChileanTaco]

Mine is very similar (11 months, 490 g before he went down to brumate, and length I don't know exactly but more than 18").
What makes a difference, and could be the reason your rescues are smaller than the one you have since he was small, is how they are kept. Wrong light, food, temperature makes them stunted.
I got my Taco at age 3 month from a reptile store that looks to me very responsible, and Taco has always been healthy and was always kept with proper light, temperature, food and such.
(I'm aware that a "rescue" could also come from a responsible person and it was necessary to rehome the dragon. But the chances are always, and sometimes it is obvious, that the conditions were not right.)

 

[GhettoNed]

Mine is very similar (11 months, 490 g before he went down to brumate, and length I don't know exactly but more than 18").
What makes a difference, and could be the reason your rescues are smaller than the one you have since he was small, is how they are kept. Wrong light, food, temperature makes them stunted.
I got my Taco at age 3 month from a reptile store that looks to me very responsible, and Taco has always been healthy and was always kept with proper light, temperature, food and such.
(I'm aware that a "rescue" could also come from a responsible person and it was necessary to rehome the dragon. But the chances are always, and sometimes it is obvious, that the conditions were not right.)

Thank you that makes me feel much better. I kept reading websites that were freaking me out about him being too large. And you are correct about the last Dragons. Neither are any vegetable and had very strange behaviours. This little dude is pretty damn epic in every way in comparison.

 

[ChileanTaco]

Mine is also doing very well: calm, alert, veggies from day 2 on, just no issues. Everything super easy-going. (Was a bit shy in the beginning, but not overly.)

Regarding "easy-going": I would have taken a rescue, I don't shy away from the effort. It was even my first thought - trying to find a local forum, looking around at Facebook and such, asking at pet shelters, and I was even flexible regarding which reptile (leopard gecko, tortoise also would have been an option, theoretically also snake but not as my husband is really really scared of them, no way). It was just that no rescues were available despite me looking for months - bearded dragons, and reptiles in general, are very unusual pets here. The reptile store I got him from is the only one in many 100 km that has reptiles (if I'm correct the next one is 900 km away), the breeder is from approx. 1500 km away, this just shows that reptiles are rare pets here in Chile. They keep their dragons very well and also have now three sub-adult to adult beardies as pets (and a blue-tongue skink) which also look superb and are of a similar size than my Taco was at the same age.
(Thinking about them being rare here, and rather expensive too: I think this might be beneficial as at least the chances are pretty low that somebody just buys one as, sadly often seen in the US, a gift for their kid, "an easy pet as a replacement for the dog or cat they want but shouldn't have". Or otherwise gets one without really knowing what it means keeping a dragon.)

I'm aware that also a seemingly healthy beardie, kept under optimal conditions, could have health issues. But I think that this just shows how much it really matters how they are kept. Including amazing rescue stories I've seen here.

 

[xp29]

Sinatra is about the same size at 2 years old. Zen was 24ish inches and 1300 grams. My first dragon Puff was even bigger than Zen, she was monsterish. (She was a German giant) Sweet Pea was my smallest at 19ish inches and 400 tp 450 grams. I've had multiple beardies that all fell within that range. (The vet told me every time I took Zen in that he wasn't obese, just a big ole boy)

 

[Chris.]

Sounds about right.
My boy is 19 months and 16.5" (missing a part of his tail)/360g and my girl is 3 months and around 10"/40g.
At 20" he will probably be close to full size and stop or slow down growing soon. If you feed them good they will reach adulthood sooner.