Quite underweight dragon

[lixm]

Since I'm still in the process of learning and whatnot, I feel like I've been asking a lot of questions, haha - but this is something that's seriously been eating at me.

My dragon looks to be significantly underweight. I at least know this isn't my doing, since I got him from a pet store that was more than likely not feeding him enough as a baby, but now I have him and it's my burden to try and get him at a healthy weight. When I say underweight, I mean he looks a lot skinnier than most other dragons I see; his belly doesn't even touch the ground when he's standing/walking. Point is, he's thin, and I worry he's too thin.

He has an appetite and everything - he gets veggies and phoenix worms daily, sometimes crickets. Eats well, defecates normally, is active and social. Seems healthy, but I'd definitely like to put some weight on him. Any suggestions on how to do that? What kind of foods/eating habits should I get him into?

I'd like to get him into roaches, but at the moment, my mom is dead set against bringing roaches into the house, so they're most likely not an option.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....how old is your dragon and how long is he ? How long have you had him ? Can you post a few pics, full body shots ? You don't need roaches to get a dragon to a healthy weight, the Phoenix worms + crickets will do the trick as long as your dragon is eating enough + doesn't have parasites. Giving him live food twice a day is the trick, as much as he'll eat if he's still a baby or juvenile. He might be able to actually eat more than what you are offering. Same for an underweight adult , unless it's severely malnourished, then there is a specific special care that is needed.

 

[lixm]

Hey, I've had him for 2 weeks today and the pet store estimated him at about 8-9 months. Here's a full body shot: http://i.imgur.com/HkVlc73.png Didn't want to take him out because he looked quite comfy, haha. I can get a better one if needed.

Usually I just drop some worms into his tank when I give him his veggies, and later in the day I try handfeeding him some worms but he doesn't take them. Not sure if that's because he's not hungry or because he won't take it from me, though.

 

[AHBD]

Actually only his belly is a tad thin, but he has a nice thick tail + legs and is in good condition. The reason you think he's thin is that your'e comparing him to pics of others, and many beardies are somewhat on the fat side. For his size it would take an enormous amount of Phoenix worms to fill him up because they are quite small. Are you feeding him large crickets ? That's the size he needs, so if he likes them then give him 15-20 large ones a day, sometimes a few more if he'll take them. Does he eat his greens well ? He is also big enough to eat superworms, but some beardies get addicted to them + won't eat crickets [ at least for a while ] once they eat supers. If you do give those to him, just start out with 4-5 at a time. After a week or so you can increase it to 6-7 but not much more than that.

 

[lixm]

He does eat well, yes. He eats all of his worms + all or at least most of his greens. I usually only offer greens once a day.

 

[AHBD]

Well that's really good that he eats everything. He just needs more of everything or you can add superworms to his diet like I mentioned. You might just add an extra feeding of crickets [ on top of what he already eats ] The Phoenix worms are nutritious but it's hard to fill up a large dragon with those. So even if he eats all his worms he just plain old needs more + larger insects.