Rescue has been around 9 months and she's only grown an inch

[Genekri]

First off thank you for letting mr join, I really appreciate it.

Second, I didn't get my beardie from some pet shop, I run a small reptile rehab. (Though the previous owner did get him/her from a pet shop on a whim.)

Now, I have had this little fella for about nine months and she has only grown an inch, I'm no beardie expert, but that seems like a BIG problem. The A-hole that was the previous owner had her for less than a week. And she was only a few weeks old at the time. She is just under seven inches from the tip of her nose to the end of his/her tail. My scale is broken atm, but she is thin around the arms and medium at the body. She absolutely HATES greens, she will only eat a few crickets with calcium a day, (about four in the morning and four at night.) She also will accept a mealworm every now and then. I gut load the crickets with greens, but it's just not enough imo. Her setup is a 40 gal (was 10 gal for a little while,) has a thick layer of paper-towels on the bottom, a small water bowl, a rock, a fake rock hide, a large stick for basking a lamp with a regular lightbulb, and a second lamp with a uvb bulb, (changing both bulbs today.) At night I put in a heat-pad under the paper-towel.

She also seems kinda scared of me, but I'm mainly concerned about her size atm. WHAT CAN I DO TO HELP HER?!

 

[Menolly]

Sorry you're having such trouble. Its great that you could take her on like that. What is the brand of the UVB bulb and basking bulb and what is the wattage?
It is strange that the bearded dragon is that small. Would it be possible for you to post a picture? As far as not eating greens, if you have a blender you can start by using it and feeding it to your bearded dragon through a syringe. Babyfood is also an option, just make sure you get stuff that is good for him, that link has a good break down of foods. www.beautifuldragons.com/Nutrition.html
Mine got a little better once he got a taste for what he was eating. What are you temperatures like? Also do you use a multivitamin?

 

[clynnp]

Even with a thick layer of paper towels, be careful with the heat pad. Try baby sweet potatoes and bananas. I took me putting the baby food on a plastic spoon and holding it it in front of him to catch his interest. Now, I sometimes am able to get mine to eat it with some calcium powder mixed in. If possible, try and see if you can find any other options for live feeders. Maybe something else will catch the little one's eye. Recently learned Pheonix worms are a great staple diet and have much better nutritional value than many other feeders. They also have less chance of impaction than meal worms and beardies seem to love them. Putting in my first order today! I'll let you know how my little one does. Just wanted to pass on some of the help others have passed on to me the past few weeks