Size question at 14 months

[LucisAbsentia]

So here's an age old question, but I'm asking it anyways. I know there is no set length for beardies at certain ages, but Gabriel is about 14 months old, I believe, and he's about 14.5 inches. I've seen pictures of beardies at the same age that seem to be bigger in head size and girth.

Now, my lighting and temps are all correct, he gets calcium about 4 times a week and multivitamins usually once, since he's a bit older. He also doesn't get crickets everyday anymore, although I make sure he gets them at least 4-5 days a week. He gets salads every single day, I leave the dish in the tank and he eats it throughout the day, although I've noticed he eats less of that in the past few weeks as well. Before it got very cold here, he seemed to be growing very rapidly. Could his growth slowed down because he himself has slowed down and naps a lot for brumation and doesn't eat as much in this weather? Or does it sound like I'm doing something wrong? I need to replace my UVB (It's the ReptiSun 10.0), but that's a recent thing, not like a weeks-old problem.

 

[CooperDragon]

At 14 months he won't be fully grown yet, so I'll bet he has another growth spurt in him. He'll probably still be on the smaller side which is fine but may wind up a few inches longer.

 

[LucisAbsentia]

Thanks, Cooper! That's good to hear. I was a little concerned, but he doesn't look thin or malnourished, he just looks small. I feel less worried now!

 

[kingofnobbys]

Puff was 453g at 14 months old, Rex was 457g at the same age (siblings), full grown they were 700g.

Your's has a lot of growing to do yet.

 

[kingofnobbys]

I kept mine on 2 insect meals a day + greens & pellets(softened) & veg/salad each day at 14 months.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there....as you can see from the replies, there is a huge variation in dragon sizes. Your dragon is on the smaller spectrum and may surprise you by growing another 4-5" or more.....or may only grow a couple more. Just like humans can be 5'3' and 120 lbs. and be perfectly healthy, others are well over 6" and twice that weight or more. Most dragons [ and yours almost certainly ] will not reach 700 grams, and for many dragons that would be an unhealthy weight. I've had dragons in the 22" range, none was ever more than 620 grams and are very healthy, active + agile. The fatter they get [ and older ] the less active + healthy they may become, just like people and our other pets.

So you can expect more growth, but don't feel that he needs to be huge to be healthy. And if he is willing to eat more insects than what you're offering, you can offer more....also,part of his slow down can be from a semi brumation as you suspect.

 

[LucisAbsentia]

I never saw this had new replies!

kingofnobbys: I'm not totally sure what Gabriel weighs, truthfully. I do feed him insects once per day and he has a large fresh salad in his tank every day (usually just greens, sometimes with some added treats). He always has his fill of insects, as much as he'll eat in a 15-20 minute period, and he eats however much salad he wants throughout the day. I'm thinking he will definitely grow a bit more, but like AHBD said, I don't think he's ever going to be huge.

AHBD - thank you so much! I tend to worry a lot, seeing as I had medical problems that I could do nothing about with my last two dragons, so if it's something I feel I /can/ do something about, or perhaps I'm doing something wrong, I come here to ask questions. And since I was always seeing this pictures of larger dragons, and people saying there's were larger, I got worried that maybe I was missing something, even though my temps/lights/feeding seem to all be correct, and he's very active. The way you explained it makes a lot of sense, I'm worried a lot less now. I'll keep track in the next few months and see how his growth works out!