The age game

[Mistyck]

Mystick id say he was 3yrs plus. He has some of the older adult fetures to me. Hes got the big wide head. His spikes are well formed and big.

He is 4 and a half. Good guess!

 

[foto69man]

Marvin is almost 9 months old. Turns 9 on the 7th of February!

 

[MissT]

Marvin is almost 9 months old. Turns 9 on the 7th of February!

Hooray, I was pretty close guessing Marvins age then!!

Kazi feels neglected - noone has tried to guess his age

 

[Mistyck]

I'm going to guess Kazi about 2 - 2 1/2 years old.

 

[Freeie]

Id have to agree with Mistyck 2 to 3yrs old.

 

[MissT]

Hes 22 months - will be 2 yrs old around March 23rd - and there was me thinking my little man had a baby face hehe!! I forget how big hes gotten - my little baby is all growed up!!!

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Great game idea!
Assassin is 19 and 1/4 inches and 545 grams as of today:

Mystik, my guess was about 2 and 1/2
MissT, I thought Kazi was around 2
Freeie, my guess was about 2 and 1/2 to 3
Foto69man I would guess 10 months
justwondering, my guess would be 6 months

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Gail, I thought Basti looked a little over a year. He's a big boy at 7 months!

 

[Freeie]

Assassin looks to me about 1 to 2 yrs old. (very pretty)

 

[DragonMomSandy]

Sorry, way off! LOL He is 5 and 1/2 months old!!! He will be 6 months on Feb 23rd! I like the idea of this thread because there is such varience in size and mass of beardies, most of which is due to the breeding. Assassin has German Giant X from both parents, so he's HUGE for his age. Gail's Basti is very large for his age as well. I thought adding Assassin to the mix would be a great way to show newbies that size and weight can be deceptive, and not a true indicator of age.
Granted, a baby/juvi usually has a certain "look" to their heads and bodies and Adults over 3 have a very distinct look as well, but, without knowing a specific hatch date and bloodlines it is really tough to guess!
Thanks for the compliment, he's my pretty boy! And super spoiled!

 

[MissT]

I thought adding Assassin to the mix would be a great way to show newbies that size and weight can be deceptive, and not a true indicator of age.

Well Assassin most certainly would throw most people off! Hes such a big boy and his fat pads are so well filled out. But he still has a TOTAL baby face and I think the spikes at the back of his head have a little way to go! Still, I can barely believe hes only 5 1/2 months old!!! hehe!

 

[DragonMomSandy]

T, I also think he has that baby/juvi face! His spikes are getting big, but they will fill in more with age. He really does have quite the bulky body already for 5 and 1/2 months! He's heavy! And strong! With the German Giant on both sides of the parentage (one grandmother is almost full GG) he has a big advantage with his growth rate. He's very healthy and has really good fat stores for his age as well. He gets dubias and greens/squash daily (which he eats a huge amount of both) and he only gets 2 or 3 supers about 1 time per week as a treat (their more fatty than dubias by far and he doesn't need to be eating too much fat). A really good diet helps a beardie reach their full growth potential, but breeding/bloodlines are the biggest factor with overall size potential and growth rate.
I think Gail's post is a great idea and hopefully can help a lot of members understand beardie growth a little better. Assassin is well beyond average with his growth rate due to bloodlines, so this info should help newer members see that length and weight measurements by themselves can't really be used as a guide to judge age. I hope adding the info about my gentle giant helps. I do think there are certain tell-tale signs of age, for example "the baby face" look, or when you look at the head of an adult (not just the size of it) you see that more sculpted look and the full spikes. My two adult females, 18 months old have this "adult spikey head" and Assassin is now bigger than both of them!
The best advice for those looking to get a dragon: Ask about the hatch date! Ask about the bloodlines. Regular petstores usually don't know for sure, but a good breeder (which I recommend over a petstore hands down!) will give that info. If they buy a baby from a pet store, it's safe to assume 6 to 8 weeks old at the time of purchase (this is average), basing the age on an educated guess.

Keep the pics coming! I think this is really a cool and educational thread!

 

[MissT]

The best advice for those looking to get a dragon: Ask about the hatch date! Ask about the bloodlines. Regular petstores usually don't know for sure, but a good breeder (which I recommend over a petstore hands down!) will give that info. If they buy a baby from a pet store, it's safe to assume 6 to 8 weeks old at the time of purchase (this is average), basing the age on an educated guess.

I got lucky with Kazi's age tho - the pet store said between 6 and 12 weeks (that was a horrible place - I didnt care how old he was, I jsut had to get him out of there). However, the the owner of the other little pet store I go to (which specialises in beardies) knew where Kazi had come from and it turned out he was from a very local breeder (he even has a signature kink in his tail - something which everyone of his mothers babies seems to inherit from her) and he was able to tell me that Kazi was hatched somewhere between the 17th and 29th March 2008 so I got a pretty good guide on his hatch date! And based on my experience, the breeder, who had a contract with the store I got him from, ended the contract as his beardies are his pride and joy and he was horrified by what had happened to Kazi in their care - they had actually broken the terms of their contract in the way that they had cared for the beardies!

 

[DragonMomSandy]

T, you really did luck out! Finding the breeder after purchasing from a store is rare. And, you know his birthdate is within a 2 week range. Two good things came out of that situation, you saved Kazi and that store lost is supplier! It's nice to know a breeder cares enough to stop selling to a horrible store!

 

[justwondering]

O.k...this game is making me nervous lol stella is almost 6 months....80grams and 12 inches long..! If assassin is almost 6 months and 19"inches 500 sum odd grams...what am I doing wrong? Do u guys give daily cretine drinks for lizards or something??....sure I had a uvb light problem in the begining...should I be worrie? I know its not mal- nutrition. Thing eats like a champ about 40 onee inch crickts plus greens! Plusss supers I mean ......I'm getting a lil impatient all I want is a big dragon....

Thanks for reading
Arthur.