Too Little Beardie @ Petsmart. Need Help!

[MyAngelLokki]

Hi Peeps,
I'm a Bearded Dragon lover that happens to work at Petsmart. Our breeders have been messing up lately but this is unbelievable. They sent us a beardie that can't be more than a week old. He's so small that it's actually illegal for us to sell him so we have to keep him until he's big enough. I'm going to see if I can get my managers to let me foster him but in the meantime I have so many questions and I need help. I've never seen a beardie this small before. What do I feed him? How often do I feed him? What juicy foods can I give him to keep him hydrated? Do I need to spray him? If so, how often? What temperature range is ideal? Is this a healthy colour? Honestly, I've never seen one this small or this colour.

 

[Taralachelle]

I can't view your image, could you try posting it again?

 

[MyAngelLokki]

http://s1190.photobucket.com/user/Brenna_Watt/media/20151219_1831521_zpsauvg9mte.jpg.html?sort=3&o=1

Hope this works

 

[Terry15]

That's the same size I saw at our PS a few weeks back. Sad, I did not see them when I stopped in yesterday. I would try and do what you can for them at the store.

 

[Terry15]

Maybe a little chicken baby food. Baby food sweet potatoe and applesauce.

 

[MyAngelLokki]

Okay, thanks! I'll suggest that to my manager and I'll try bringing some in as well. I think it's a Utah law or something because we can't sell turtles that are under 4 inches either. This guy is barely 2 inches.

 

[CooperDragon]

Wow he is quite a little guy. If he's alert he may like to chase after some pinhead crickets. I'd give him drops of water on his nose to help keep him hydrated. If he doesn't want to eat on his own, dropping a little chicken baby food on his nose as suggested may help. He's a cute little guy. I hope you're able to get him big and strong.

 

[AHBD]

Hi there...can you get a close up of him ? Aside from being small [ and cute ] he looks to be very smooth. As for his size, he's bigger than 2" ....I'm comparing him to your finger length, and I'd guess him to be closer to 5" which would make him [ possibly ] about 3-6 weeks old. Average hatchling size is 3.5 -4.5". Just get him crickets that are the 1/4 inch size. True pinheads are never sold in the stores, only sold from the cricket companies because they are literally the size of a sharpened pencil tip and are too small for beardies.

The 4" turtle law was passed because years ago they were sold by the hundreds of thousands and people bought them for their kids who got salmonella after putting the turtles in their mouths. By passing that law it was thought that it would keep turtles out of the mouths of curious children and thus prevent salmonella infections.

 

[MyAngelLokki]

I'm going in tomorrow I'll try to get a close up but he is very very smooth. He's almost purple too its weird. Okay, maybe there's different laws on beardies. All I know is that we can't sell him yet. I have short fingers my middle finger is about 4 inches. So he's about a month then? We're giving him our smallest crickets which are about 1/4 inches. I think he's eating pretty good but I'll be sure to check tomorrow.

 

[sweetiepie9]

He's not a "normal" beardie, in other words it looks like his scales are very reduced. You need to contact the breeder to find out what morph of dragon he is. Regardless, giving him water drops is not going to be enough to hydrate him, he needs baths. So as he can't be sold yet, can you use a water dish in the back room, put warm water in it and let him soak for 15 min every 2nd day? It's going to be necessary that this be done or he'll get very dehydrated. And the crickets he's eating are fine for him, the rule is the cricket's body shouldn't be bigger than the space between his eyes. So should be fine. He's definitely not a week old, probably 3 weeks, but still very young to be sold to a pet store. He should also get greens, needs calcium dusted on the crickets he eats 5x days a week, then vit/min powder 2 days a week. That's also necessary for good bone growth & digestion.

I know it's not the type of think you ordinarily do for beardies in a shop, but if he's to grow to the size you need to sell him, those things needs to be done. I'm hoping you can foster him until he's big enough to sell. Good luck, keep us all posted, k?

 

[nzac]

That's about the size one of mine was when I got him at 5 weeks old, he was the runt of the litter though.