Very Small Beardie

[JakeNewman]

Hi all!
Im new to being a bearded dragon owner. I researched them alot and then found a bearded dragon off my local kijiji site with all his terrarium, light ect... for 90$ so i jumped on the chance being that it was alot cheaper then buying his accessories alone. So i brought him home and started looking up growth charts and i noticed my beardie was a quite a bit small. The laddie i bought him from told me he was 1 year old. So i was just wondering about his size and why he is small?
A few ideas i had, but wanted opinions
- terrarium to small slowed or stunted his growth
- person i bought him from lied of his age
- he is Pogona henrylawsonii or dwarf bearded drag


Here a a few picture if you can identify if his is a "dwarf" or just a" late bloomer" dragon
There is also a picture with a ruler show his size.He also came with juvenile food but i'm not sure if that's a clue.
If anyone could tell what kinda beardie his is would also be helpful.

http://s698.photobucket.com/albums/vv350/Pinkninja999/
Thanks Jake

 

[nini02]

i think it could be due to a lot of reasons. most have to do with environment, care, and food. enivornment- poor lighting, poor set-up (not just tank being too small, but over all) care-lack of vitamins, etc. and food-not enough, not the right kind, etc. what is your set up? what kind of lighting are you using? and you say you got it at a deal, but how old is it? how big is your tank? what kind of substrate are you using? and by "juvenile food" what is that exactly? beardies need fresh greens everyday (collard, mustard, dandelion) and protein (lots of people on here use dubias (roaches), crickets (less preferred cuz they need to be gut loaded, or pheonix worms. depending on age, they need protein 2-3x a day as babies and then it slows down as the grow. as far as his actual size, im not sure what the typical size to age ratio is, as im still fairly new to this myself. but whatever you need, the awesome people on this site will be more than willing to help you out, just ask!!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Jake....that's a really cute little fellow you have there ! He's definitely small, not a dwarf or a Rankin's / Lawson's. Some dragons are not given all the food + proper supplements while growing, as was mentioned, but being as you don't know the exact age, he may still grow a bit for you. He may have a touch of MBD, but not serious. Just be sure to offer live food twice daily, as much as he'll eat, all insects no longer than the space between his eyes. avoid mealworms + superworms. Offer the greens that were mentioned. A few things to adjust....get rid of the calcium sand, it's known to cause impaction. Also, get rid of the hot rock....they easily malfunction + seriously burn reptiles. Just get a nice rock or 2 from youur yard, scrub with a little soap + bleach, rinse VERY well with hot water, and put under his basking area. You can use non adhesive shelf liner for the bottom of the tank, or just newspaper for now. Did you mention what type + brand of bulbs you have ? Those are very important. I hope he does well for you !

 

[JakeNewman]

Thanks for the quick response! Well he came with juvenile pellets. The laddie said she also feed him superworms. I set up a cricket tank and have been feeding him those as well as Veggies. He came in a extremely small tank which i quickly swapt him out of into my old aquarium which is about twice the size. It was a tiny 22 gal! now he is in about a 50. Which he fit quite comfortably in for his to date size. I bought him vitamin dust to dust his food with. Not sure what she used if any. He came with a UVB light aswell as an infrared. His basking area only got up to 80 but his tank was so small their was little variation from side to side. I set him up with an extra UVB bulb and now his hot side is up to about 95. and the cool side is around 80 in his larger terrarium. He was also living in a "woodland setting" with a bark like flooring. I Swapt him into a nice calcium sand base with more of a dessert feel, if that changes anything. And again she said he is a year old.

 

[JakeNewman]

so calcium sand a no no. Understandable for impaction. Makes much sense. The heat rock i figured was also bad ive heard that from mutliplaces. Is there a place where i can order a reptile carpet as i do not know where to buy on in person?

 

[ShannyBeard]

I use non-adhesive shelf liner that I cut to the size of the bottom of the viv. It will wipe clean more easily than the carpet.

 

[BonesMommy1011]

The red lights are bad too.dragons need complete darkness to get their beauty rest. You don't need any extra heat at night unless the tank temp drops below 65* f. If it does get that cold you can pick up a ceramic heat emitter (AKA a CHE). IMHO, repticarpet sucks. I use non adhesive shelf liner from walmart. It's cheaper and I can do 2 40gallon breeder tanks with 1 roll for like $5.97 or so. It's easier to clean than repticarpet. I can remember but what kind of UVB light do you have and where's it mounted? And how are you measurin your tank temps? Stick on thermometers or what? Just wanna make sure you got the right set up so he can start to grow better! Good luck and have fun with him. They are some funny characters!!

 

[RandyMarsh]

The laddie said she also feed him superworms.
Supers are recommended for dragons 17 inches or larger in length as smaller/younger dragons don't have their digestive system straightened out inside of them it can lead to impaction.

 

[JakeNewman]

so when you say self liner is that the vinyl stuff the covers your shelves or is that the like the semi foamy stuff that helps if you cant get your jar of pickels open?

 

[ShannyBeard]

This is like what I have. http://www.duckbrand.com/Products/shelf-liner/non-adhesive-liners/solid-easy-liner.aspx?IDH=442037

I got a color that is similar to sand - I think it is taupe. It was about $8 at lowes, and it wipes clean. I also remove it and soak it every few weeks and then wipe it dry.

 

[JakeNewman]

i have a yoga mat thats been used once, its the same stuff but without the lil holes in it. It is more of a single sheet with ripples rather the hundreads of little beads that are conected. Any objections? i cant see why not but you guys know better then i do.

 

[dragonlover3]

Hi,
Welcome to the forum. It's great you found your way here, you obviously care about your little one since you are looking for help.
He's a real cutie!

As mentioned sand or any loose substrate isn't good for a beardie. It can cause impaction which is a serious problem.
Some people believe dragons to be sandy desert lizards, they are not. In Australia they live in wooded areas and trees, scrub and rocky areas. The "desert" in their native Australia is hard packed, dry dirt and clay, not loose anything. This information is easily found with research if you care to verify.

On a personal note I dislike reptile carpet. It's porous and textured, I think it supports bacteria growth since it can't easily be wiped clean like tiles, linoleum, or shelf liner but that's only a personal opinion and many people use it and it is much better than sand!

I noticed you bought vitamins. That's great! Vits should only be given once or twice a week, not daily.
Also look to see if your vitamins have beta carotene rather than Vitamin A. Beardies don't process Vitamin A well and risk toxicity. Beta carotene in the vits is better. He also needs a calcium supplement.
Here is a suggested schedule for both babies to sub adults and for adults.

Babies Calcium 5 days a week on one feeder meal daily. / Adults Calcium 2 or 3 times a week
to subs Vitamins 2 days a week on one feeder meal daily / Vitamins once or twice a week

Some here may recommend liquid calcium which is dosed differently and especially good for metabolic bone disease.
Someone will have more info on that as I'm not experienced with the liquid calcium.
I hope this helps!
Amanda

 

[JakeNewman]

also the yoga mat is a bright pink colour is the brightness in anyway uncomfortable for the lizard?

 

[ShannyBeard]

LOL!!! Good thinking about the pink! Bearded dragons see in color, so I bet the pink would be pretty obnoxious all day every day. :silent:

 

[bunnyrut]

my almost 6 month old is that size. when my bigger one was a year old he was almost double that size.

it seems like she didn't know how to take care of the little guy.

follow the above advice, give him lots of food and calcium (with vitamin D3). If you can, order reptiworms. they are high is calcium and are soft-bodied.