Worried about my baby boy's size...:(

[ilovestripedragon]

Hes a seemingly healthy 13-14 month old male bearded dragon, but is only 13.5 inches long ... i don't have a gram scale so i cant get a measurement of his weight but is 13.5 inches normal for his age? I was looking at a friends year old beardie and he is over 20 inches, so i was wondering if this was a normal size or if i needed to do something to help him grow... thanks you!

 

[AHBD]

Hi Sam...how long have you had him , and are you sure of his age ? Can you post a picture ? Yes, he is small, so can you give a list of his set up, what type + brand of lights, etc., also what you normally feed him, and how many times a day ? Is he healthy + active ? He'll probably always be a bit smaller, but he can still be healthy + live a good life. He can grow for up to 2 years, so maybe an adjustment/increase in his feeding will help boost his growth.

 

[ilovestripedragon]

Hi Sam...how long have you had him , and are you sure of his age ? Can you post a picture ? Yes, he is small, so can you give a list of his set up, what type + brand of lights, etc., also what you normally feed him, and how many times a day ? Is he healthy + active ? He'll probably always be a bit smaller, but he can still be healthy + live a good life. He can grow for up to 2 years, so maybe an adjustment/increase in his feeding will help boost his growth.

Well, heres a link to a picture of him...
http://i1277.photobucket.com/albums/y497/beardielover267/IMG_3285_zpsa769bc27.jpg
and ive had him since last june 12th. I am certain of his age, because they gave me a hatch date, but i cant seem to find it in my records. I know he was 1-2 months old when i got him though. I use the exo tera lights, the UVB is a compact florecent, and the heat bulb is a 100 watt bulb bought from a home improvement store beacause it was cheaper than the pet brands. He eats around 4 doz crix. twice a day and a few pinky mice every other day, as well as free range greens that vary in type depending on whats in season. I suplement him with reptical vitamins and calcium and d3. Hes healthy and is VERY active. VERY. So, do you think i can amp the feeding up a little?

 

[AHBD]

Yes, I saw the other thread after I read this and I replied. So he eats nearly 100 crix a day, if so that's a lot. If they are small or medium, then you might go with the large, you might also add superworms and hornworms to his diet.

 

[daner923]

So my guess is that the real problem isn't eating but the UVB - compact fluorescent bulbs are just not very good, which means he didn't get much good UVB while he was growing. How old is the bulb? You should replace it with a ReptiSUN 10.0 tube UVB as soon as you can. You want to mount the ReptiSun inside the tank, as well, 6-8 inches above the basking spot.

I would also suggest avoiding pinkies - they are hard for beardies to digest, and very high in fat. Go with the larger crickets, dubia roaches, hornworms, and supers as his diet.

 

[icelore]

What Danner said sounds good. A better UVB bulb will help a lot, as will changing his diet. He should be on the insects of your choice as feeders, not pinkies. I know it's "cool" to feed mice, but they're really not good and could cause impaction on top of that. If you want to feed mice, get a snake. My boy is 4ish months old and is 12 3/4 inches, and eats med-lg crickets (3/4 inch+) with no issue, so going up in size would probably be another good thing for you. Bigger crickets = more meat!

He's still got time to grow, so getting him the right lighting and lower fat intake might bump his growth up for you!