Growing??

[Rebecca]

How fast do bearded dragons grow?? I heard somewhere that they grow the tank their in. I believe that's a bunch of BS but thought I'd ask anyway. Anyway back to my orginal question, how fast do they grow, mine does not seem to grom very fast. I'm starting to think maybe I'm not housing it right?? I feed it shredded (all of it's shredded mixed together and frozen, defrosted when I need to feed it more) mango, butternut squash, sprouts, I can't remember what else. I also feed it meal worms freshly molted once in a while and crickets once in a while. I have tried dusting the crickets but it won't eat them then, so I bought some liquid calcimize and some electrod3ize (electrolyte and D3) I put a couple of drops in it dish, It's main food is the veggies and fruits. Right now it's in a 25g because it's only about 6 or 7 inches maybe, from head to tail. I have a UTH also a UVB/UVA tube light, a heat lamp for basking (temp around 95/100 right under it) I have a rock on the UTH that warms up for it to lay on (not hot enough to burn just warm), some logs and a couple of hides. Oh ya it's on papertowel. I mist it everyday sometimes twice a day. umm I don't think I'm missing anything.

[Dragon_Slave]

Rebecca,
Some baby dragons that do not grow are probably the runt of the clutch, or a failure to thrive baby. I know that I had a dragon that was only 10 inches at 10 months of age and he died shortly before he was 11 months old. He had liver and lung problems that were unknown to me, due to bad breeding.
Normal dragons will grow depending on what you feed them, is my best guess. As long as your dragon is healthy, active and eating... they will grow just fine! Make sure that you upgrade the size of your tank when the dragon gets bigger. At 10 inches, I moved my dragon into a 50 gal. Good luck and keep us updated on your baby!

[LISA127]

Don't they need more protein when they are babies? I thought as babies they should have insects every day.

[Dragon_Slave]

Babies SHOULD have crickets every day, fed 3 times a day, dusted with calcium powder at every feeding. Make sure crickets are no larger than the space between the dragon's eyes. :)

[Greg West]

You should not be freezing the vegies before feeding. I have been told they lose thewir nutritional content when they are frozen. Also sprouts, bdon't really have much nutritional content as they are mostly water. You should be feeding it mostly crickets and prey items as that is what they get all of their protein from. I would start feeding it salad in the morning and bugs in the evening.

Hope that helps.

Greg West

[Dragon_Slave]

Salad should be provided everyday, all day for beardies anyway.

[Greg West]

It should, but they should be eating more prey items. Salad can be a main item in adult bearded dragons diets, but shouldn't be in babies. They definitely should have it, I agree with you there, but if its not eating crickets much at all, she should be trying something else

[Rebecca]

I try to give it crickets, it does not always eat them and also we don't get them all the time here. I get them when I can, and when it'll eat them. I have the sprouts in there for a little bit of extra flavor. I did not know about freezing veggies, being bad. I also do feed it meal worms (freshly molted of course) so it's not always salad. I also give it treats such as strawberries every so often. As for the tank I'm in the process of trying to build one. Any suggestions on the size of the tank. I'm thinking about 4'h X 5'l X 4'w. I think it'll be big enough. I believe bearded dragons get to be about 12"?? I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong.

[Greg West]

They get 18-24". I would not build it that tall. 5' long is good, but not required. I would say that size is almost too big. You would be better off with 4' X 2' X 2' or even 3' high if you make sure it can get at least 12" from the UVB bulb.

Hope that helps. If you need any more questions answered, let me know or e-mail me.

Greg

[Dragon_Slave]

Yes... bearded dragons size ranges from 18-24 inches.

[Rebecca]

Wow much larger. I knew they grew big just was not sure how big. Is it actually possable to have a cage too big?? Like I'm not being rude but I'd figure that it'd be nice to have tons of room. Anyway I'm making it that high because I'm going to have drift wood kinda up to have a basking spot that's closer. I plan on having around 3 actual basking spots so it can get a bit more of a temp range. I'm also going to have UVB/UVA light kinda across it so that every basking spot has it, and then have basking light kinda above the spots I intend to use. I might just make it shorter though, 2.5' maybe.

[Dragon_Slave]

Rebecca... bigger is always better when it comes to reptile caging. For babies, a big cage should be made smaller if you plan on feeding in the tank, it makes it easier for babies to catch crickets... but for adults, bigger is best! :D

P.S.- Your cage sounds AWESOME! That'll be one lucky dragon! Post pics when you are done with it! Of course, I won't let my two see it, they'll be totally jealous! LOL! :D

[Greg West]

The only reason I say it would be too big is the height. Dragon Slave is right, the bigger the better. The only problems I have with the height is the chance of falling that far down, as well as you need the uvb buld to get within 12" at least for it to do any good.

Greg West

[Rebecca]

I'll make sure that he/she can get within that distance of the UVB. I will post pics when I'm all done it, although it won't be anything too fancy just some wood, plexiglass, some lights, some driftwood. I'm on a budget! Also being that mine is about 6inchs how old would you guess it to be?? That is if it's growing normally.

[Dragon_Slave]

Rebecca... if she's growing normally, 6 inches means about 6 weeks, maybe a little over. I have an 8 week old that is 6 1/2 inches. So you just have a baby. :D

[Rebecca]

I've owned it for about 2 maybe 3 months, I can't remember. So it has to be older then 6 weeks. But I guess that would be about right then??

[Dragon_Slave]

Well... I have an 8 month dragon that is 18.5 inches long... soo... I don't know. I would say that your dragon is a little smaller than normal.