at 5 months...

[Darren179]

is 11 and 1/2 inches abnormally small?

[ohh_kristina]

no, I don't think so. My bearded dragon is 6 months old and only 11 inches. Some just grow slower than others.

[Darren179]

Yah I also thought the same However I was doing some reading that said they SHOULD BE 14+ to be considered healthy, Kinda made me curious

[cole]

my beardie is only about 4 months old and is 13inches long.

[eyespy]

Yes, that's on the small side but not worryingly small. It's not a bad idea to get a fecal exam done, consider widening the beardie's menu to rotate more nutrients in, and check your cage temperatures to make sure the basking spot is high enough and there's a cool area that can fit the entire lizard. Parasites and temperatures too low to support a good fast metabolic rate are leading causes of slow growth. But there are plenty of beardies that are just small because of their genes and if so that's not a big deal.

Many young beardies do best at basking temperatures of 105 to 120 and sometimes just upping the temp a few degrees can really stimulate growth. As they get older and have more body fat they tend to prefer lower basking temps. Ideally you want a temperature where a beardie spends about 1/3 to 1/2 of its waking hours basking and the rest of the time wandering through the cooler parts of the cage. If s/he's basking all day long that's a good indication the temperature is too low.

[ICULIZARD]

...could be that you have a female. Females tend to grow a lot slower initially than males do.

:)

ICULIZARD

[Darren179]

Is there any sure ways to sex beardies! I have just gone by what ive been told I am no expert.

[bob_thesnowman]

yup you can usually tell by the bulges near the vent,check the net for some pics,also,if you happen to see your beardie doing an armwave chances are you have yourself a girl!