Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We have waited 11 years for this moment and it has finally came. We bought our first Bearded Dragon yesterday. Not sure on her (?) age. The guy that we bought her off of said that she was tiny when he got her and he had her for two months. We are guessing her to be about four months old. Just wanted to post and share her with you all.

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Ricky and Staci
1 male Albino Leopard Gecko
2 Female Jungle Leopard Geckos
1 Juvenile Snow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Yellow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Tang Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile Bearded Dragon
1 Box Turtle
1 1/2 dachshund 1/2 Rat Terrier
2 Daughters

Very nice looking dragon..and I am sure you will take much better care of it. It looks half starved and one picture i can see the hip bones. Very under weight.

But regular meals and proper husbandry and it will fill out and grow like a weed.
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PHLdyPayne

Yes. We found her in an ad locally. A college student had her and he sais that he just didn't have the time for her. She was in a 20L when we got her. Her new home is now a 40 tall and she loves it. We are already trying to figure out when to get our next one.LOL. I think we have been biten by the dragon

The first night that we had her. She had been home about an hour an a half and was eating and that is also about the time that she decided to take her little bath (see pictures in gallery). She had never had mealies but let me tell you, Once we got her to try one that was it. She loves them! She had about 10 mealies and 30 3/8 crickets. I am so excited to have her and am really going to enjoy watching her grow up.
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Ricky and Staci
1 male Albino Leopard Gecko
2 Female Jungle Leopard Geckos
1 Juvenile Snow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Yellow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Tang Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile Bearded Dragon
1 Box Turtle
1 1/2 dachshund 1/2 Rat Terrier
2 Daughters

definitely sounds like she is in a much better home. If she keeps eating like that she will put on the weight quickly and grow fast.

Just want to point out to try not to feed her too close to lights out (give her at least 2 hours of light/basking before normal lights out). Also, go easy on the mealworms. MOst dragons like them but they are not the greatest feeders, high chitin to meat ratio, can cause impaction if fed in excess. Superworms will be better than mealworms, though silkworms, hornworms, etc are better too. A variety of insects is good. Dragons in the wild will eat alot more variety than they get in captivity. Dusting with a multivitamin and calcium powder helps keep their meals balanced. But a variety of insects keeps them interested and healthy, just as a variety of greens once they are older.
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PHLdyPayne

She's too small for superworms yet though.

Sorry, BDLvr is right, I thought for some reason she was 11"...but your wait to get a bearded dragon was 11 years..The date was confused in my mind for length.

So hold off on superworms till she's at least 10" long head to toe.
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PHLdyPayne

Well Poo! LOL I already ordered superworms. Oh well maybe I can get a colony started for when she is big enough. Any suggestions as to the best way to do that?
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Ricky and Staci
1 male Albino Leopard Gecko
2 Female Jungle Leopard Geckos
1 Juvenile Snow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Yellow Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile High Tang Leopard Gecko
1 Juvenile Bearded Dragon
1 Box Turtle
1 1/2 dachshund 1/2 Rat Terrier
2 Daughters

I'm real conservative about food size and would wait till their at least 15" before I'd feed them supers. sorry. They last a long time though. I have a small dragon 8" that is a bad eater and very slow grower. He siblings are 14". She's not much into crickets but goes crazy for the supers in the adult cages. So I put one in front of her and cut it into thirds and feed her the back 2 thirds. The head continues to move for about 10 minutes even with the body is cut off and they bite so i don't want to risk it. You could try this if you want. www.wormman.com has instructions for starting a colony.

depending on the size of the superworms (they do start small and grow bigger before pupating) you can offer a few newly molted superworms to your dragon. Newly molted superworms will be very pale, almost white in color. Or you can just snip them in half...a little gross to do but the halves should show enough activity to be eaten. I have fed adult crickets to young dragons before by snipping them in half.
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PHLdyPayne

Nice Dragon. I feel bad for all those geckos that won't be getting any attention any more. lol.