Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two questions... i have a bearded dragon that is about 4 months old and he is only about 8 inches long.... he eats anywhere from 30 to 60 small crickets a day and he is still small for his size??? any suggestions would be nice.... also, my beardie will not eat anything that does not move... he will only eat crickets... i have tried putting fruits and veggies on fishing line and he wont even acknowladge them???? what can i do?

the crickets and live food is understandable my beard only eats live crickets not dead. and instead of dangling the fresh fruit and veggies on a line just get a small plate or shallow tupperware and put the fruit in there on the cool side of the tank and make sure he is getting all of his vitamins leaving the fruit in the cage works perfect for me it all just depends hope this helps

Here's a comparision. I have babies that hatched on 8/8/07 the largest ones are 16" and just over 200 grams.

A couple years ago, a Marines girlfriend asked me to care for a baby dragon short term since he was sent to Iraq. The dragon was 4" and they said she was a couple months old. I had her for 7 weeks. When the girl took her back the dragon was only 5 1/2" long. Seven weeks later the dragon was sick and returned to me. The dragon was 8". After 2 weeks recovery and adjustment she started growing at 1" per week. She is now my largest and favorite dragon at 680 grams, and laid over 140 eggs last year in 4 clutches.

The moral of the story is you just never know. Even this year I have one from the same clutch above that is only 10" and 50 grams with identical conditions as his siblings.

I would recheck all your husbandry though. Surface temp. of the basking spot should be 105 with an ambient (air) temp. of 88-93. I wouldn't worry too much about the lack of interest in greens at this point. He/she will start to eat them when he/she is ready. As far as live food. I would make sure you are feeding your crickets and they are the appropriate size. Much of the nutrition of live food comes from what the crickets eat prior called gut loading. Pet stores don't feed their crickets so they are nutritionally deficent unless you do at least 24 hours prior to feeding them to your pet.

I assume you have UVB.

thanks for all the help... my basking spot was reading 101 so i think that will work... i have a 30 inch uvb bulb for my 48" tank but the owner of the reptile shop i bought it from said that it would work. I have been gut loading my crickets with apples and banannas.

I'd raise your basking spot temp. to 105-110. 101 is a little on the low side. Pet Smart sells Flukers dry cricket food. You should try that, fruit is more for moisture. You could also feed them greens if you want. The only down side to that is that it makes their poop real moist and if you keep a lot of them it can be a problem.