Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We picked up this tiny guy today where there was one tank that said bearded dragons that were very normal color and one tank that said fancy bearded dragons. This tank was alot prettier and much more colorful. We picked the prettiest, most active and fattest one. He or she has settled in quite nicely and already ate for us

All the photos I took don't really do good justice but he/she has alot of orange/reddish down the sides and back.

He has some color which is nice but if you go to the photo tab and check out the beardies you will see some more that are more full body colored dragons. Non the less he looks very nice and hopefully will bring lots of joy to you. I enjoy the feeding part .

Normals really don't have any color at all. Just different shades of gray. He may very will color up more as he grows. I have one that as a baby was very similar in color. He grew to be a very pretty, large, calm male.

I'm gonna try to get a better pic soon b/c my pics didn't show the bright color as it is in real life. A friend went and got one today and mine is way different as far as that orange/red color. Her's is the tan and grey shades. It was very cute and had a very spikey head.
Both of them are the same size and age but her's head is much bigger. When I did all my research, I read that males have bigger heads but not if there was a difference at this age or not??

As adults males generally have bigger heads. But, it's not a good determining factor for sex. Some dragons male/female just have larger heads than other dragons.

Head size isn't a determining factor. It is more an average of all males that tend to have larger heads than average of all females. But there are females who have bigger heads than males even in adults.

Best way to determine sex is to check under the tail. Place the dragon on a flat surface facing away from you and lift its tail up to about 90 degrees. Look at the base of the tail (tail side of the vent). You may need to twist the tail slightly back and forth but this often isn't necessary. Care must be given to ensure you don't injure the tail. Looking at the tail base, you should see either one or two bulges. One bulge means female, two means male.

Below is a link that shows how to sex bearded dragons:

www.beardeddragon.org/articles/sexing/

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PHLdyPayne

I had just read that last night. I'm thinking girl I had her out to weigh her...4grams...awwww. I do weight scheludes on all my reptiles and birds
I figured if I can sex my hatchling cornsnakes it shouldn't be hard, I see one lump in the middle. But is this age to early? I still looking for an estimate weight verses age chart. I'm sure it varies on how well they eat.

I was really wanting a girl so I hope she is

Food wise as long as they are growing and eating lots while young you are fine. You will know their is a problem because your beardie will stop eating and in turn stop growing. They are real easy to tell when they are not happy.

Yep, she's eating great!! Very active and alert too
I already had crickets here for my wtf's and pixie toad but they were way to big so I got some tiny ones. My turles like those can o' crickets but I don't feed them to the others but wondering if she can eat those when I can't find tiny crickets?? I'm gonna need some soon and didn't find any today
The place I got her from and another place that has them said crickets only. No tiny mealworms or any other tiny insect. I've been looking that up too.
Of course the place she came from had some kind of hard pellet food?? The other place said they had already started theirs on fresh greens and etc. So I went grocery shopping today and got stuff. Since she's so tiny, I picked items that my house bunnies can eat too so it doesn't get wasted.

Good call but their are some greens that are bad for the beardies. You may want to look into that a little more.

Already checked which ones before I got bought

I already looked up what beardies can have and it was stuff my bunnies can eat

I found after years of trying to track down right size crickets in pet shops that it is just easier and cheaper to buy a thousand ata time for about 14 dollars and gut load them yourself. they will last a while as long as u feed them and it just seems like an endless supply. just buy them a little smaller than you need them cuz they will grow while u have them. i buy 3 thousand at a time now(4 ten dragons) and it is so comforting to know u dont have to keep running out searching for small crickets. Its crazy that u have to pay 10 cents a piece for someting so tiny.

I have found crickets are smelly and everyone keeps refering to the dubia roach as a way to feed beardies now days. You should look into that more I believe i have a post recently on it if you scroll down a bit. They from what i hear are better for the beardies too. They have no smell or at least very min and they can't fly or climb. Im waiting for my flex watt tape and everything to show up so i can start my own colony. I guess i will post up some more when i have it all up and running.

Ten cents? That's insane! The highest price I've ever heard of! The small pet store in our town gives a really good deal on crickets. You can get a thousand at a time for about fifteen dollars. And yes, they do seem to last forever!

I ended up ordering some today. As soon as Sydney gets bigger, I can go back to the bait shop at our local Gander Mountain. I've been getting them from there since they opened and keep them alive for a long time.
All the pet stores are high priced and the one place where they are 5 cents a piece isn't worth the drive.
When I was ordering I saw Phoenix worms and had to read about them. Found some stuff saying they are good to feed to beardies. Any of ya'll know??

Thats the going rate in NYC. I found the crickets only get smelly if you get the enclosure you keep them in wet or even a little damp. Once the feces gets moist it starts to stink. once i swithched to the gut load cricket bites i have never smelled my crickets again. They provide all the drinking water and food they need and isnt too expensive if you buy the real large jug. just keep the lid sealed real tight so they wont dry out. never rried the roaches. will never be able to convince my wife to intentionally let roaches into our home no matter what species thay are, shes a city girl and roaches only means one thing to her!

Yeah i just have been going thorugh that same thing with the roaches with my lady friend. The only way i get around it is breaking down how much money i spend on crickets and showing over a period of a year how much i spend. Really about 4 bucks a week. 4 x 52 = 208. Getting into roaches cost like a small amount of that really after a rubbermaid bin flexwatt tape and all that stuff that goes with it you are around 50 bucks plus the start of a coloney like 20 bucks may take a few months before you can start feeding but either way. Your at like 70-75 bucks and your good to go. Since you have to feed crickets that cost will end up being the same. After that you are just paying for heat and a cleaning of the cage now and then.

Phoenix worms are a great feeder for young dragons. Just feed them when they are still very pale in color. Once they turn dark, they are not as nutritious. (the calcium converts into the hard exoskeleton when it pupates..not as easily digested at that point).

Other insects that are good for young dragons would be butter worms. Some may be too big for very young dragons but often batches are mixed...and even the really big butterworms are not that big, an inch long or a little more. Most tend to be around half an inch but quite chubby. Butterworms are more costly but can be stored in the fridge.

Hornworms (only farmed ones, not wild caught ones, as in the wild, hornworms eat tobacco or tomato plants which contain toxins that can be deadly to your dragon. When farmed, they are fed a special chow that does not contain these toxins.) get rather big (also called Goliath worms) and grow very fast so are not really the best feeder worm for young dragons. Once your dragon is over 14" then feeding them hornworms for variety is great. Hornworms can grow up to 4"-5" long. (silks tend to be 2-3" long).

The Can O' series can be used too..just make sure you buy small cricket size. But keep in mind that some dragons won't eat 'dead' prey so it may be difficult to get your baby eating it. Sometimes just dropping the canned crickets one at a time gives enough 'movement'.
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PHLdyPayne