Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It seems I got the whole forum a little fired up with this whole bearded dragon issue.

I'm going to raise the temp to 110-115 tonight.

I'm not offended...so nobody has to worry about that...

I've actually never really had a problem with a bearded dragon until this but I'll take the advice given and we'll see what happens. I'll post the results in a few days.

Thanks to all who posted replies for me, advice taken and I hope no offense was given on my part either.

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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

I'm going to try small crickets yes.

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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

You say you've been raising dragons for 4 years, and that this one is the first one you've had this feeding/size problem with.

I'm curious as to what the average size adult is for your dragons, using the methods you've outlined in your earlier posts. Do they end up in the 24-26 inch range, or do they tend toward 16-18 inches?

D.A.

Whos dragons end up in the 24 - 26 inch range?

I tell everyone the 24 inches is the largest pogona vitticeps and 24 inches is a big male dragon and I have never met one over 24 inches.
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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

Give me another year, and I may have two that're in that range...
At 5-6 months they are already 15.5 and 16.5 inches.

And as to 26 inches, it's the maximum size quoted on several australian sites I've been to.
Also, "The Bearded Dragon Manual", page 10, says "The German giant morph can reach 26 inches in lenght."

Anyway, I simply want to know how large his/her average dragons tend to be. *shrug*

D.A.

You will see that many strong dragons that grow very well will be that same size that yours are at that age, or even bigger. Ask Mattman about his Foster, and he was probably around 17-18" at that age I think.......and has since slowed down much, or I should said grew alot slower from then on. I think 24-26" would be some abnormally huge dragons......biggest I ever had was just about 22" long and she was 600 grams non gravid. Both of my male breeders Flame and Scar were 18" by 6 months and Scar didnt get too much longer, and Flame only added about an inch or so more. They slow down usually alot. Keep us posted though and let us know the sizes. Chris

Mine on the average are 18-20" and from several different breeders.
Even my big male with the really long tail is only 19 3/4".

To get a much larger dragon you would have to get a GG or at least GG in the bloodline.

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TheClassyLizard

>>Mine on the average are 18-20" and from several different breeders.
>>Even my big male with the really long tail is only 19 3/4".
>>
>>To get a much larger dragon you would have to get a GG or at least GG in the bloodline.
>>
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>> TheClassyLizard

I believe CheriS talked to an australian fellow on another forum that claims wild beardies can get up to 3 ft long and live 20 years. Now, I've never seen one, and probably never will, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

But it doesn't really matter what the top end to a dragons size is here. I simply want to know, on average, how well cv768's dragons do as far as their size goes.

For all we know, he/she is used to seeing 5ft long dragons.

Now... Anybody got anything else they wanna fight about?

D.A.

I talked with that same australian and he was talkin of the barbatus which are cusins to the Pogona vitticeps but not the same.

The babatus get larger than the inland (vitticeps) but the vitticeps may live much longer then the 7 to 10 years that has been quoted from all about the vitticeps life expectancy with the changes that have been made in their husbandry in the last 7 or so years.
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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

three of the babies we imported are 12.5 - 13 inches long now at just turning 3 months. Granted, many fast growers to slow down dramatically around 6 months, I am curious to see how these do. We had one at 6 months was 16 inches and then only grew a few more inches over the next two years!

A guy in St Pete, Fl has the largest p. vitticeps dragon I have ever seen, weighing in at 800 grams and 26 inches, another that I have not personally seen but have pictures of and am thinking about buying is 24 inches and 870 grams.

We have several in the 21-23 inch range, none we have raised are under 19, but some we have bought are less

The australian I talked to (Chatted with) was on the internet and probbably not the same person you talked with.
I appologise.

But the australian (three actually) when talking of bearded dragons of 30 inches was referring to the P. barbatus not the P. vitticeps.
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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

Whats GG ?

n/p
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TheClassyLizard

A pogona vitticeps raised (bred) for size not color.

In germany they raised (bred) Pogona vitticeps (NOT crosses) with robust size in mind. The result was large healthy P. vitticeps (German Giants) that had large clutches of eggs, some clutches with over 60 eggs in that clutch, but still P. vitticeps.
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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

The female I have is a beast...from s/t length is 22 inches, she is actually a bit bigger than the male.

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Tom and Jackie Vandiver

Bearded Dragons and More!

I'll try to get a picture on soon...she is big, the male is actually a bit younger though...by about a year.

Male is 2 and the female is about 3 1/2

I've only seen a couple of full grown adults from people that have bought them from me. The sandfire pair I have I'm not sure on the male but the female is 22 inches.

Thank you.
That's all I wanted to know.

Seems to me that people are a bit touchy around here lately... Must either be a full moon, or something in the water.

Anyway, I'm not gonna further delve into you dragon husbandry. You've already gotten plenty of advice as it is.

I wish you luck with the small one. Hope it does well.

D.A.

if I sounded touchy, I didn't mean to.
I was trying to be informative, just saying what my average dragon size is. Captive bred, that is.
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TheClassyLizard

Sorry, wasn't speaking of you in particular.
Just seems like folks have their boxing gloves on, and are erady to brawl for some reason...

Rather odd..

D.A.

I def agree with the heat, you need to raise the temps but i think that's been established by everyone else lol. I have a few other thoughts that may or may not help you.

1. Security. Some dragons feel threatened for various reasons no matter what you do or don't do. I would try putting up some paper around the sides of the glass of your 10 gallon to give your dragon some security and privacy. This can really help some dragons who otherwise are to worried about what's going on or who's watching to eat.

2. Light. If the cage is too dark the dragon may not be stimulated enough to eat. Make sure the cage is nice and bright so your dragon realizes it's daytime and he should be out and about hunting for food.

3. Crix Size. Too large of crix are extremely dangerous, and again I think that's already been established. However, I wanted to point out that regardless of that (even though that is extremely important) your dragon may not be eating bc he realizes it's too big for him. He may be eating the one and even though yes he's digesting it, he may realize how difficult it was for him and "upset" him internally therefor he is unlikely or unable to eat again until the too large of an item has passed.

3a. Pinhead crix are way to small. Start with 1/4" and go from there.

4. Genetics. It's possible this dragon will never grow right and/or gain weight if he was the runt or some other genetic problem. However, with eating the small amount that he does I doubt that this is the problem, but it is something to think about.

5. Old Standards. This is in no way meant as a slam to your friend or any other person out there, but it's a well known fact that most standards or "views" on how reptiles should be raised that are 10 or 20 years old are wrong. Sometimes people get stuck doing certain things bc that's just the way they do things whether it's right or wrong. If you go back and read reptile books that are 10 years old you would be amazed at what most of them say... now a days we have learned and improved upon the husbandry of reptiles which is why they are living longer and thriving more. So just because someone has been doing something forever really doesn't mean alot. It's what you learn and how you apply it that matters. I could do something for 40 years and still be terrible at it.

Again, that's not a slam on your friend. I'm no expert by any means but I'm smart enough to realize that certain basic things are the way dragons need to be taken care of... and that's just my 2 cents. Sorry for the long email I really hope your dragon does better with the high temps and smaller prey.

brandon
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Dragons by Nature